The Columbus Blue Jackets came out on top in a truly wild affair at Nationwide Arena, their first game of the year against the Anaheim Ducks. The win pushed their record to 17-8-1.
The 4-2 win was their second straight victory, both coming at home and both started by backup netminder Joonas Korpisalo. The top line was dominant, and the power play scored a goal (no really, they did)!
Here are five thoughts from the throwback-style game against the Ducks:
French Bread Line Nasty
Nasty in a good way, friends. The experimental line of Artemi Panarin, Pierre-Luc Dubois, and Josh Anderson appears to be a mainstay, as the line was simply dominant.
Line of Anderson (1-2-3), Panarin (1-2-3) and Dubois (0-2-2) have combined for 2-6-8 on the evening. #CBJ
— CBJ Public Relations (@BlueJacketsPR) December 2, 2017
They even accounted for a power play goal, a true rarity this season, as John Tortorella ditched the 'traditional' power play line and instead stuck with his normally scheduled lines. It paid dividends. All three forwards touched the puck in the zone entry, and Dubois made a beautiful slip pass, finding Panarin all alone in the slot. The Russian made no mistake, scoring his sixth goal of the year.
Better angle on Panarin's handiwork. Not too shabby.#CBJ pic.twitter.com/LyryFgbsBH
— 1st Ohio Battery (@1stOhioBattery) December 2, 2017
Anderson extended his point streak to five games (3G-4A-7P), and Dubois has points in three straight, as well. That Panarin is the 'odd man out' in that trio is downright scary to opposing teams.
Korpi-Solid x2
On Tuesday, Korpisalo played well enough to win. He stopped 29-31 and shut the door on both Hurricanes players' shootout attempts. He followed that up with his first back-to-back start of the season, turning aside 25-27 for a .926 save percentage.
Simply put, Korpisalo winning two games for this club is huge. Not just for him and his confidence, but for the club. This team knows they can win behind Sergei Bobrovsky - it's been proven. But for Korpi to win both of these games is liking stealing points in the standings. Bobrovsky will be more-than rested for a divisional tilt against the Washington Capitals in their first match-up of the season. Everybody wins!
Penalty Kill Huge
We already mentioned that the Blue Jackets scored a power play goal (I know, I couldn't believe it either), but their penalty kill was the true star of the special teams show.
The club killed all four penalties against, including a four-minute double-minor for high-sticking. The team also killed off a penalty at the end of the game while clinging to a one-goal game. Pretty impressive effort from the PK units.
Bjorskrand/Werenski Disappoint
Look, I'm big on both of these guys. I think Bjorkstrand will be a 30-goal scorer one day, and I think that Werenski could be in Norris Trophy conversations as early as this year.
However, they were both, well, meh, tonight. Werenski fought the puck (to use a common Torts-ism) all night, and was responsible for the breakaway goal against, and was fortunate to not be on the wrong side of more goals. His possession stats were great - 61.11% CF% at 5v5 - but to the eye, he really struggled (for him).
Bjorsktrand played a team-low 8:19. I can't recall an instance where he was a liability or made a glaring mistake, but I'll be the first to acknowledge that watching on a big-screen and watching from the bench paint two completely different pictures. Hopefully tonight was a fluke, because Bjorkstrand playing less than 10 minutes would be a concerning development.
That was Fun!
I'm not going to lie, I didn't expect for this game to be as intense as it was. In a true throwback to the Blue Jackets' old Western Conference days, the game was legitimately chippy.
True, there were no fighting majors, but it was as close as it could have been to and old school hockey game. We nearly saw a goalie fight and there was frequent jostling behind the play.
Folks, this isn't a fight that John Gibson is going to win. The Blue Jackets will have 1:53 of power play time to start the third period.#CBJ pic.twitter.com/Ga1EPPbnuE
— 1st Ohio Battery (@1stOhioBattery) December 2, 2017
Not sure what sparked this, but it was nice to see the boys in blue respond to the aggression the right way. Most importantly, another two points in the standings. Onward to Washington!
Follow 1st Ohio BatteryFacebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube
