Saturday, October 26, 2013

So DBJ and DBT went to CBJ Game 10: Toronto

Posted by at 12:18 AM
Columbus 5 - Toronto 2
5-5-0, 10 pts, 4th in Metropolitan Division, 9th in Eastern Conference
The Columbus Blue Jackets stretched their win streak out to three games with a win over the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs, 5-2.  The game was put to bed in the third period, where the CBJ dropped an incredible four goals on Toronto.

Lots of quickie thoughts...
  • For the Blue Jackets' sake, I'm glad that the third period was riotously entertaining.  The Dark Blue Toddler (now aged 4 - is he still a toddler?) was bored out of his mind through two periods.  He's already a Bruins fan; I've been hanging onto hope that he doesn't dislike the CBJ!  The third period helped swing the pendulum in Columbus' favor.
  • Sergei Bobrovsky saved 23 of 25 shots (.920 save percentage), and he saved the team's bacon on many a shot.  Some heroic work back there between the pipes, especially when Phil Kessel came calling.
  • The CBJ scared the dickens out of me in the first, where Toronto came out flying and left Columbus discombobulated.  The game slowed down in the back end of the first, and was manageable for the balance of the game - suggesting that the team was making some smart adjustments on the fly.  A good thing to see.
  • 13,930 attendance?  On a Friday night?  Against an Original Six opponent?  Really?  Worse yet, I swear the arena composition was 1/4 Blue Jackets sweaters, 1/4 Leafs sweaters (not exaggerating), 1/4 people in street clothes and 1/4 empty seats.  Ugh.  
  • Nazem Kadri had a really bad game, one that suggests that he has some work ahead of him as it relates to pressure situations.  Three penalties?  Yowza.  But that's not Columbus' problem, thankfully.
  • Speaking of youngsters, Ryan Murray had his first NHL goal.  Twas a greasy one where the lad crashed the net.  
  • For all 60 minutes, my skater of the game (Bob was really quite good under pressure) was Cam Atkinson.  He seemed to me to be the only Blue Jacket to answer the bell from the outset.  Atkinson had three or four fantastic breakaways - sadly, couldn't convert on them - and just gave Toronto fits.  Very fun to watch that happen.
  • I love seeing Toronto and Montreal come to Nationwide Arena.  Even when their fans take up a quarter of the arena, toss their trash on the ice in a fit of petulant rage and get into fistfights with Columbus' Finest, I still love it.  Sue me.  (But why do I hate it when Penguins fans take over the arena?  Do I have a double standard?)
The exclamation point on the night was the Dubinsky goal.  Never in my life have I seen a 3-on-4 shorthanded goal, but I did tonight.  Here it is:


And I was apoplectic when it happened:
Just ridiculous.

Here's the haiku:

Four goals in the third
Have I seen better hockey?
Toss that trash, Leafs Fan.


NEXT UP: The Anaheim Ducks make their annual fall migration through Ohio on Sunday at 6PM at Nationwide Arena.  All you members of the Cult of Teemu Selanne can line up now.  

3 comments:

  1. AnonymousOctober 26, 2013 at 3:43 AM

    Excellent.

    - Joe in Vancouver

    ReplyDelete
  2. WAWHOctober 26, 2013 at 1:24 PM

    I too was at the game, however I feel like we were watching different games based on your write up. I felt jackets dominated play in the first, and only a couple times did the 4th line look really taken a back by Toronto. We totally disrupted the leafs offensive zone strategy, and turn the puck the other way. This is the team that had 2 first period shots against Vancouver a week ago, while this game we had 16 shots and held the leafs to just 4.

    Also I thought Bob look good, but not like end of last season bob. The first goal he was way out of position, which was entirely his fault. And there 2 behind the goal gaffs that were almost gimmes. He literally had to dive across the ice to stick check that leafs player so he didn't pass into in-front for the easy goal. Same for the freak bounce off the glass, we are just lucky neither of those went in.

    overall our best played game of the year

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. TimOctober 26, 2013 at 2:19 PM

      Bob overplayed the Leafs' initial shot on that first goal a bit, yes. But how Phil Kessel gets to stand all alone on the backdoor waiting for a rebound is beyond me...and is clearly not Bob's issue.

      I'm with you on the first period, too. We hammered them in the first, and the Leafs have Bernier to thank for it not being 4-0 after one.

      Delete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)