What Happened:
On the heels of their Florida road trip, the Blue Jackets hosted Tampa Bay here in Columbus and quite simply dominated them, in no small part because of the line of Scott Hartnell, William Karlsson, and Josh Anderson, who accounted for three of the Blue Jackets’ goals in a 5-1 victory.
The Highlights:
God, what wasn’t a highlight? Scott Hartnell getting off the schnide? Watching both William Karlsson and Josh Anderson get rewarded for their energetic hustling with goals? The way the Blue Jackets outskated the Lightning from the moment the puck was dropped and never let up? Even the dreaded second period slump was more of a slightly uncomfortable blip of indigestion before the boys in Union Blue hit their stride again.
Sergei Bobrovsky being absolutely on fire when he needed to be, and getting a little puck luck when he wasn’t.
Sam Gagner tying for the team’s goal scoring lead.
Guys like Brandon Dubinsky, Boone Jenner, and Markus Nutivarra taking nasty hits and getting back out there as soon as they could be stitched up.
Not one single player taking the night off.
8-3-1 on home ice this season.
The Lowlights:
Having a Tampa goal waved off due to a questionable goalie interference call sucks for the Lightning, especially since the video review was pretty sketchy. We’ve been there before, and I’m sympathetic.
Brandon Saad having a beauty of a snipe called back because the puck rode the crossbar and did not fully cross the goal line.
Zach Werenski failed to register at least one point for the second time this season.
Bob lost the shutout late, and that’s a shame, but he put up a fantastic game. 27 saves on 28 shots is nothing to sneeze at.
The Bottom Line:
This is the team fans in Columbus have been waiting for, and they are for real.