Columbus came into the game with just one regulation loss and 13 wins in their last 16 games. This impressive streak had the Blue Jackets near the top of the Eastern Conference and left John Tortorella one win shy of 500 victories in his coaching career. Like a bodybuilder accused of cheating, the Jackets are both strong and highly defensive.
This was a tight game. It’s not that there wasn’t a lot of effort on either side, there was. But the defense-first play of both teams meant that there were fewer shots allowed than you'd find at an anti-vaxxer conference. With only 17 pucks on net, Vancouver was lucky to score the goals they did. Luckily for the fans in Rogers Arena who braved the snow (including our own illustrious founding blogger, Daniel Wagner, who was in attendance), the team came to life in the third, claiming a point as only a team with a Honey Badger on the roster can do. I tried to spy Daniel with my little eye while I watched this game.
- Moments into the first period, Henrik Sedin was given an early Christmas gift by brother Daniel, but he shot it wide of the open net. A few minutes later Henrik had another glorious chance with a tip in front of the net but was denied again. And later he made a nifty move to gain the offensive zone and then had two cracks at the net in close. Henrik, did you melt down your Art Ross trophy and reform it into a false idol? Maybe a tiny Gary Bettman statuette? The hockey gods are clearly ticked at you.
- Nice to see a first intermission interview with veteran sports columnist Cam Cole, who is hanging them up after 41 years in the business. We’ll miss his weekly takes. Fortunately we can still pester him on Twitter.
- With the ice still wet from the Zamboni, Luca Sbisa took a second period interference penalty as he skated into a forechecking Nick Foligno. That gave the best ranked power play in the NHL chance to work. Cam Atkinson collected a Zach Werenski rebound and snapped home his 12th goal with Nick Foligno screening. Sbisa, Luca what you did!
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Troy Stecher caught a puck in the face halfway through the second period, as Sergei Bobrovsky tried to clear it out along the glass at the same time Boone Jenner checked Stecher. He headed straight for the dressing room. Losing Stecher is a big deal. The looks of raw dismay and sorrow on Trevor Linden and Jim Benning were just way too real. Those faces will haunt me.
Luckily, Troy rejoined the bench a few minutes later, and he had a great night. In addition to getting stitches and two assists, he stripped Matt Calvert of the puck in the first period with a quick stick. Late in the third he deftly dismantled a rushing play by Brandon Saad, again just by being in the right place. - Fun fact: It was déjà vu night at Rogers Arena. Not only did we once again see a tight checking hockey team coached by John Tortorella and some vintage Sedinery, we also saw a second Luca Sbisa penalty and a second quick goal by Columbus for a 2-0 lead. There were some variations on this waking nightmare: it was Scott Hartnell with the nifty dish, and Brandon Saad was the gift recipient.
- Sven Baertschi, Bo Horvat and Alex Burrows must have been reviewing Sedin tapes while attending spin class. These guys cycled hard. They gained and controlled the zone for about a minute late in the second period. Particularly impressive was Baertschi’s diving check to steal the puck.
- In the third period, to the great relief of the Rogers Arena crowd, Brandon Sutter had an answer to the question, “What About Bobrovsky?” While on a power play, Baertschi snapped a quick shot from in close which the goalie couldn’t handle, spitting a rebound out to a waiting Sutter in the slot. He roofed the puck, putting the team within one goal, and subjecting the poor fans in the crowd to Sutter’s goal song. It’s just a little ear blood folks, power through it.
- Halfway through the third, John Shorthouse muttered that the Canucks “need to find a way to win it.” It so happens that’s the secret Sedinbot verbal activation code. A red blinky light fluttered to life on Daniel’s forehead. With Jannik Hansen rushing on net, Jack Johnson tried to block his path of approach. Henrik dropped the pass to Daniel, who one-timed it off Johnson’s skate and past Bobrovsky. Super effective Sedinbottery. (Good thing Shorthouse didn’t say something like, “They need to exterminate all humans.” That would have been reckless.)
- After a third period where the momentum was mostly all Canucks, the Blue Jackets scored on a stunner. Most stunned was Vancouver defender Ben Hutton, who stood stupefied in the crease as Saad received a pass from Nick Foligno behind the net and fired home the leader. Tough spot for Hutton, he wasn't happy. Chris Tanev had lost his stick and it threw everything into disarray. With less than five minutes remainilng, this tally was more discouraging than Shia Labeouf's demotivational speech.
- I decided I needed to try out this thing Shorty discovered, so with Miller out of the net and under two minutes to go, I whispered, “Jannik Hansen needs to lead a rush and beat Bobrovsky post and in.” It totally worked! Amazing right? Remember Bulies: with great power comes great reprehensibility. Wait, is that right? Probably, whatever. Anyway, Vancouver tied it up.
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The game headed to overtime, but not for very long. Henrik Sedin fed Ben Hutton cruising into the Columbus zone, whose shot went high and off the post. The puck sailed to Cam Atkinson, who had a clean rush and basically banked a shot in off of Seth Jones’ stick and into the net. Tortorella claimed his 500th victory, Vancouver claimed 27th place in the League, and my palm claimed my face.
Still, it was nice to see Vancouver battle back into this match, especially since Columbus appears every bit the real deal. - The man advantage was the story of the game for both sides. Watching the respective power plays for each team was like Christmas morning. You know, the kind of Christmas where your brother gets a cool skateboard, and you get a book on the history of barley soups. Though they did eventually score one, Vancouver’s power play looked mostly pitiful and ineffective against Columbus’ fast and hard forecheck.
- Watching the Tortorella-coached Blue Jackets play is like seeing a house you sold because it was full of bees, but the new owner is now rich because they started a honey business. All the things that just didn’t fit in Vancouver seem to just work for the Blue Jackets. Blocking shots, forechecking, balanced scoring. I’m not saying it stings, but it sure isn’t sweet.
