Three Things: Chalk The L To Korpi, Fourth Line Impresses (Again), And Peeke's Pleasant Performance

By Ed Francis on November 12, 2021 at 10:01 pm
Joonas Korpisalo struggled mightily in the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-3 loss to the Washington Capitals.
Russell LaBounty-USA TODAY Sports
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The good news is, the Columbus Blue Jackets have a quick turnaround: another home game against a division rival comes Saturday.

The bad news is, the sour taste is going to take some extra strength mouthwash to rinse out. 

Columbus battled back from a 3-1 deficit to send the game late into the third period knotted at 3-3, but Conor Sheary's goal in the final two minutes gave the Washington Capitals a 4-3 victory, spoiling the best game of the season for several Blue Jacket players and sending a rowdy Friday night crowd (albeit with too many Capital sweaters in the stands) home quiet. 

Here are three things from the disappointing and frustrating loss:

KORPISA"L"O 

It's not entirely, 100% on Korpisalo, but it sure is close. The second and third goals came as a result of turnovers, but part of being an elite goalie is bailing out the defense from time to time. There was nothing about either goal that made a save improbable.

Of course, part of being even a good goalie is making the saves that should be made, and the game-winning goal from Sheary with 1:22 left had no business going in.


Korpisalo has got to seal the post in that situation. It was an inexcusable goal, and cost the Blue Jackets at least one point — and the way momentum was going before the soft game-winner, probably two points.

The advanced metrics tell a similar story, as evident by MoneyPuck's expected goal total for the game:

Expected Goals (Courtesy of MoneyPuck)

MoneyPuck simulations of Friday's game gave the Blue Jackets a win just over 80% of the time. Another analytics database, Natural Stat Trick, tells the same story. The projected goals per their data was 2.90 to 1.49 in favor of the Blue Jackets, and high danger scoring chances finished at 14-3 in favor of Columbus. Despite a few turnovers, the Blue Jackets defense played well enough that three goals should have been enough to win it. Instead, it's a regulation loss. That's a tough pill to swallow.

 

FOURTH LINE CLICKIN'

Two of the three goals came from fourth line center and Columbus native Sean Kuraly, his first two as a Blue Jacket. It was a special moment, indeed.

Both of Kuraly's linemates, Eric Robinson and Alexandre Texier, had an assist on his goals. For the evening, the trio finished with four points and a collective +5 on the plus/minus. They were the only Columbus forwards to finish on the positive side of that category.

PEEKE'S PEEKIN'

Andrew Peeke is here to stay. After 33 games spread out over the last two seasons, the 23-year-old defenseman is getting his first real chance at regular NHL playing time — and making the most of it.

Take your pick as to which one is more impressive, especially considering they were against Alex Ovechkin, who moved into sole possession of fourth place for all-time goals, passing Brett Hull on a first period score. 

Peeke is still finding himself on the third blueline pairing and with fellow defenseman Adam Boqvist due back soon from an injury, it doesn't seem imminent that Peeke will get promoted anytime soon. But his sound decision making and continued improvement — not to mention willingness to block shots — could make it tough for head coach Brad Larsen to keep him on the bottom pairing for much longer.

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