Blue Jackets Clinch Play

Columbus Blue Jackets News Clips Apr. 6 – 8, 2019

Columbus Blue Jackets PAGE 02: Columbus Dispatch: Blue Jackets clinch playoff spot in shootout nail-biter PAGE 04: Columbus Dispatch: Coach, GM explain why they played Alexandre Texier PAGE 05: The Athletic: Who can? Kukan. The Jackets defenseman’s game is growing and earning him a spot in the lineup PAGE 08: Columbus Dispatch: Blue Jackets: Lightning next after 6-2 win over Senators closes regular season PAGE 10: Columbus Dispatch: Blue Jackets: Meet the sisters who have seen the Jackets at every NHL arena PAGE 12: Columbus Dispatch: Michael Arace: It's playoff time, Blue Jackets fans, and little compares PAGE 14: Columbus Dispatch: Blue Jackets 3, Rangers 2: Five takeaways PAGE 18: The Athletic: Long, arduous season ends with Blue Jackets primed for playoff shot vs. mighty Tampa Bay PAGE 22: The Athletic: ‘X’ marks the playoff spot: Blue Jackets’ dramatic win serves as microcosm of the season PAGE 27: Columbus Dispatch: 5 ways to beat Lightning PAGE 28: Columbus Dispatch: Alexandre Texier will suit up for Game 1 PAGE 30: Columbus Dispatch: Blue Jackets' underdog Stanley Cup bid starts Wednesday in Tampa PAGE 31: Columbus Dispatch: Blue Jackets 6, Senators 2: Five takeaways PAGE 34: The Athletic: For Blue Jackets’ Matt Duchene, making it back to the Stanley Cup playoffs is personal

Cleveland Monsters/Prospects

NHL/Websites

PAGE 36: The Athletic: Duhatschek Notebook: How the second half of the season has affected the NHL awards race PAGE 41: The Athletic: DGB Grab Bag: There’s still lots left to play for, a TV pet peeve and a brief history of crazy goalie pulls

Blue Jackets clinch playoff spot in shootout nail-biter

By Brian Hedger, Columbus Dispatch – April 5, 2019

NEW YORK — In the end, the Russians did it.

Needing a win against the New York Rangers to clinch their third straight trip to the Stanley Cup playoffs on Friday night at Madison Square Garden, the Blue Jackets got their clincher in a 3-2 shootout win thanks to the efforts of their two Russian stars.

Sergei Bobrovsky made some dazzling stops among his 25 saves — including a left pad robbery of Brett Howden late in the third period and a 3-of-3 performance in the shootout — while Artemi Panarin scored with 5:33 left in the third period and scored the only goal of the shootout.

“I don’t think (Panarin) and all those (top line) guys were dead on tonight, but when it came time for a big play, we got it, and that’s what defines those type of players,” coach John Tortorella said. “We got a huge save from Bob. I’m happy. I’m happy for the team.”

Panarin, who like Bobrovsky could be headed to unrestricted free agency in July, made sure the Jackets didn’t need to win the final game of the regular season Saturday at the Ottawa Senators to clinch a playoff spot.

Despite the Rangers sending the game to overtime with seven seconds left on a sharp-angle goal by Pavel Buchnevich that made it 2-2, Panarin scored in the shootout that followed a thrilling OT that tested both goalies.

His wrist shot beat Rangers goalie Alexandar Georgiev into the top right corner and it was his second great shot of the game, after his goal in the third period.

On that one, he got the puck from David Savard, brought it up the left wing, cut hard to the middle and beat Georgiev (39 saves) after first flipping the disc over a defender’s stick.

>> Read more: Coach, GM explain why they played Alexandre Texier

It was a beautiful goal for the leading scorer on the Blue Jackets, who punched their playoff ticket and kept themselves in the hunt for the first wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. They will need to defeat the Senators on Saturday and hope the Carolina Hurricanes lose in any fashion to Philadelphia.

Otherwise, they will be the second wild card and play the Tampa Bay Lightning, which won the President’s Trophy for the most points in the NHL.

“When we get to the playoffs, we’re going to have some fun,” Tortorella said. “We’ve been through a lot together as a team here, the playoffs is the best time of year and you better enjoy it — and we’re going to try to.”

New York put up a game effort thanks to Georgiev and Chris Kreider, who scored the game’s first goal at 1:47 of the second period.

Ryan Dzingel also scored for the Blue Jackets, who gave French-born rookie forward Alexandre Texier his NHL debut and played him on the third line.

“I’d rather take a 2-1 win and save lots of medicine for the hearts, you know?” Bobrovsky said, joking about the late goal allowed off an odd bounce. “But it is what it is. We got it done in a shootout and we are happy about it.”

Coach, GM explain why they played Alexandre Texier

By Brian Hedger, Columbus Dispatch – April 5, 2019

NEW YORK — Some might see it as a bit of desperation by a team still hunting for a playoff spot.

The Blue Jackets, however, don’t see Alexandre Texier’s rapid ascension to the NHL for a game Friday at the New York Rangers that way at all.

“He was one of our top (prospects), a point-per-game guy in Finland, he’s been in two men’s world championships ... it’s not like he’s a spring chicken, even though he’s only 19,” general manager Jarmo Kekalainen said Friday. “He’s played at a high level, been very successful and the (American Hockey League) is a tough league, so you could say we were a little bit like, ‘Wow, he’s better than what we thought.’ It’s a small sample size, but it’s not just the points. He played great.”

After being recalled from the Cleveland Monsters on Thursday, Texier stepped right into the Blue Jackets lineup. First, though, he took a solo “rookie debut” lap around the Jackets’ end of the ice to start their pregame warmup.

Skating at left wing on the third line, Texier played with center Boone Jenner and Oliver Bjorkstrand on the right — bumping center Alexander Wennberg out of the playing mix.

“I’m excited for the kid,” coach John Tortorella said before the game. “It’s a young league. Why not put him in here? And I don’t want to run down Wenny, but we’re running out of time there as far as trying to get Wenny going.

“Now, would we be doing this if I felt everybody was firing on all cylinders? Probably not, but I think at this point in time, this is what we think is our best lineup playing right now.”

Texier took the AHL by storm after coming over to North America last month. He had five goals, two assists and seven points in seven games with Cleveland, after putting up 14 goals and 27 assists in 55 games with KalPa of the Finnish League.

Texier, who’s from Grenoble in the French Alps, has shown this season why the Blue Jackets traded up in the second round of the 2017 NHL draft to select him 45th overall.

“He’s got skill (and) he’s willing to be hard on the puck,” Tortorella said of Texier, whose parents flew to New York for the game. “He just doesn’t seem to be afraid of anything. We feel very comfortable putting him in the lineup.”

Who can? Kukan. The Jackets defenseman’s game is growing and earning him a spot in the lineup

By Alison Lukan, The Athletic – April 5, 2019

As a hockey player, you know it’s a good sign when people start asking how to properly pronounce your name. Such has been the life of Blue Jackets defenseman Dean Kukan of late.

“I get so many questions about my name the last couple weeks, I don’t care anymore,” Kukan said with a smile. “It’s whatever.”

While there’ve been quite a few variations on how to say the player’s last name — for the record, the 25-year-old says it’s pronounced Coo-KAHN in his native Switzerland, but he prefers COO-kin in North America — the reason the defenseman is getting so many mentions in the first place is because of his recent play.

Kukan (0-5-5) signed with the Blue Jackets in the summer of 2015 and has shown flashes of the player he could be ever since. Part of the 2016 Calder Cup winning Monsters roster, Kukan played eight games in the NHL that season. Last year, when he was called up again to the big club in January, through 11 games pairing primarily with David Savard, Kukan seemed to be matching ability with opportunity. Injury, and the deadline acquisition of Ian Cole, kept the Swiss player from playing more games, but his production was such that he was our front-runner to pair with Savard again this year.

But hockey had other plans. Scott Harrington emerged as the Jackets’ No. 6 defenseman, and Kukan was left to fight his way back into the lineup.

While the team knew what Kukan could do, he wasn’t showing enough to be in the lineup on a consistent basis. “We didn’t see it often, at times we didn’t see it,” Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella said.

That was until a few weeks ago. Kukan drew in against the Flames in Calgary on March 16 and has played in seven of the eight games since, bringing his season total to 23 games played.

“(Kukan) came in and really upped his level,” Tortorella said. “The game situations highlighted (his ability). I have to make (lineup) decisions according to play, and I just thought ‘Kuks’ brought so much confidence and puck poise that it really helped us in our transition game.”

