CBJ ride Has Been a Thriller So Far

Rocky (Cam) and Bullwinkle (Pierre-Luc) combined to score the winner in overtime last night

Like any good ride, the CBJ roller coaster of 2019-20 started with a sickening feeling in your stomach, and that thought that 'this won't end well'.  But after the first two games this team has settled down into playing tight, team hockey, and are getting used to playing in close games.  And as John Tortorella mentioned, they have shown a great deal of resiliency.

I got onto the Rocky and Bullwinkle gag because I'm an old fart, and I remember this kind of stuff.  But the word coming out of the locker room last night, when Pierre-Luc Dubois shed his defender like he was tossing away a dirty tee shirt, and then hit Cam Atkinson crashing the net for the winning goal, was that he was playing like a moose.  Boris and Natasha always called Rocky and Bullwinkle 'Moose and Squirrel", and I just couldn't get over that mental image when thinking about Cam and Pierre-Luc. 

Dubois has been playing physical hockey like he did two years ago when it took everyone by surprise.  I thought he got away from it some last year, but he is back to his strong, physical play again, and he looks very good in the way he is approaching the game.  This isn't the Tom Wilson 'crunch hit' physical, this is a 'move you out of my way' kind of physical that is very impressive in this young player.

Lots of good things happened last night.  Both Cam and Texier, who were overdue for goals scored, and Sonny Milano scored a beautiful goal, making up for a couple of gaffes earlier in the game that put him in the dog house temporarily.  Nonetheless, in spite of being down 3-1, the Blue Jackets hung tight, didn't quit, and tied it up.  They are figuring out overtime as well, having gone from losing 2 overtime games in a row, to winning two overtime games in a row.  As the youngsters continue to develop, this is going to be a low scoring team, but they have shown that they can play the team defense they will need to be able to play to win in that fashion.

So as of now, the Blue Jackets sit two games over .500, and are definitely in the hunt.  There is a lot of hockey to be played, but these last few games have been highly entertaining, and its always good when we win.  Keep in mind that fundamentally, the core of this team are the same guys who ripped off a 16 game winning streak while allowing a goals against average during that time of less than 2 goals per game.  If your GAA is less than two, it means you won a lot of one goal games, and threw in a few shut outs too.  But the Blue Jackets are playing that type of hockey again, which they had a hard time doing the last few years.  But I think they are going to be a good team this year.

It's early times, but this looks like it has the makings of a real fun season that will go down to the wire.

GO JACKETS!!
GO MONSTERS!!