After a bizarre 6-5 loss yesterday, the Jackets were due for the universe to work in their favor tonight – what a concept!
And in the Blue Jackets’ favor it swung, although it was painful. Let’s talk about it, shall we?
Period 1
Cam Atkinson had an early opportunity for a goal, but it was saved by Alex Nedeljkovic – did you all catch that Nedeljkovic is from Ohio? They barely mentioned that at all during the broadcast!
The Jackets had a power play opportunity, during which they got off a whopping zero shots. It looked like the period might end 0-0 until Scott Harrington, of all people, bounced a weird one into the net.
Sure! We’ll take it. Hurricanes, you just got Harrington’d!
Period 2
Nino Neiderreiter scored the second goal and also the second weird goal of the game about seven minutes into the period.
David Savard was penalized for hooking ten minutes in, so the Jackets were on the penalty kill – this was actually fortuitous, as Atkinson was hooked and earned a penalty shot, which he handily scored short-handed. That brings Cam to 14 short-handed goals, tied with Rick Nash for the most in CBJ franchise history.
The afterglow of Cam’s shot had not yet even worn off by the time Brock McGinn scores, bringing the score to 2-2. This goal was a failure by every CBJ player on the ice, but Patrik Laine became conspicuously absent immediately after this goal with about six minutes left in the second period, which ended tied.
Period 3
#WheresLaine?
After the shifts cycled through, it became painfully apparent that Laine was riding the plastic pines. Obviously, the CBJ corner of Twitter might as well have been on fire, and Torts quickly became a Twitter trending topic.
So nobody told Patrik Laine that guarding the right faceoff dot while there’s a goalmouth scramble was frowned upon by Torts. Woo, boy. Should be some post-game presser with the coach. BTW, #CBJ win.
— Tom Reed (@treed1919) February 9, 2021
Here are Tortorella’s full post-game comments:
Hear from Torts following tonight’s 3-2 win!#CBJ | @Pedialyte pic.twitter.com/N80mVetPBI
— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) February 9, 2021
Nobody:
Me: Okay, here are my thoughts – Laine has been in Columbus for, like, two whole seconds. Yes, he could have appeared a little more engaged in the play leading up to McGinn’s goal, but he has barely had a chance to practice or play with this team, so I will happily cut him some slack on his level of awareness for his new teammates and situations they put him in. Torts giving him the PLD treatment four whole games into his CBJ tenure is a bad policy, in my opinion. We need Laine on the ice to score goals in a tied game, not take up space on the bench because Torts feels compelled to stick to his principles.
FORTUNATELY FOR EVERYONE, Jack Roslovic showed up to save the day. He scored a gorgeous goal late in the third period that sealed the W for the Jackets in a game where everyone needed it – coaches, players, and fans alike. Can someone check on MrSwift13? I think his head might have exploded.
Nifty moves on the score by Roslovic. #CBJ pic.twitter.com/nwWArneAo5
— Alison (@AlisonL) February 9, 2021
The Jackets reconvene with the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday in Chicago at 8 PM EST.