Tortorella isn’t wrong. Over his last two years in the league, using data tracked by The Athletic’s Corey Sznajder, we see that while Kukan isn’t a shooter, he rates well in both aspects of transitional play: exiting the defensive zone with possession and entering the offensive zone.

Comparing Kukan’s efforts this season with the rest of the Jackets’ defensive corps, he sits snuggly with Markus Nutivaara and Zach Werenski as blueliners who can get the puck moving in the right direction more of the time than not even with a high workload relative to their time on the ice, something that is definitely of value with Ryan Murray out of the lineup.

It helps that Kukan is a player who believes his game is a perfect fit for the north-south focus of the Blue Jackets’ style of play, or as Kukan calls it, “modern hockey.”

“I like that,” Kukan said. “Defensemen have to be part of the offense, too. Sometimes (you) take the risk, sometimes (you) stay back. Torts wants us to be up with tight gaps on (opponents’) forwards, so they don’t have space, so I really like that. I think that fits my game — having tight gaps, I think it fits my game with my skating ability to be up the ice.

“It’s (also) just trying to move the puck up and when we have a chance to join. (Tortorella) wants us in the rush every time we can — beat the forward and create an odd-man rush.”

The offensive ability is there. Per 60 minutes of play, Kukan leads the Jackets in expected goal differential (.600) and he leads all Columbus defensemen in goal differential (.657), but what else is helping Kukan is the growing evolution in the defensive side of his game. This season has brought him the most total minutes of any year in his NHL career. It’s also brought him some of his best defensive numbers.

“What allows the decision to be made (to keep Kukan in the lineup) is he’s improved on his positioning and his battle level defensively,” Tortorella said. “He’s really improved as far as his battles underneath the hash marks.”

DEFENSE AWAY FROM PUCK – GREAT BOX OUT BY #14 KUKAN OF @BLUEJACKETSNHL THAT LEADS TO THE GOAL BY PANARIN. NOT ALLOWING THE @NYISLANDERS F TO SCREEN OR A CLEAN PUCK RECOVERY MAKES FOR LESS TIME SPENT IN DZC. #TPE PIC.TWITTER.COM/DNIZO3Q9CJ

— PYRAMID HOCKEY (@JOHNBECANIC) MARCH 27, 2019

And when Kukan puts it all together offensively and defensively, good things happen. In the highlight below, we see Kukan win a puck battle and then use his offensive abilities to assist on a Pierre-Luc Dubois score.

“Once I’m in the game, then I’m just trying to make plays,” Kukan said. “I like to skate with the puck, I think I can do that more often and create offense. There’s a lot of upside still in my game.”

What’s next for this player? While these early results are certainly exciting, they’ve come in limited minutes, which should bring an appropriate degree of caution in any evaluation. Kukan also can continue to grow in terms of his individual production. While he’s helping drive offense for his team as a whole, Kukan’s individual shots and scoring chances are coming at a lower rate than last season. But what is encouraging is that as Kukan’s workload has increased — particularly at an important time of the season — his overall performance hasn’t waned. Tortorella has praised Kukan’s ability take the risk, make a play and roll with it if a mistake is made.

Kukan is still in the process of telling us what kind of player he can be, but it’s not wrong to be optimistic. Is there more to come in terms of what this defenseman can do? His head coach certainly thinks so.

“That’s why he’s with us,” Tortorella said. “Especially at that position. There’s so many things that come into that position. You never know when a defenseman is going to mature. I don’t think you should ever give up on a player, I think sometimes we do pretty easily, but especially defensemen, I think you have to be really patient to allow them to develop.”

— Data via NaturalStatTrick.com and Evolving-Hockey.com. All numbers represent five-on-five play unless otherwise stated. This post relies heavily on shot-based metrics. Here is a good primer on these numbers.

Blue Jackets | Lightning next after 6-2 win over Senators closes regular season

By Brian Hedger, Columbus Dispatch – April 6, 2019

KANATA, Ontario — It wasn’t their best overall game, but the Blue Jackets got the win they were looking for Saturday night at Canadian Tire Centre.

After clinching a playoff spot Friday at the New York Rangers, their 6-2 romp over the Ottawa Senators was exactly the result they were seeking for a nice cap to the regular season.

“Scoring feels good, but to be honest, getting a win … everybody’s happy in the room,” said Pierre-Luc Dubois, who led the way with two goals. “We clinched (Friday), so everybody’s happy, but a loss would’ve put a little shadow cloud over the room a little bit.”

Winning had the opposite effect, even though it didn’t lift the Jackets out of a playoff spot that a lot of hockey analysts believe is another certain first-round exit.

Had the Carolina Hurricanes lost Saturday at Philadelphia, the Blue Jackets would have passed them and earned the Eastern Conference’s first wild card to give them a tantalizing rematch against the defending Stanley Cup champion Washington Capitals in the first round.

Instead, the Hurricanes edged the Flyers 4-3 and hung onto that spot for themselves. That left the Blue Jackets with the second wild card and a matchup against the Tampa Bay Lightning, the NHL’s top team.

“That’s a team that likes to open it up a little bit,” Blue Jackets center Matt Duchene said of the Lightning, which won the Presidents' Trophy with 128 points and led the league with 319 goals. “Obviously, they’re going to play a little different now that it’s the playoffs, but I believe that we can compete with anyone in this league, and we’ve got to believe that.”

They certainly made a strong case for believing that during the final two weeks of the regular season.

The Blue Jackets won seven of their final eight games, including a five-game winning streak, to overcome a frustrating loss Feb. 21 at Edmonton that had dropped the Blue Jackets three points back of the Montreal Canadiens for the second wild-card spot.

“It’s probably been one of the most interesting years I’ve been involved in, as far as just our locker room,” Tortorella said. “Now, you move by it. We win seven out of our last eight. Wipe that clean, get into a philosophy of how we have to play against Tampa, because we do have to make some adjustments to our game, and we’ll start getting to work on that Monday with the guys.”

Led by Dubois, they started a little early on some of those tasks against the Senators. Dubois had two goals, and the Blue Jackets’ other goals came from Markus Nutivaara, Riley Nash, Oliver Bjorkstrand and rookie Alexandre Texier.

Bjorkstrand added two assists for a three-point game, Joonas Korpisalo made 27 saves for the win in net, and Texier’s goal was his first in the NHL, in just his second game.

“Once you get to the playoffs, there’s 16 teams in there,” Dubois said. “Whether you’re the first to get in or the last one to get in, it’s the playoffs. It’s a completely different, new season. It’s a new game. It tightens up a bit. A lot changes. So, just to be in there, everybody has a chance.”

Blue Jackets | Meet the sisters who have seen the Jackets at every NHL arena

By Brian Hedger, Columbus Dispatch – April 6, 2019

KANATA, Ontario — The Blue Jackets had two fans in attendance for their game Saturday night at the Ottawa Senators who, in getting there, completed a five-year journey.

Sheila Hummel, 61, and her sister, Sue Donahue, 69, of Shelby — about 90 minutes north of Columbus — attended the game as the final stop in a challenge they started in 2014 to attend Jackets games at every opposing NHL arena.

Their venture began in Nashville and included about four to five stops per season until this year, when they checked off the final seven.

“I’m a day one season-ticket holder,” said Hummel, who drives herself and Sue to games at Nationwide Arena. “In 2014, I just said to her, ‘You know, we should just start following them on the road,’ not thinking that we would actually do it. But we always spend like three days in each city, so we can see the cities.”

Before this trip, they took in games this season at Anaheim, Los Angeles, Colorado, Arizona, Calgary and Vancouver.

The first time returning to play in an arena after a trade can often elicit a surreal feeling for players who have spent a few years there.

But, as it turns out, not Ryan Dzingel.

He and Matt Duchene, who were acquired by the Blue Jackets in separate trades before the Feb. 25 deadline, felt right at home in the visitors locker room at the Canadian Tire Centre.

“It wasn’t too weird, actually, because in years prior — when I wasn’t on the team yet — they would send all the brutal players over to this locker room,” said Dzingel, who was traded to the Blue Jackets on Feb. 23, a day after the move for Duchene. “Guys who got cut early, like me, would always come over here my first two or three years. So, I’m used to sitting in this locker room and seeing the other side of it.”

