It was an encouraging first two periods for the Columbus Blue Jackets as they visited the Buffalo Sabres this afternoon, and then the third period led to me writing a very different recap, as the Jackets fell 4-3 in a game that featured a good number of stars on both sides, including most of Buffalo’s star forwards (and none of their best defensemen).
First Period
The ice was tilted in the Sabres’ favor early, but the Jackets did a good job of getting the puck out of the zone, and causing havoc on the forecheck. Unfortunately they couldn’t sustain offensive zone pressure. Clean entries were hard to find.
Until the midpoint of the period, when they finally got the puck deep, and Emil Bemstrom and Kirill Marchenko (finally making his preseason debut) battled for the puck below the goal line. Bemstrom passed to Marchenko, who then got it to a trailing Patrik Laine in the slot. Devon Levi got a pad on the shot, but then it trickled under his pad and into the goal.
This started to tilt the momentum towards the Jackets, and the Josh Dunne line with Stefan Matteau and James Malatesta had a good, extended shift, along with the Zach Werenski/David Jiricek pairing. That line is destined for Cleveland but I love their energy.
A few shifts later, Denton Mateychuk made a pass along the boards to Kent Johnson, who went behind the net. Henri Jokiharju tried to hit him, but Johnson made a beautiful backwards pass to Justin Danforth, who chipped it off Levi’s back to make the lead 2-0.
Buffalo had the edge in possession, but Columbus had better chances.
Second Period
The period opened with a great give-and-go from Bemstrom to Jiricek, who dangled through the defense as he skated all the way to the crease, then dished it to Laine for Patty’s second goal of the game.
After a second Danforth penalty, the kill started very effectively. Malatesta took Danforth’s spot next to Roslovic, and both Gudbranson and Malatesta cleared the puck out. That unit couldn’t get off the ice, however, and Buffalo was able to get on the board thanks to a rebound goal. Gudbranson made a great effort to dive and block the shot, but his linemates weren’t in position to help out.
With 2:47 remaining, Dylan Cozens got called for slashing and the Jackets got their first power play. The units were as follows:
Werenski
Bemstrom/Fantilli/Laine
Marchenko
Buffalo got a few clears against that unit
Provorov
Dumais/Johnson/Boqvist
Voronkov
They had a bad turnover that led to a quality shorthanded chance, but after regrouping they got a good look themselves.
A weird sequence occurred in the final minute, as it appeared that Voronkov had knocked Levi over hard after the whistle. In actuality, Voronkov was merely bumped by Davies, and then as he brushed against the goalie, Levi did his best impression of a soccer player and took a dive. Cozens got the only penalty, for roughing in the ensuing scrum.
Third Period
Both starting goalies remained net in for the third. Justin Danforth was missing for the start of the period, so the top three lines shuffled a bit until he returned.
The Cleveland line (Malatesta/Dunne/Matteau) gave up an early goal. Jokiharju took a shot on the rush that Elvis could have saved. No one was in position on defense (probably should have been Mateychuk’s man).
Buffalo continued to control the game in this period.
Jiricek got called for tripping, but it seemed like a weak call to me. The Roslovic/Danforth/Gudbranson/Provorov unit was out there again, and the forwards had a good shorthanded breakaway chance. Alas, back the other way the Sabres were able to tie it up. Everyone was in position, but the puck took some weird bounces around Gudbranson and Provorov.
The Jackets seemed gassed, and gave Buffalo too much time with possession in the zone.
Dumais called for holding. Again, kind of soft, but definitely a play of someone getting beat to the puck. Again, that same 96/17/44/9 PK unit is the first one up.
Zach Benson dished inside to Kyle Okposo, then followed him in for the rebound. Gudbranson hit Okposo after his shot, and Benson was wide open. No one else came in to help out.
Elvis was pulled for an extra skater, and we saw Werenski, Bemstrom, and Marchenko stay out for the whole time with the extra skater. Voronkov, Johnson, Fantilli, and Laine also saw action then. There were some good shots, but nothing to show for it.
Good
Patrik Laine: 2 goals, that’s great! 37.5% on the faceoff dot. Not great! I don’t mind experimenting with Laine at center, but this game showed that it should be a back-up plan.
Erik Gudbranson: I was hard on him in my last recap, so credit where it’s due here. He wasn’t great, but he did his job. He shouldn’t be the third most used defenseman, but that’s a reflection of his PK minutes. He was #4 at even strength and should be #5 at best. But he was fine with Denton Mateychuk as his partner, and had some good penalty kill clears in the first two periods. He was on-ice for the last two goals, but he was clearly a step slow then.
Denton Mateychuk and David Jiricek: The two defensemen picked in the first round of the 2022 draft both stood out in a positive way. Mateychuk helped cover for Gudbranson, while Jiricek held his own with Werenski. I’d put both in the opening night roster and not think twice about it.
Ivan Provorov: This was our first look at him this preseason, and like my first impression of Damon Severson, Provorov shows that he’s going to be a solid, reliable presence on the second pair. He had some nice offensive plays, but for the most part was the kind of invisible you want from a defenseman. Like Gudbranson, was on the PK unit that started well but got used too much.
Kent Johnson: I thought he had a rough game last Sunday night, but he was much better today. Much improved skating and puck movement.
Justin Danforth: He’s such a great energy guy that can contribute in all facets of the game, and fit in on any line. He’s like an older, smaller Alexandre Texier, so is there room for both on the roster? I hope there is, because it gives the lineup more options.
Elvis Merzlikins: Yeah, I’m going to defend him again. He only allowed one goal at even strength, and it was on the rush. There are a couple of goals he’d want back, but I’m not going to blame the goalie for a loss where there are 3 power play goals. That’s on his defense to clean up, and for all of the skaters to stay out of the box. At 5v5, he allowed 1 goal on 1.61 expected. Overall, he allowed 4 on 3.54 expected.
Bad
Penalties: 8 is simply too many, including 2 each by Danforth and Jiricek. Some were soft, but were also a case of a player caught out of position making a desperate play. A compounding mistake was relying on the same PK unit each time, when they were clearly getting gassed.
Jordan Dumais: I think he struggled today. I don’t see him as an NHL talent, at least not yet.
Faceoffs: I normally don’t sweat faceoff stats at a macro level, but in a game like today’s you can see the numbers and see how a poor performance in the circle correlates to a struggle to control possession.
Jack Roslovic: 18.5% in the faceoff circle and only played 9:01 at 5v5. His line with Dmitri Voronkov and Dumais failed to make much of an impact.
Sabres broadcast: Like the game last week in Pittsburgh, getting the home team’s stream made watching the game a chore at times. First, would it have killed them to put a scorebug on the screen? I had no idea how much time was on the clock, and the announcers didn’t mention it much. They also did little research, as they were under the impression that Provorov had a short stint in Los Angeles (it was a 3 team offseason trade, morons), and that Josh Dunne’s last name was pronounced “Dune.”
Up next
The Jackets are back at it on Monday, at home against the St. Louis Blues.