After CBJ wins, we'll give three takeaways about what stood out or what we'll remember from the Blue Jackets victory.
BLUE JACKETS 5, RED WINGS 2
1. The moment wasn’t too big for the Blue Jackets.
Columbus is in the midst of a heated playoff race for the first time in years. They’re about to play in the biggest event in franchise history, the Navy Federal Credit Union NHL Stadium Series. Heck, even their moms were on this trip to Detroit, and if that’s not pressure, what is?
In other words, there’s a lot going on right now, but the Blue Jackets just put their heads down and played one of their better games of the season in downing the Red Wings in Thursday’s appetizer to Saturday’s main course. With the win, Columbus moved into a tie with Detroit for the first wild card spot, four points clear of all challengers.
How good was the performance? According to Natural Stat Trick, at 5-on-5, the Blue Jackets dominated play with big edges in shot attempts (58-44), scoring chances (36-19), high-danger chances (25-3) and expected goals (4.76-1.71).
In fact, according to Natural Stat Trick, the CBJ totals of expected goals scored at 5x5 and in all situations (6.58) were both the fourth-most of any team in an NHL game this year (expected goals being a measure of shot quantity and quality in a game).
If you’re not an analytics nerd, what does it mean? The Blue Jackets got to the dirty areas and created quality scoring opportunity after quality scoring opportunity. And as the final score shows, they got rewarded in a big, big game.
“I think you gotta find the urgency for and recognize the different moments down the stretch of these key times,” James van Riemsdyk said. “We know this is a team that we’re gonna be jockeying with for the rest of the season probably, so we knew these two games were gonna be massive, so obviously we took care of what we needed to do in leg one, and now we gotta take care of the second leg of this and keep building from that.”
But perhaps most encouraging was the way the Blue Jackets closed out the game. With so much on the line and Detroit on home ice, you figured the Red Wings would come out flying in the third period trying to cut into the Jackets’ 4-2 lead. Columbus has been better at closing out wins this year in the final minutes, but it’s still been tough at times.
Not on this night. Daniil Tarasov did have to make a few solid stops in the third, but there weren’t those long stretches when the Blue Jackets got caught in their zone gasping for air. All in all, it was a 60-minute win.
“Lots of blocked shots, good sticks,” Evason said of the way the Blue Jackets protected the lead. “I thought even when we got to 5-on-6, we did a real good job of pressuring, not sitting back, having good sticks in the defensive zone. We won some battles. We got pucks out. We had a couple of icings, which is fine. Just get it out and be as aggressive as we possibly can. We did a good job in that area.”
2. When the call came, van Riemsdyk stepped up as he has all season.
As I’ve said on Twitter a few times recently – where would the Blue Jackets be without JVR?
The respected veteran has been a key mentor for many of the thriving young players on the roster, and his on-ice contribution is becoming more and more prominent. With two more netfront goals against the Red Wings – his third two-goal game of the season – van Riemsdyk now has a 10-9-19 line in the last 21 games.
Despite the strong output of late, van Riemsdyk came back from the 4 Nations break and saw himself go from a top-six role to a bottom-six spot with the return of captain Boone Jenner to the lineup.
“When Boone came back, he took JVR’s spot, right?” Evason said. “We had a chat with JVR and said it has absolutely nothing to do with how he was playing the game, and he just thanked us and understood exactly what was going on. The captain of our hockey team is Boone Jenner, so he’s like, ‘Yeah, I’ll play wherever.’”
It took an unfortunate first-period upper-body injury to Cole Sillinger to move van Riemsdyk back up to a line with Jenner and Kent Johnson, but he took full advantage. The entire line was rampant throughout the Jackets’ four-goal second period, creating scoring chance after scoring chance and putting three of them in the net.
Johnson added a goal and assist, reaching 100 career points in the process, while Jenner had his second career three-assist night.
All three praised each other postgame, and van Riemsdyk said his two new linemates made it easy on him.
“I think (Johnson and I) speak the same language as far as how we want to play and how we can be predictable to each other,” van Riemsdyk said. “I think our styles are a little bit different, but they complement each other very well. You’re not going to see me making some of the world-class plays that he makes, but he does such a good job of finding a little bit of extra time when he has the puck and allows me to get to my spots and things like that.
“And getting a chance to play with Boone tonight, too. He was someone even coming into the year, seeing how he played in the past, I thought he would be someone I could have good chemistry with just because he’s a very predictable player and very effective player. I feel like I try to think the game that same way too where I’m not trying many highlight-reel plays out there but just trying to be effective and do things that maybe aren’t the sexiest at times, but just the different ways that you can control the game when you’re out there.”
3. The Blue Jackets made their mothers happy.
In advance of the outdoor game, the team welcomed player moms – including one very special mother, Jane Gaudreau – along for the trip to Detroit. The moms flew to the Motor City with the team Wednesday, enjoyed an evening dinner with the sons, joined the team on the ice for photographs prior to morning skate and then watched the game in a suite at Little Caesars Arena.
And when it came time for the game, you can’t disappoint your mother, right?
“I would hope they want to play really well for their moms,” Evason said. “It was very special to have them this morning and to have them on the ice. Just watching the interactions between their moms and them, it was amazing.”
The television broadcast of the game cut to the moms’ suite after many of the goals, and the pride and excitement was evident. Of course, the mothers would feel the same way about their sons no matter what the results were, but it sure helps to leave Detroit as one happy family.
“It’s always special just having them being part of what we do every day,” Mathieu Olivier said. “They put in so much time for all of us, whether it was in the rinks or at home, taking care of us. My mom was a hockey mom as well as a hockey wife, so she did it all, right? I just can’t say enough. It’s great to have her here.”
