If You Want To Whine When You Lose, You Have to Crow When You Win

We have watched Bobrovsky have bad puck luck lo these many games.  And in times of weakness, we have blamed the result on the goal tending (meaning me).  This may not have always been fair.  Two posts ago I called for a change in the goal tending, and indeed, Bob got a rest on the away game against Pittsburgh.  But he has been lights out since.  And indeed, before that, review by people I respect, namely Tom Reed of the Athletic thought that all of the deflections that pissed me off were darn good hockey plays, and don't throw your goal tender under the bus for those. (BTW, your dad used to subscribe to Sports Illustrated.  Really, the Athletic is the modern equivalent, and you should subscribe if you can afford it).  So, in many ways, Bob was due a little puck luck.  He got it tonight in spades, with a superlative performance in a crucial playoff Metropolitan tilt, shutting out the Carolina Hurricanes.

Tonight the Blue Jackets shut out the Hurricanes 3-0.  I thought the Jaekets' play was reminiscent of Carolina's, where we got ahead early and then stifled them.  Yes they dominated on the shot clock, but they weren't high danger chances, and those high danger chances that they generated, Bob snuffed.  

When I talk about this, I think about the times recently where our defense gave a shooter a bit of space, and they invariably hit the corner top shelf far side.  The Islanders game is a good example.  One defenseman gets space on a blown coverage, he hits top, far corner (instead of pipe) and the game is over.  Tonight we jumped on them early to get a two goal lead, and Bob no longer feared those miracle shots, and stuffed everything accordingly.  Nice work by Bob.

HUGE, HUGE, HUGE win tonight.  We don't know how it will turn out, but our boys played stifling defense tonight.  That's what it takes to win in the playoffs.  A performance to capture in their minds.

Jackets win!  A tough road ahead.  One game at a time.

GO JACKETS!

GO KONSTERS!