Five Thoughts: Panarin's Scorching, a Second Period Response and Atkinson Benched in Blue Jackets' Win over Devils

By Rob Mixer on December 9, 2017 at 12:41 am
Blue Jackets center Pierre-Luc Dubois
USA TODAY Sports
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This game sure turned on its head, didn’t it?

After 20 minutes, it was hot under the collar. The Blue Jackets started poorly after talking for two days about how a strong start was important. They were behind 2-0 and the Devils were beating them to seemingly every loose puck – but when the horn sounded, Columbus took advantage of the opportunity to breathe.

In the second period, they took the game back.

Five goals in the second and third period helped engineer their biggest win of the season, a 5-3 win over New Jersey that vaulted the Blue Jackets back into first place. These are five takeaways from a game that ended a lot better than it began:


BAKING BREAD

Artemi Panarin is unreal.

He took this game over and his line drove the bus on a night when the Blue Jackets really only used 3.5 lines (we’ll get to that in a moment). Pierre-Luc Dubois opened the scoring for Columbus early in the second off a Panarin steal and pass, then the Bread Man proceeded to set up the next four Blue Jackets goals.

It’s one of the more memorable individual performances in Blue Jackets history; Panarin is the first Blue Jackets player since David Vyborny in 2004 with a five-point game. Espen Knutsen is the last Blue Jacket with a five-assist game, which came Mar. 24, 2001 against the Calgary Flames.

Every bit of offense from the Blue Jackets tonight was born from Panarin's skill and work. He's got 13 points (5-8-12) in his last 12 games, and Friday's effort was the best yet from the Jackets' new superstar.

BAD START...

For all the talking leading into the game, the Blue Jackets sure tripped themselves up coming out of the gate.

They were chasing the puck and doing a lot of defending. The Devils built a 2-0 lead and it could've been a larger margin if not for Sergei Bobrovsky, whose solid performance was overshadowed by his teammates getting it together in the second and third periods. 

"We made them earn their ice, where in the first period ... I just don't know what to say," Tortorella said. "But it was a good response in the second period and we find a way to keep going and find a way to win."

...AND THE RECOVERY

Perhaps the first intermission came at the right time.

The Blue Jackets seized the game in the second period and didn't give it back. Dubois scored the first goal to get it going (giving him seven points in his last six games), then Lukas Sedlak tied the game on a squeaker that beat Cory Schneider through the wickets. 

Scott Harrington scored his first goal of the season – off a scintillating pass from Panarin, who waited for the seam to open on the weak side – to give the Blue Jackets a 3-2 lead down the stretch in the second period.

Despite giving up an ugly 3-3 goal with 19.9 seconds left in the second period, the Blue Jackets answered with two goals in the third period to pull away.

GO ON, HARRY!

Harrington is in the lineup because of an injury to Ryan Murray, but his play has kept him in the lineup even as Markus Nutivaara returned. 

That third pairing didn't play much tonight (Harrington logged 12:36 and Nutivaara played 11:35, a full eight minutes fewer than David Savard) but Harrington contributed a huge goal in the second period. Panarin set the table with an uncanny pass breakup in the neutral zone, and then took off; he walked into the zone, waited and found Harrington joining the play, and Harrington beat Schneider high to the stick side.

"I had a couple of good looks in some of the games I've played that didn't go in," Harrington said. "More than anything, it's nice to get that off your mind and it came at a good time for us."

CAM BENCHED

Tortorella didn't address the matter post-game, but Cam Atkinson played a game-low 9:36 and did not play a single shift in the third period. He was on the bench and not injured, so we can connect the dots and conclude this was a performance issue.

The likely tipping point? The Devils' third goal, scored late in the second period.

Atkinson drifts away from the play in his own zone and loses his man (Blake Coleman), who slips free and has a slam-dunk goal to tie the game. Atkinson didn't see the ice after that.

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