Hurricanes vs. Blue Jackets – The Recap

Early in the season, I will sometimes look at the schedule to see where the Canes may have some “softer areas” over the course of the season.  I have been called by some of my closest friends as “Schedule Guy”.   Early on, in looking at this stretch of games leading up to the Four Nations event, I thought this could be a good “get right” section of games.

We all know there are no easy games in the NHL.  And over the course of the season, I have learned that the Columbus Blue Jackets are anything but a “soft” game.  In addition to their commitment to playing hard every night, they have come into this game pretty hot, with a 7-1-1 record giving up an average of 2 goals per game during that stretch, including their game last night where they dispatched the Maple Leafs (in Toronto) 5-1.  It wouldn’t be easy, that’s for sure.

Below are my thoughts on the game:

• After playing so well in Dallas, playing disciplined in the defensive end, we started this one out sloppy.  Sloppy puck management and the passing wasn’t crisp – we looked like we just were skating out the string in the first period.  Just be smart with the puck and get to the forecheck.  Use your sticks wisely.  It looked like a different team from the team I saw the other night playing against the Stars.
• A couple notes about the first period:
• The two goals that we gave up were on turnovers at or near our own blue line – the first one on a turnover by Jackson Blake where he took a little extra time with the puck to try to find a play instead of just feeding it out of the zone and continuing to move things forward. 
• The second one was a goal that was given up to Marchenko, who was wide open in the left slot, and he buried the puck top shelf.  Brent Burns cheated over to kind of double up on Fantilli where Slavin was already covering – Fantilli sent an excellent pass to Marchenko, who sent to Blue Jackets to a 2-0 lead.
• The Brent Burns conversation needs to happen – I love the guy and appreciate everything he has done for the organization.  But I have no idea why he didn’t peek over to see if anyone was coming down Broadway.  And it was Kirill Marchenko of all people coming through.  Brent hasn’t really been as productive on the offensive end and has been a step slower on a lot of nights than the opponents on the defensive end.  I know he is chasing milestones – at some point, though, we must recognize that there are things happening with his game that are a detriment to the team.  Not to pile on, but early in the second period, he had a puck get past him at the point and we ended up having to deal with Marchenko in our own end.  This was clean ice – the puck was sent calmly.  How does this happen? 
• The power play finally got on the board, going 1-for-3 on the night against the 26^th best penalty kill unit in the league.  The first power play (in the first period) was a struggle to get anything going.  The goal we had on the man advantage in the second was stellar.  It was a great feed from Aho to Jarvis to get us on the board.  The space Aho had was a direct result of Martin Necas’s work.  Just a solid PP goal, and probably the way it should look more often.  The third power play was abbreviated, but we couldn’t gain entry and never got a good shot on net.  So, in the end, it was a mixed bag.  Two for our last 37 on the power play now.  
• Tripp probably made a bigger deal about the lines being a little jumbled towards the end of the first period than he should have.  I believe (and he passingly mentioned) the lines looked different because the first power play unit was on the ice the entire two minutes of time during our first power play.  That unit includes guys from three different lines.  He gave credit later in the broadcast for Rod leaving the lines alone.  And Rod could very well have thrown everything in a blender during that intermission after that start, but I believe that Rod uses that as a last resort – for him to mix things up after a poor period in the middle of a three-game win streak…let’s just say I would have been surprised if he did that.
• The second period is where, if I were a bartender, would have cut the game off from any more alcoholic beverages, because it was officially drunk.  SEVEN GOALS SCORED IN THAT SECOND PERIOD!  The highlights:
• We started the period with a much better net front presence and forecheck.  Tarasov had to make a couple grade A saves, including one against Jarvis who seemed to be super-human by this point.  Tarasov also made a couple of other great saves in the first.
• The aforementioned power play goal got us off and running – Jarvis right at the edge of the crease with a great goal on a feed from Aho that was a dart right to the tape.
• Freddie Andersen took a puck behind his net and promptly fed Seth Jarvis who was moving down the ice on a breakout.  Seth then fed Eric Robinson, who he caught driving down the middle of the ice.  Eric had beaten his man down the ice and buried it to tie the game.  Seth looked and saw Eric coming on the rush and made a great pass to allow for the backhand goal. 
• Jackson Blake – 11^th of the season – and it all starts with a face-off win in the offensive zone by Aho and ends with Svechnikov driving to the net for a rebound opportunity.  I said it a couple games ago, but this is an instance where Jackson made his own luck – when you put the puck on net, these things can happen.  The puck bounced back off Tarasov and went just over the goal line.  Svechnikov was there to clean up any rebound – first lead of the game for the Hurricanes.
• Literally thirty-five seconds later, Sebastian Aho buries the puck on a steal by Jackson Blake.  Doing it all the right way in our zone.  The ice was clearly tilted our way at this point. 
• Jordan Staal took a penalty and once the penalty was over, he came out of the box with a purpose, leveling Provorov and stealing the puck in the process.  He fed Seth Jarvis who was, again, hustling down the ice.  Seth fed Jordan Martinook some sweet sauce who sent the puck to the back of the net.
• The lowlights:
• We allowed not one but two goals on tip ins from the net front that Columbus got back to.  First it was van Riemsdyk and then Voronkov.  I was a little disappointed that we couldn’t body those guys out down low – it is something to be a little concerned about.  By the end of the period, it was 5-4 and a last call for alcohol.
• I want to talk about Freddie Andersen a little bit.  Freddie gave up four goals this game, but two of those goals were tip-in bounces and the other two were shots that Columbus had wide open looks at.  I am going to give Freddie a pass these last couple games, though.  I have been tough on him in the past, but he had a long layoff and is getting back up to game speed.  I asked Pierre McGuire the other day about getting back to “form” after some time off rehabbing an injury, and he agreed with the notion that it takes time to get your timing back, to get back to game speed and to get back to full “form”.  Let’s be patient with him.  And congratulations on winning number 300 in your career big guy!
• A note on Jackson Blake – I love what he’s been up to, but he showed at times tonight that he’s still a rookie.  The way he plays makes you forget that fact – he’s consistently in the mix to pick up the loose change in the offensive zone and that can’t be understated.  Consistent energy and pressure in the offensive zone are welcome.  Jackson is continuing to grow – how he responded to some of his mistakes by stepping up his play during the game is probably what I am most encouraged by. 
• “Sniper” Jesperi Kotkaniemi buried another one, and this line in particular has been buzzing.  The play all started with a great job by Eric Robinson getting the puck deep and Martin Necas hustling to create a turnover.  He sent an absolute dot over to KK in the slot and the rest is history.  That’s four goals in three games for KK, but the play of all three as a unit on this line has been strong.
• A sidebar on Jesperi – watching the post-game interview with him, he looks like he is having some fun.  He was smiling, laughing and showing some personality.  Better yet, he looked extremely confident.  A happy and confident KK is a good KK.
• Of all the players that deserved the empty netter, it was Seth Jarvis – who earned his first 4-point night in the NHL.  He had an incredible night and was clearly the best player on the ice.    

After all the madness, it was a 7-4 win against what I would consider a good Columbus Blue Jackets team.  We needed a swift kick to the tail at the first intermission to get things rolling, but once we got going, we were absolutely dominant.  For the first 12 minutes of that 2^nd period, we outshot the Blue Jackets something like 17-0 and controlled the puck for nearly that entire stretch.  I would argue that we had three dominant lines at three different times through the evening – the Jaaska-Drury-Roslovic line didn’t really get a lot of run tonight, but all other lines put in a great 40 minutes of hockey after the first period.

Up Next:  A visit to Long Island to take on the New York Islanders on Saturday night.