Duchene got to experience the surreal feeling Feb. 22, the day he was traded. Despite knowing the Blue Jackets were one of the teams interested in acquiring him, the star center didn’t think it would happen so quickly.

“I thought it was going to happen at the last minute, like it did with (Mark Stone),” Duchene said, referring to his former Senators teammate, who was traded to the Las Vegas Golden Knights on deadline day. “I was thinking there was no way it was happening that day and then sure enough, boom. That’s how it always happens, I guess.”

Rookie Alexandre Texier was back in the Jackets’ lineup for a second straight day, scoring his first NHL goal at 4:25 of the second period. But this time, his parents weren’t at the arena.

After flying from France to New York on short notice to watch his NHL debut Saturday, they flew straight back home to get back in time for work.

The fact they were able to make it meant a lot to the 19-year-old forward.

“I really wanted that, because without my parents I would never be here,” Texier said. “My mom, like, (did) everything for me and my dad too, so I wanted them to be here.”

Michael Arace | It's playoff time, Blue Jackets fans, and little compares

By Michael Arace, Columbus Dispatch – April 6, 2019

The Blue Jackets’ three stars in their playoff-clinching victory Friday at the New York Rangers were Artemi Panarin, who scored once in regulation and won the game in a shootout, Sergei Bobrovsky, who was otherworldly in goal, and Ryan Dzingel, who scored the Jackets’ first goal in regulation.

Panarin, Bobrovsky, Dzingel and center Matt Duchene, another of the Jackets stars, are due to become unrestricted free agents July 1. It may be that they are all gone by the next training camp.

Is it a bitter irony, then, that they were integral to clinching the Jackets’ playoff spot? We don’t know. It depends on who stays and who goes, and we can only make guesses right now. So let it be.

If you are a Jackets fan, enjoy what you can while you can. Sure, you like to see a healthy Ryan Murray and a healthy Adam McQuaid back on the blue line (and we’ll see about that). But this is an excellent team — and the Stanley Cup playoffs are glorious, as long as they last, in any given city. Enjoy.

At this time of year, I often harken to May 2, 1986, the day the city of Hartford threw the Whalers a parade for losing to the Montreal Canadiens in the second round. Was that ridiculous, throwing a parade for winning one series?

“I had my reservations (before the parade),” said Kevin Dineen, who blew by the great Larry Robinson to score the overtime winner in Game 4. “You know what? That parade turned out to be a pretty cool thing, and I don’t care what anybody says. There was a certain enthusiasm, to say the least.”

A crowd estimated at 10,000-15,000 lined the nine blocks of the parade route. This was the last fillip of joy at the end of a magical springtime in Connecticut.

Downtown Hartford was, during the 1986 playoffs, one huge bacchanal, a rolling Roman banquet with hockey playing on 27-inch, convex-screened, low-resolution televisions. Those youthful, talented Whalers upset the Quebec Nordiques in a first-round sweep. In the Adams Division final, they lost to the Canadiens in overtime of Game 7. (Curse you, Claude Lemieux.)

Those Canadiens dropped just two more games on the way to winning their 23rd Stanley Cup. Rue Ste.- Catherine rocked. And Whalers fans were forever left to wonder: What if Game 7 had gone the other way? It so easily could have.

“I had a little opportunity there in overtime,” Dineen said. “There was a play to be made, but it didn’t happen. You try not to, but you look back every once in a while and you say, ‘Oh, boy, the margin of error is so, so slim.’ I’ll say this: I would have liked our chances against the Rangers (in the next round).”

Here in front of us is the best Jackets team in the 19 years of the life of the franchise. It could be Jackets fans wake up on the first day of July and the roster has been carved up overnight. What a dark thought that is. Put it aside.

Henry David Thoreau said, “The meeting of two eternities, the past and the future … is precisely the present moment ...”

Kevin William Dineen said, “If Columbus gets past the first round, they’re going to be dangerous. You only get so many chances. There’s no question they’ve got enough guys who’ve been around, and can do some damage.”

Dineen played 1,188 games with five teams. His last 129 games were in a Union Blue uniform from 2000 to ’03. He worked for the Jackets as a development coach. He went on to win a Stanley Cup as an assistant with the Chicago Blackhawks in 2015.

“I’m usually cheering for people I know, coaches I know,” he said. “Now, all of a sudden, I’m rooting for a team and a city and a group of fans I know. My old neighbors in Bexley have been calling me and asking me about (the Jackets’) chances. All those great sports fans in Columbus are now hockey fans. For me, on a personal level, it’s exciting to see.

“I’m planning on sneaking back into town for a few days. What’s the playoff schedule?”

Blue Jackets 3, Rangers 2 | Five takeaways

By Brian Hedger, Columbus Dispatch – April 6, 2019

NEW YORK – They’ve had more heart-to-hearts than a marathon of Oprah re-runs, more meetings than a Boy Scout troop and more drama than the Cannes Film Festival.

Is this the final season in Columbus for Artemi Panarin and Sergei Bobrovsky? Can the Blue Jackets convince them to stay? Would Bobrovsky and Panarin be sold off at the Feb. 25 trade deadline?

Those are a just few of the questions that have hung around the Blue Jackets all season, sort of like a rain cloud that only follows them around.

If they weren’t meeting to discuss Bobrovsky being suspended for his actions after getting pulled Jan. 8 in Tampa, they were meeting about Panarin’s former agent issuing a statement on Twitter that said he had no interest in contract negotiations until the offseason.

There was also a smaller “first line” meeting over dinner in Calgary and then what can only be referred to now as the “Vancouver Summit,” last month – which followed an inexplicable effort during a 4-1 loss March 21 in Edmonton.

It’s been one thing after another, highs and lows, all season long – from the start of training camp, when Bobrovsky all but said he wouldn’t return, right up until it was revealed that rookie forward Alexandre Texier would replace Alexander Wennberg in the lineup Friday against the New York Rangers.

And, yet, here they are, back in the Stanley Cup Playoffs for a franchise-record third straight year following a dramatic 3-2 shootout win against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden.

“It’s not about me, it’s about them,” said coach John Tortorella, who has doubled as the Jackets’ Dr. Phil. “I’m proud of the guys.”

A second later, he must’ve gotten a snapshot of what his team had bridged – including the addition of four new faces at the deadline, while simultaneously hanging onto Panarin and Bobrovsky.

“Listen, there’s been (crap) running around our team all year long, right from the get go, as far as guys leaving … well, you guys know the story … and there’s been a lot of things that have happened within that room,” Tortorella told reporters. “I think the team has held together strong. It’s been a very honest locker room when things come up. We air it out right away, so it doesn’t sit in the room.

So, I’m proud of them – not just tonight, in finding a way to win in a crazy game, but just how they’ve handled themselves throughout the year here, as we’ve gone through a little bit of Jekyll and Hyde throughout the year.”

Oh, right, there was game … and it was decided by general manager Jarmo Kekalainen’s decision to add without subtracting at the trade deadline.

Bobrovsky made a number of dynamic saves, including all three in the shootout, Panarin scored a goal late in the third and another in the shootout – and Ryan Dzingel, one of two forwards acquired from the Ottawa Senators, scored a huge game-tying goal early in the third.

Panarin, as per usual, didn’t conduct interviews with English-speaking reporters and was spotted having a chat with agent Paul Theofanous afterward – who now represents both he and Bobrovsky.

And Bobrovsky, who last week revealed that he was “not a fan” of all the Jackets’ “clear the air” meetings, went with his patented “it is what it is,” refrain to explain the season's inherent turbulence.

“It was lots of things happened during the season ... I don’t want to go over all of this stuff, you know?” he said. “Lots of things were happening behind closed doors and I don’t want to talk about it. It is what it is. Again, I am happy that we are moved to the postseason and I’m looking forward for that.”

First, though, is one final game Saturday in Ottawa that could decide which wild card Columbus will occupy in the Eastern Conference and which team the Jackets will play in the first round.

As the scene transitions across the U.S.- Canadian border for that one, here are five takeaways from a stress-inducing and then relieving night in the Big Apple:

All Columbus needed was a win of any kind to clinch a playoff spot and nix the Montreal Canadiens’ hopes of stealing it from them.

After the Canadiens lost Thursday to the Washington Capitals, the Blue Jackets had a clear path to the postseason rolled out like a red carpet. They didn’t miss the opportunity to stroll right down it to extend their playoff qualification streak to a franchise-record three years in a row.

“What we’ve always wanted is to make sure that it’s in our control – and we have that,” captain Nick Foligno said, prior to the game. “I think we’re just looking forward to the opportunity to win a hockey game and put us into the postseason, which is what want, and then anything can happen from there.

“If anything, this is probably a good test and trial run to what you’re going to face in the playoffs, where you’ve got to find a way to close out teams. So, here’s a chance to play in that kind of atmosphere with that kind of mind-set, where you win and you move on, so to speak. The guys are excited about what we’ve done to put ourselves in this situation and we’re going to make sure we don’t waste this opportunity.”

They didn’t, which means now the Jackets can focus on reeling in the Hurricanes – who are one point ahead for the East’s first wild card.

The Blue Jackets will get a first-round rematch with the Washington Capitals – the defending Stanley Cup champions who knocked them out of the playoffs last season – if they finish tied or ahead of the Hurricanes in points.

A loss would cement Columbus into the second wild card and pit them against the Tampa Bay Lightning – who have clinched the Presidents’ Trophy for most points in the NHL and won all three games of the season series by wide margins.

“When we get to the playoffs, we’re going to have some fun,” Tortorella said. “We’ve been through a lot together as a team here, playoffs is the best time of year and you better enjoy it – and we’re going to try to.”

The excellence of a save Bobrovsky made with 8:21 left in the third stood out, even in a game dotted with great stops by both goalies.

Four Blue Jackets got caught deep in the New York zone, which led to a 3-on-1 rush with the game knotted 1-1. Anthony DeAngelo fed a pass across to Brett Howden on the right wing for a low snap shot, but Bobrovsky sprawled to get his left pad and glove over just in time.

He preserved the tie about three minutes before Panarin gave Columbus a late lead on his 28th goal.

“In this kind of situation, you have to be locked in,” Bobrovsky said. “You have to be, like, focused, because you never know what’s going to happen if you let the goal in. So, you have to be 120 percent and … just stay with the moment, be in the moment and do what’s the situation dictates.”

The Rangers are one of the teams Panarin is rumored to have an interest signing with as a free agent. It’s hard to see why, though, outside of the bright lights, big city atmosphere in New York.

Should Panarin sign with the Rangers, he would no longer get to pad his statistics by playing the Rangers – which he’s done a lot in his first four NHL seasons.

Henrik Lundqvist has taken the brunt of Panarin’s damage while manning New York’s net, but Alexandar Georgiev felt the sting this time. He allowed Panarin’s goal to make it 2-1 with 5:33 left in the third and was then beaten clean with Panarin’s wrist shot in the shootout.

In 12 career games against the Rangers, Panarin has 12 goals, six assists and 18 points – including a hat trick last season against Lundqvist.

After a fluky goal scored 1:58 into the Blue Jackets’ 6-2 loss Tuesday to the Boston Bruins eventually became a key goal. Columbus was unable to tie it up before the Bruins pushed their lead to 5-0 in the third.

Captain Nick Foligno said the Blue Jackets lacked patience trailing 1-0, loosened up too soon and paid the price on the goals that followed.

Tortorella lamented it, too, saying his team needs to display more poise in those situations. The Rangers gave them another chance when Chris Kreider scored 1:47 into the second for a 1-0 lead. Columbus maintained its style of play, kept dictating the action and eventually overcame it on goals by Dzingel and Panarin in the third.

“I just think what we didn’t have in the second period against Boston, I’ve talked about it quite a bit, is our patience,” Tortorella said. “I thought we just kept on playing (this time). After the first period, I think we’d generated 12 or 13 scoring chances and you can see what the night’s going to be with that goaltender (Georgiev), how well he’s playing. So, I appreciate our team just trying to stay with it.”

Tex’s debut

Alexandre Texier's parents were among those watching in person, after catching a flight to New York from France, and they saw what everybody did about their son.

The Blue Jackets’ 19-year old forward, who’s from the city of Grenoble in the French Alps, wasn’t overwhelmed by his NHL debut in the least – even though it happened in one of the world’s most revered arenas and Columbus needed a win to clinch a playoff spot.

No pressure or anything.

“I think he was probably the calmest one on the bench,” Tortorella said. “He made plays through people, had no fear at all. You have to look short-term, but I also look long-term with young kids. We have to. That’s an interesting one there, boy, as far as how he handled himself in his first game, Madison Square Garden, under these circumstances … he didn’t have a fear at all.”

Texier, who wore No. 42, played 11:49 and skated at left wing on the third line with Boone Jenner and Oliver Bjorkstrand. Jenner centered the line after Alexander Wennberg was bumped from the playing mix by Texier – who didn’t shy away from reporters either.

Texier fielded questions in English from multiple reporters and answered them without the assistance of a translator. His English has improved since the Blue Jackets selected him 45th overall in the second round of the 2017 NHL draft.

“It’s a big win for us and I feel pretty good right now,” said Texier, who played two seasons with KalPa in the Finnish League (Liiga) prior to making his North American debut with the Cleveland Monsters last month. “I just enjoy the time here and (it’s) day-by-day for me right now, so it felt great.”

Long, arduous season ends with Blue Jackets primed for playoff shot vs. mighty Tampa Bay

By Aaron Portzline, The Athletic – April 6, 2019

OTTAWA — It will go down as the Blue Jackets’ second-best regular season, but it was not an easy 82- game trek. The cloud of uncertainty regarding Sergei Bobrovsky and Artemi Panarin didn’t blow over until the late February trade deadline. The trade deadline brought an influx of talent but forced a major adjustment with very little margin for error.

The Blue Jackets were “Jekyll and Hyde,” said coach John Tortorella, but they won seven of their final eight games, including 6-2 over Ottawa on Saturday, to push across the finish line with one final burst.

And their reward for a third consecutive playoff berth? The Blue Jackets get to play the Tampa Bay Lightning, who matched an NHL record with 62 victories this season and totaled 128 points, the fourth- highest figure ever accumulated.

“It’s probably been one of the most interesting years I’ve been involved in,” Tortorella said. “Just our locker room, the really good process (we had) within our locker room, a lot of things going on in there.

“We win seven of our last eight. Wipe that (regular-season slate) clean. Get into a philosophy of how we have to play against Tampa, because we do have to make some adjustments to our game. We’ll start getting to work on that on Monday.”

Game 1 is expected to be Wednesday in Amalie Arena, with Game 2 set for Friday. The full NHL schedule for all eight first-round series will be released by the league by 10 a.m. Sunday.

Asked if his club liked the challenge of taking on the NHL’s best club, Tortorella cut in mid-question:

“Damn right.”

He then paused a couple of seconds and added, for emphasis: “Damn right.”

Pierre-Luc Dubois scored twice, while Markus Nutivaara, Oliver Bjorkstrand, Riley Nash and rookie Alexandre Texier all scored for the Blue Jackets, who took a 3-0 lead in the first 10-minutes and played an injury-free game.

Carolina’s 4-3 win over Philadelphia earned the Hurricanes the first wild card and a chance to play the Washington Capitals, who won the Stanley Cup last spring, in the first round.

“That’s a pick-your-poison situation for sure,” Blue Jackets center Matt Duchene said. “But I don’t think there are many teams that want to play us, either. Maybe that sounds the wrong way, but I feel like we’re a dangerous team that can play with anybody in this league.

“Obviously (Tampa Bay) can score, so we have to defend well. But we can score, too. That’s a team that likes to open it up a little bit. Obviously, they’re going to play a little different now that it’s playoffs, but I believe we can compete with anybody in this league. We gotta believe that.”

Suffice it to say the Blue Jackets will be massive underdogs in this series.

The Blue Jackets have lost six straight to Tampa Bay, getting swept in the three-game season series each of the past two seasons. They were outscored 17-3 and never held the lead vs. the Lightning this season.

In fact, in the past six meetings, the Blue Jackets have been shutout three times. In the 365 minutes of playing time, the Jackets have held the lead for all of 24 seconds.

“It’s a great challenge right off the bat,” Duchene said. “We can go in, no pressure on us. We can go play loose and have fun and enjoy the ride.”

The Blue Jackets clinched a playoff spot on Friday in New York, so they used Saturday’s game as almost a first practice toward getting ready for Tampa Bay.

In his pregame meeting, Tortorella stressed the importance of the Blue Jackets’ play away from the puck, which will be crucial in trying to defend the Lightning.

“I’m not going to get into any details,” Dubois said, “but we talked about a couple of points we wanted to get better at. Our play without the puck … if you think about it, that’s probably the easiest part of the game.

“The play with the puck is a lot of instinct. Without the puck, it’s thinking about it and executing. We can improve a lot. We’re going to practice on Monday, watch some video and I think we’re going to be one hell of a team come playoff time.”

In the Blue Jackets’ favor …

• In 2017, the second wild card, Nashville, swept Western Conference-leading Chicago, 4-0, in the first round. That’s the only time in the NHL current playoff format (started in 2013-14) that a second wild card has won a round.

• In 2012, before the wild card was instituted, the Los Angeles Kings swept the Presidents’ Trophy- winning Vancouver in the first round and went on to win the Cup. That’s the last time a Presidents’ Trophy winner was bounced in the first round.

• In seven of the past 10 years, the Presidents’ Trophy winner has been bounced in the first two rounds of the playoffs, including three times in the first round: Vancouver (2012), Washington (2010) and San Jose (2009).

Notebook

• After drawing iron earlier in the second period, Texier scored his first NHL goal in his second NHL game. He finished a 2-on-1 with Oliver Bjorkstrand, burying a perfect feed from Bjorkstrand past Senators goaltender Anders Nilsson. It gave the Jackets a 4-2 lead near the end of a second period that saw Ottawa creep back into the game.

• Here’s Texier on how his world has changed in the past two weeks, from playing in Finland, to coming to North American to play in the AHL, then a quick call-up to the NHL. Could he have imagined this? “No. To be honest, never. Step by step, I went to the AHL, play good, so I have my chance here. I hope I’m going to stay with the team. I don’t know. We will see. You never know what’s going to happen, so enjoy the time here.”

• Tortorella quickly put the young man’s mind to rest. Asked if would have any reservation throwing a 19-year-old into a playoff series, Tortorella cut the question off mid-sentence: “He’s playing.”

• More Texier: “(Bjorkstrand) did everything for me tonight. It was a good play by him, just put it in.”

• Cam Atkinson had seven shots on goal, seven chances to set the franchise record for goals scored in a season. He ended the season at 41, tied with Rick Nash (2003-04).

• Panarin’s two assists give him 28-59-87 on the season, padding his franchise record for assists and points in a season. He has 169 points in 160 career games with the Blue Jackets, plus a combined plus- 37.

• Texier’s parents flew from France to New York City to watch young Alexandre’s NHL debut in Friday’s 3-2 shootout win over the New York Rangers. They had to fly back during the day on Saturday — “They had to work,” Texier said — so they weren’t in the building Saturday to see his first NHL goal. He took pictures.

• Four Blue Jackets’ players dressed in all 82 games this season — Josh Anderson, David Savard, Zach Werenski and Dubois, who has yet to miss a game in his first two seasons.

• Dubois was back on the first line between Artemi Panarin and Atkinson, with Matt Duchene sliding in between Ryan Dzingel and Josh Anderson on the second line. Dubois had two goals and now has three in his last four games, a much-needed offensive awakening after the deep chill he settled into after the trade deadline.

• Here’s Tortorella: “He scores a couple goals. Anything like that for a guy who has struggled a little bit here of late, hopefully it helps him. I thought that line played good. You don’t want to get too strong into an evaluation in a game like this, but, yeah, we made the switch at the centers, him and Dutchie. I’m not exactly sure what all the lines are going to be still, but that line will probably start in Tampa.”

• For the second time this season, the Blue Jackets played a game with no penalties for either club. The other was Nov. 19 in Toronto, a 4-2 loss.

• G Joonas Korpisalo finished with 27 saves for his 10th win of the season. Keith Kinkaid served as his backup, so Bobrovsky could take the night fully off. This is the third time in the past month Bobrovsky has watched from above.

• This is hard to believe, but before Texier’s goal — reminder, this is the final game of the regular season — the Blue Jackets did not have one point scored by a rookie this season. Eric Robinson (13 games), Kevin Stenlund (four), Kole Sherwood (two), Texier (2) and Gabriel Carlsson (one) hadn’t registered a point this season. (Credit Alison Lukan for this nugget.)

• The Blue Jackets set a franchise record with 256 goals scored this season. They also finished second- best in franchise history with 47 wins (50, 2016-17) and 98 points (108 points, 2016-17).

• In five playoff berths, the Blue Jackets have been a third seed once, a seventh seed three times and now an eighth seed.

• Anderson finished minus-1 on the night, but plus-24 for the season, the best figure ever by a Blue Jackets’ forward. Brandon Saad (2016-17) and Panarin (2017-18) have both been plus-23.

• A dog dropped the ceremonial faceoff. Not joking. He was great. Press box wag (pun fully intended), when the Blue Jackets took a 3-0 lead: “Put the dog in.” That’s two minutes … for ruff!-ing.

Analytically Speaking

The Athletic’s hockey data dynamo Alison Lukan provided these insights into the Blue Jackets’ win:

• The Jackets won this game by playing to their skill and shot quality vs. shot quantity. While three goals in the first 10:33 will certainly relax a team’s offensive aggressiveness, even adjusted for score effects, Columbus had only 47.61 percent of all shot attempts. But when it comes to scoring chances and dangerous attempts, the Jackets earned the advantage. They had 55.12 percent of all chances and 51.14 percent of all high-danger attempts.

• Texier was much more comfortable — and productive! — offensively. He generated four shot attempts, three of which were on target, three scoring chances (second-most on the team), and of course his first NHL goal. In terms of balancing the ice, Texier and his line struggled to control shot share (minus-2), but they did draw even in scoring chances and were the only line other than the Jackets’ top line to gain an advantage in getting to the dangerous areas (plus-1).

• In addition to his club-high seven shot attempts — all of which were on target — Atkinson tied with Dubois for most individual scoring chances (four).

• G Joonas Korpisalo performed right to where he should have in net. He finished the game .02 percent higher than his expected save percentage and was right at where he was predicted to be as far as goals against.

• The Ottawa netminders had a tougher go. Craig Anderson was chased after three goals against and was woefully 34.57 percent below expectations, putting 2.42 goals on him compared to what was presumed to happen. Anders Nilsson took over in relief, but his save percentage was still 1.81 percent below where it should have been based on what he faced.

Data via MoneyPuck.com, Evolving-Hockey.com, and NaturalStatTrick.com reflects 5-on-5 play unless otherwise stated.

‘X’ marks the playoff spot: Blue Jackets’ dramatic win serves as microcosm of the season

By Tom Reed, The Athletic – April 6, 2019

NEW YORK — When it finally ended, after Sergei Bobrovsky made his last dazzling save and Artemi Panarin supplied the lone shootout goal, John Davidson walked slowly toward the media elevator high above the Madison Square Garden ice Friday night.

The Blue Jackets president of hockey operations was joined by general manager Jarmo Kekalainen and assistant GM Bill Zito. As the organization’s brain trust reached the door, Davidson looked around at others waiting for the lift. He treated the group to an exaggerated exhale — thus speaking for an entire Blue Jackets fan base.

“Never a doubt,” Davidson said jokingly after his club beat the Rangers 3-2 in a shootout that clinched a playoff berth with one game remaining.

In a tense and taut contest, the Blue Jackets qualified for their third consecutive postseason bid and the fifth in their history. They will play either the Lightning or the Capitals depending on the outcome of the games Saturday involving Columbus and Carolina.

That will sort itself out in the next 24 hours. But in the visitors locker room at the Garden, players and coaches were just happy and relieved to get the “X” next to their name in the standings after weeks of high anxiety that followed the Feb. 25 trade deadline.

The win over the Rangers served as a microcosm of the Blue Jackets’ season. It was filled with drama, offered a late twist in the tale and revolved around high-profile free agents Bobrovsky and Panarin.

The club trailed 1-0 after two periods, rallied to take a lead on goals from Ryan Dzingel and Panarin only to surrender it on a fluke Pavel Buchnevich tally with seven seconds remaining in regulation. But Bobrovsky, who finished with 25 saves, steadied himself and guided his teammates through overtime before denying all three Rangers in the shootout.

The Blue Jackets, winners of six of their last seven games, poured off the bench to congratulate Bobrovsky. John Tortorella pumped his right fist after his goalie made the last stop on Tony DeAngelo before shaking the hands of assistant coaches Brad Shaw and Brad Larsen.

Imagine had they lost this game and traveled to Ottawa — where all the trade-deadline hype ramped up Feb. 22 with the acquisition of Matt Duchene — needing a win against Anthony Duclair and the Senators to ensure playoff participation. The high-wire scenario surely crossed the minds of players, coaches, management and fans.

Tortorella acknowledged he was a bit nervous before the game because he didn’t know how much pressure his players were feeling. The coach called it “one of the craziest years” in his career because of the uncertainty surrounding the futures of Bobrovsky and Panarin, coupled with the elevated expectations of management’s “all-in” approach at the deadline.

“I’m proud of the guys,” Tortorella said. “Listen, there has been shit running around our team all year long, right from the get-go as far as guys leaving. You guys know the story and there have been a lot of things that have happened within that room. I think the team has held together strong. It’s been a very honest locker room when things come up. We air it out right away so it doesn’t sit in the room.

“So I’m proud of them. Not just tonight in finding a way to win in a crazy game, but just how they’ve handled themselves throughout the year here as we have gone a little bit Jekyll and Hyde …”

Tortorella ended his postgame remarks with a humorous exchange involving a French-Canadian television reporter who asked him if he had any words for the fans of Montreal. The Canadiens were eliminated from playoff contention with the Jackets’ win.

“No,” the coach deadpanned.

After the scrum ended, Tortorella looked at the reporter and said, “nice try.”

He took a few minutes to visit with his daughter and catch up with old friends at the Garden, where he coached from 2009-13. Tortorella is hoping everyone associated with his current team can relax after reaching the playoffs. Had the club somehow stumbled through the last two games and missed the tournament, jobs likely would have been lost.

The decision to add free agents Duchene and Dzingel from Ottawa, while retaining Bobrovsky and Panarin, has led to talk of a potential deep playoff run. The Blue Jackets didn’t always manage the expectations well. At times, they appeared to lack cohesion and confidence offensively as they slipped in the standings.

“Just the ups and downs as far as our play,” Tortorella said. “Struggle at home. Certain big games we didn’t show. Lot of different things happened this year. But when push came to shove toward the end of the year, we went on a run, guys stepped up and found a way to get in.”

Among the well-wishers who gathered down the hall from the Blue Jackets locker room was Paul Theofanous, the agent who represents the team’s two Russian stars. Theofanous had a long chat with Panarin, who left his old agent, Daniel Milstein, several months ago.

Theofanous traveled to Quebec to meet with Blue Jackets management in February after Bobrovsky served a team-imposed, one-game suspension for not returning to the bench once he was pulled from the third period of a game in Tampa.

Bobrovsky rebounded from the episode and has excelled since the trade deadline. He’s 10-3-0 in his past 13 starts, and he was the named the NHL’s second star for March.

Two weeks ago, Blue Jackets goaltenders coach Manny Legace told The Athletic he thought the club’s decision to keep Panarin contributed to Bobrovsky’s recent surge. A source close to the goalie said Friday night he also believes that to be true.

Bobrovsky would not be drawn into a conversation about Panarin’s presence and whether retaining his good friend helped put his mind at ease down the stretch.

“There was lots of things that happened during this season,” Bobrovsky said. “I don’t want to think over and go over all of this stuff, you know. As I said, lots of things were happening behind those doors and I don’t want to talk about it. It is what it is.

“Again, I’m happy we move to the postseason. I am looking forward like that.”

It remains unlikely that either Russian will be with the Blue Jackets after July 1, but they helped drag their team over the playoff line in Game No. 81.

The Blue Jackets carried play for long stretches against the Rangers but struggled to solve 23-year-old goalie Alexandar Georgiev, who finished with 39 saves and a number of spectacular stops. He has outplayed Henrik Lundqvist in the past two months and stolen a few games the rebuilding Rangers had no business winning.

It looked like it might happen again Friday night, especially after Chris Kreider scored a second-period goal and the Rangers carried a 1-0 lead to intermission. The Blue Jackets had been 1-23-1 when trailing after two periods.

Bobrovsky didn’t face the same volume of shots, but he made at least a half-dozen huge saves. None was bigger than his third-period, left-pad stop of Brett Howden on a two-on-one break with 8:21 remaining in a tie game.

Three minutes later, Panarin gave the Blue Jackets a 2-1 lead after taking a feed from David Savard, cutting between the circles and ripping a shot just under the crossbar for his third goal and ninth point in the past seven games.

“That’s what he brings, that’s what he does,” captain Nick Foligno said of Panarin. “That’s why I’m sure Jarmo felt like, ‘What are we getting rid of this guy for if this is what he brings to our team?’ We’ll worry about that stuff in the offseason. He proved it again. Bob proved it again. A lot of guys stepped up in a game that meant a lot to the club.”

The clutch play of Panarin and Bobrovsky in the postseason-clinching game again helped validate management’s decision to keep both. Panarin finished with seven shots, not including the shootout winner.

“When we needed a big play, we got it and that’s what defines those type of players,” Tortorella said.

In a night spring-loaded with tension, the Blue Jackets finally put to rest the possibility of a stretch-drive collapse. Yes, they will have to play either the President’s Trophy winners (Lightning) or the defending Stanley Cup champions (Capitals), but they are playoff bound.

“We’re gonna have fun,” Tortorella said. “We’re gonna have fun here. We have been trying to generate that type of attitude. We can sit here all we want and talk about, ‘You should have fun’ and ‘don’t feel the pressure.’ (But) they care and they want to get in. … We’re there now. The playoffs are the greatest time of the year, you better enjoy it.”

Deep breaths, everyone, deep breaths.

Notes

• If the Blue Jackets win in Ottawa and the Hurricanes lose in regulation at Philadelphia or in a shootout or in overtime, Columbus will earn the first wild-card spot and face the Capitals. Otherwise, they play the Lightning.

• Alexandre Texier made his NHL debut, finishing with three shots on goal in 11:49 of ice time. Playing on a line with Boone Jenner and Oliver Bjorkstrand, the 19-year-old Frenchman did not look out of place after being promoted from minor-league Cleveland.

“I think he was the calmest one on the bench,” Tortorella said. “I thought he made plays through people. Had no fear at all. You’ve got to look short term, but you’ve also got to look long term with young kids. That’s an interesting one there, boy, as far as how he handled himself in Madison Square Garden under these circumstances. He didn’t have a fear at all.”

Texier’s parents made the trip from Europe to see the game.

“It feels pretty good,” he said. “It’s a big win for us and I feel pretty good right now. It was a pretty good win. I really wanted the win for the team to make the playoffs. I was so excited after that. It’s really nice.”

Texier had five goals and two assists in seven games for the Monsters after completing his season in Finland.

Beyond his scoring, the element of his play that excites the Blue Jackets is his ability to process the game quickly. He’s always thinking a step ahead. That was evident in the first period when he drifted behind the net to hide from defenders before popping out on the other side to nearly score on a nice feed from Zach Werenski.

“I thought he was good,” Foligno said. “You can see he has a lot of skill. As he learns the game more at the NHL level, he’ll understand more about how to play in certain areas, pressure areas. But for the first game to come into a game like that, I thought he looked pretty good.”

• The Blue Jackets scratched Alexander Wennberg to play Texier.

“I don’t want to run down Wenny, but we’re out of time here,” Tortorella said of the center who also was scratched five consecutive games in late February and early March.

Wennberg has two goals in 75 games this season.

• Georgiev was born in Bulgaria but spent his formative years in Russia closely following Bobrovsky’s regular-season success with the Blue Jackets.

“I grew up watching him play in this league and every Russian goalie wants to win Vezinas just like him,” Georgiev told The Athletic’s Rick Carpiniello. “He was the first one. It’s always fun to play against this kind of guy after growing up watching him. It’s a great experience.”

• Tortorella encourages his players to shoot for the empty net even at the risk of an icing. That strategy nearly proved costly. The Blue Jackets missed three open nets with Georgiev pulled in the final minutes and each led to icings. The Rangers tied the score in the final seconds as Buchnevich’s bad-angle shot snuck between the pads.

Analytically speaking

The Athletic’s hockey data dynamo Alison Lukan provided these insights into the Blue Jackets’ win:

• It didn’t come easy, but the Blue Jackets earned the win they got against the Rangers by playing the long game and depending on their goaltender. In regulation, Columbus held the edge in five-on-five shot share (61.22 percent), scoring chances (58.62) and high-danger attempts (56.52). That advantage continued through overtime when the Jackets had 88.89 percent of shot attempts, 63.24 percent of scoring chances and 61.54 percent of high-danger attempts. All in all, the expected goal total was in favor of Columbus 4.38 to 2.37.

• Considering that effort, the goaltenders wanted to have their say. Sergei Bobrovsky and Alexandar Georgiev were difference-makers. The Rangers’ goaltender ended with a save percentage that was 3.6 percent above expectations, meaning he turned away 1.47 goals more than average. That was something the Jackets certainly felt early as he turned away the 46 shot attempts he faced through two periods before allowing two goals from the 20 attempts he saw in the third period.

• On the other end of the ice, Bobrovsky did not see that type of shot volume. He ended with a save percentage that was 1.4 percent above expectations, meaning he turned away .39 goals against, but he stood tall when it mattered most. Of the 44 shot attempts he faced, Bobrovsky allowed only one goal from seven high-danger attempts against. The other goal against the Jackets rated as medium danger and was the only score from 11 attempts in those areas.

• Artemi Panarin had the go-ahead goal for the Jackets and the shootout winner, and those were deserved payoffs for his efforts. He led all skaters from both teams in game score (1.9), shot attempts (12) and tied with Zach Werenski for individual scoring chances (seven).

• In his NHL debut, Alexandre Texier played 11:49 and had four shot attempts, three of those were on target, and two were high-danger. Texier had two individual scoring chances and fell right in the middle of the pack as far as expected goals (.2).

5 ways to beat Lightning

By Brian Hedger, Columbus Dispatch – April 7, 2019

The concern is legit.

Tampa Bay didn’t post 128 points this season by accident. The Lightning did it with a stout defense, a skilled goalie and a relentless, overwhelming offensive attack that filled the opposing net with 319 pucks.

So, how can the Blue Jackets overcome long odds for a stunning first-round upset?

Here are five ways they can get it done:

Goalie Bob

Sergei Bobrovsky’s playoff struggles are well-versed, but what we’ve yet to see is what could pave the way to a Columbus victory.

In his final seven starts of the season, Bobrovsky went 6-1-0 with a 1.50 goals-against average, .947 save percentage and three shutouts. What would a run like that do for the Blue Jackets’ odds in a seven- game series?

Patience, Grasshopper

The Blue Jackets have a tendency to get frustrated too quickly. A turnover leads to a goal, they press too hard to get it back, sacrifice their defensive structure and give up two or three more.

That simply cannot happen against Tampa Bay, which can score goals in bunches without getting help. If the Jackets fall behind early, they must keep their cool and be disciplined with the puck.

Attack mentality

Columbus is at its best winning puck battles, making opponents pay a physical price and forcing the play to stay in the opposing zone.

It’s the Jackets’ calling card when they’re winning, and they can use that style to muscle up against the smaller Lightning.

Don’t get boxed in

The Blue Jackets must stay out of the penalty box as much as possible.

Tampa Bay went 6 for 11 on power plays against Columbus in three games this season for a blistering 54.5 percent success rate, which should give even the Blue Jackets’ second-ranked PK units nightmares.

Clog the pipe

Like it or not, the Jackets have to make a concerted effort to win control of the middle of the ice at both ends of the rink. If the Lightning owns the middle third, especially in the Columbus zone, it could get ugly.

Alexandre Texier will suit up for Game 1

By Brian Hedger, Columbus Dispatch – April 7, 2019

There was bubbling cauldron of reasons Alexandre Texier should’ve been more nervous for his NHL debut Friday at Madison Square Garden.

For starters, he’s a 19-year-old from the mountain town of Grenoble in the French Alps. Many in France feel he is the most gifted hockey player the country has ever produced. No pressure or anything.

His first NHL game wasn’t exactly a throwaway, either. The Blue Jackets needed to beat the New York Rangers to clinch a spot in the Stanley Cup playoffs, not to mention avoiding a must-win scenario Saturday in Ottawa.

And did we mention that his parents hopped an overnight flight to New York for the Rangers game?

Good luck, kid.

“I was not nervous,” said Texier, who helped the Blue Jackets defeat both the Rangers and Ottawa Senators on back-to-back days, scoring his first career NHL goal against the latter. “It was just fun. I’m young, I’m playing in this league and I just want to help the team.”

After the Ottawa game, Texier said he wasn’t sure what was next for him — emphasizing his day-to-day approach before being called up Thursday from the Cleveland Monsters.

Coach John Tortorella, however, was clear about what’s next for the young center — who’s had quite a year after starring for KalPa in the Finnish League (Liigue) and then Cleveland.

“He’s playing,” Tortorella said, when asked whether he’d dress a rookie with such little NHL experience for Game 1 of a first-round series Wednesday at the Tampa Bay Lightning.

So, there you have it. In fact, he said it twice.

Texier will play against the Lightning, at least to start out, and the fact he will likely play over Alexander Wennberg for a third straight game speaks volumes about them both. Wennberg’s prolonged offensive struggles opened this door a crack, but Texier’s rapid development busted it down.

After leading KalPa with 41 points (14 goals) in 51 games, he also took the American Hockey League by storm with five goals and seven points in seven games for the Monsters.

Now, he’s suddenly in the NHL with his sights on the playoffs.

“I think he was probably the calmest one on the bench,” Tortorella said after the Rangers game. “You have to look short-term, but I also have to look long-term with young kids. We have to. That’s an interesting one there, boy, as far as how he handled himself in his first game, Madison Square Garden, under these circumstances. He didn’t have a fear at all.”

Other than a pulse-pounding solo lap to start the Jackets’ pregame warmup, that is.

“Ten minutes before the game, the captain (Nick Foligno) told me, like, ‘You go alone,’ ” Texier said, smiling. “I was like, ‘OK.’ I was so nervous. I don’t want to miss the net or something, do something wrong, but it was good. It was fun.”

Playoff hockey can be decidedly less fun for rookies, especially those who are just two games into their careers. The Blue Jackets, however, are going condidently forward with Texier — who’s taking it all in stride, along with taking a few photos.

“My good friend back in France is, like, a big fan of (Artemi Panarin),” Texier said, smiling. “He just said, ‘Have fun with him ... and take some pictures.’ ”

Blue Jackets' underdog Stanley Cup bid starts Wednesday in Tampa

By Brian Hedger, Columbus Dispatch – April 7, 2019

After stealing the spotlight at the trade deadline, loading up for what they hope is a long postseason run, the Blue Jackets now have a chance to swipe more national attention in the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Starting with Game 1 of an Eastern Conference Quarterfinal series against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Wednesday at Amalie Arena, the Jackets will get the first crack at pulling off an upset that would send shockwaves around the NHL.

The Lightning won the Presidents Trophy with a whopping 128 points and enter the playoffs as the odds- on favorite to hoist the Cup. They also swept the season series against the Blue Jackets, going 3-0-0 and outscoring Columbus by a combined 17-3 margin.

That makes Columbus a heavy underdog despite adding star center Matt Duchene and forward Ryan Dzingel, a 20-goal scorer, in separate trades with the Ottawa Senators.

“Obviously they can score, so we’ve got to defend well, but we can score too,” Duchene said after the Blue Jackets’ 6-2 win Saturday night in Ottawa to conclude the regular season. “That’s a team that likes to open it up a little bit, and obviously they’re going to play a little different now that it’s playoffs, but I believe we can compete with anyone in this league – and we’ve got to believe that.”

This series has the potential to be one of the most interesting in the first-round, starting with the first two games in Tampa on Wednesday and Friday. The scene will then shift back to Columbus for Games 4 and 5 on Sunday, April 14 and Tuesday, April 16 at Nationwide Arena, with all four games starting at 7 p.m.

The Blue Jackets and NHL released the series schedule Sunday, which included the start times and broadcast information for the first four games.

Fox Sports Ohio will broadcast all four locally, while NBCSN will show Game 3 and CNBC will pick up Games 2 and 4. All four games will be available throughout Canada, as well, on Sportsnet 360 and shown on TVA Sports, a French-speaking network.

Start times and network availability for Games 5, 6 and 7 will be determined, if needed, at a later date.

“It’s a great challenge right off the bat,” Duchene said. “We can go in and, no pressure on us, you know? So, we can go in, play loose, have fun and enjoy the ride.”

Blue Jackets 6, Senators 2: Five takeaways

By Brian Hedger, Columbus Dispatch – April 7, 2019

KANATA, Ontario – It turned out to be an anti-climactic finish for the Blue Jackets on Saturday night at Canadian Tire Centre.

They ripped through a 6-2 win against the Ottawa Senators, despite a tough second period, but the two points earned turned out to be Seinfeldian.

Thanks to the Carolina Hurricanes, who edged the Philadelphia Flyers 4-2 at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, they were basically points about nothing – doing zilch to improve the Jackets’ playoff position.

It did contribute to their overall mood, though, as they now dive right into preparing for a first-round matchup against the Tampa Bay Lightning – who easily swept the three-game season series.

“I wasn’t sure how we were going to be,” coach John Tortorella said, citing the Blue Jackets’ playoff- clinching 3-2 shootout win Saturday at the New York Rangers. “You have an emotional letdown after what happened, the crazy game (Saturday) night. Getting the lead (helped) ... I don’t think we played badly. I don’t think we played great. The game played out like I thought it would be.”

Here are five takeaways from the Jackets’ triumphant regular-season finale Saturday night:

1) What might’ve been

The Blue Jackets would probably say there wasn’t much, if any, scoreboard-watching being done by them during the game. That, however, would be a stretch to fully believe.

A win for Columbus against Ottawa on Saturday combined with a loss of any kind by the Carolina Hurricanes in Philadelphia would’ve pushed the Blue Jackets into the Eastern Conference’s first wild- card spot – and out of the dreaded second wild card.

Some years, the difference in first-round opponent that each wild-card team faces is negligible. It might turn out that way again, but first glance says otherwise.

The Hurricanes’ 4-3 win against the Flyers negated any chance of a wild-card shakeup, meaning Carolina drew the defending Stanley Cup champion Washington Capitals – no small challenge – while the Blue Jackets face the top team in the league all season, the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Columbus finished its regular-season slate with 98 points, the second-most in a season in franchise history, but that was 130 points less than the Lightning – a heavy favorite to not only win the first-round series against the Jackets, but also the Stanley Cup.

Does coach John Tortorella look forward to kind of postseason challenge?

“Damn, right,” he said, waiting a beat. “Damn, right.”

2) Bjorkstrand rolling

Oliver Bjorkstrand is naturally soft-spoken, but he spoke loudly the past two weeks through his play. The 23-year old Danish forward enters the playoffs on a high note, posting another impressive game with a goal and two assists.

If he keeps producing like that on the third line, the Blue Jackets will enter the playoffs feeling good about their depth scoring. Bjorkstrand’s goal was his 23rd of the season and ninth in the past 10 games, while it was his eighth game with a goal out of those 10.

The assists set up goals by Markus Nutivaara in the first period and rookie Alexandre Texier late in the second for a three-point game that increased Bjorkstrand’s point total to 36 on 23 goals and 13 assists in 77 games.

His late push with 14 goals, four assists and 18 points in the final 23 games pulled Bjorkstrand to within four of his 40 points in 82 games last year.

3) Big Tex’s goal

Texier’s parents had to fly home to France overnight Friday from New York, after watching his NHL debut Friday at Madison Square Garden

It’s too bad they couldn’t have stuck around one more day to see their son score his first NHL goal. After ringing a shot off the post to negate a prime scoring chance earlier in the second, Texier didn’t miss on his next opportunity.

His shot to the short side beat Anders Nilsson with 4:25 left for a 4-1 lead late in the second, which might’ve been the first of many to come in the 19-year old’s promising career.

Texier wasn’t sure if the Blue Jackets would keep him around for the playoffs, but Tortorella left no doubt about his playing status for Game 1 against the Lightning.

“He’s playing,” the coach said, without a hint of uncertainty. “He’s playing.”

That likely means center Alexander Wennberg, two seasons removed from a 59-point season, will begin the postseason watching instead of playing.

4) Two for Dubois

It had to be refreshing for center Pierre-Luc Dubois to score two of the first three goals in the game and both in the first period.

It’s been a turbulent season for the second-year center, despite setting career-highs with 27 goals, 34 assists and 61 points – significantly higher across the board than last year during an impressive 48-point rookie season.

“It’s a nothing game for both teams, he scores a couple goals,” Tortorella said. “Anything like that for a guy who has struggled a little bit here of late, hopefully it helps him. I thought that line played good.”

Tortorella didn’t know what all of his line combinations will look like starting out against the Lightning, but said Dubois will center Artemi Panarin and Cam Atkinson on the top line – his spot exclusively until the Blue Jackets acquired Matt Duchene Feb. 23 from the Senators.

5) Savard’s scoring surge

David Savard continues to impress offensively, helping the Blue Jackets score and create goals while Ryan Murray (upper body) remains on the shelf.

The veteran defenseman, who’s usually a stout, stay-at-home defender, chipped in two more assists against Ottawa and finished the regular season with 16 to go with eight goals. His 24 points is nearly 10 more than last season, when Savard had four goals, 12 assists and 16 points in 81 games.

For Blue Jackets’ Matt Duchene, making it back to the Stanley Cup playoffs is personal

By Aaron Portzline, The Athletic – April 7, 2019

OTTAWA — Matt Duchene was sitting in the Ottawa Senators dressing room on the morning of Feb. 22, staring at the wax board that carried the lineup of that night’s opponent, the Columbus Blue Jackets.

“Looking at the board, I was like, ‘Wow, this is a heck of a team,’ ” Duchene said. “Then, getting traded to them 25 minutes later, I was kind of like, ‘OK, this is a really good team and a team that could do something.’

“I’ve been excited every day that I’ve woken up. It’s been a great year all year for me. I’ve had a lot of amazing things happen on and off the ice. (The playoffs) are a great way to finish it off, for sure.”

The Blue Jackets open their first-round series Wednesday in Tampa Bay.

When the Jackets clinched a playoff spot with a 3-2 shootout win over the New York Rangers on Friday, the collective exhale from Blue Jackets management, coaches and players was palpable.

For management, it kept their decision to go “all in” at the trade deadline from being an unmitigated disaster. (If they had missed the playoffs altogether … yikes.)

For coaches and players, it was the culmination of a long season full of expectations and obstacles and distractions.

For Duchene, it was personal, too.

The 28-year-old forward, the No. 3 overall pick in 2009, has won an Olympic gold medal, two IIHF World Championships, a World Cup gold and an IIHF World Junior Championship. He has been a two-time NHL All-Star and led his team in scoring four times.

But there’s something missing from his resume.

Duchene played in six playoff games during his rookie season with Colorado in 2010, but the Avalanche were bounced in six games by San Jose.

In 2014, Duchene suffered a knee injury when he collided with a teammate during a game March 31, just two weeks before the playoff started. He rushed back for the final two games in the Avs’ first-round playoff loss to Minnesota.

Put another way: In 10 NHL seasons, he’s played eight playoff games and has yet to score a playoff goal.

“It’s been too long,” Duchene said Saturday. “It’s been five years, and the last time I was in it, it was tough. I had a pretty bad knee injury, where I played just Games 6 and 7, and I wasn’t 100 percent, so I didn’t really feel like I got to play much that year. It was tough to feel the vibe, really, for that series.

“I’m excited … to really feel that atmosphere and that experience. I’m at the point in my career now where every one of these games means a lot, and I really think the sky’s the limit for this team.”

Duchene has 4-8-12 and a minus-1 rating in 23 games since the Blue Jackets acquired him for two prospects and two first-round picks, one of them conditional, three days before the deadline.

He’s bounced between the first and second lines, but he will likely open Wednesday on a line with left winger Ryan Dzingel and right winger Josh Anderson.

The bigger question with Duchene, though, goes beyond these playoffs — however long the Blue Jackets might stay alive — and into the offseason, when he’s set to become an unrestricted free agent July 1.

Is there any chance he’d sign an extension with the Blue Jackets? The two sides have agreed to table all talks until after the season, but Duchene said he’s had a good impression of his new surroundings in the six weeks since the trade.

He and his wife, Ashley, have a 3-month-old son.

“We’ve enjoyed (Columbus),” Duchene said. “We’re (living) right down near the rink. The weather’s been nice, that’s for sure. A good change from a couple of cold Canadian winters.

“The city has really impressed me and my wife. We’ve really enjoyed it. The people are great. The fan base, too, is something that’s blown us away. We didn’t realize how strong it is down there (in Ohio). It’s such a loud arena, and the fans are passionate.

“A couple games ago (vs. Boston) we didn’t have a shot (on goal) until nine minutes into the period, and we kind of got the sarcastic cheer, and I was like, ‘Wow, OK, these people know what they’re watching here.’ That was pretty impressive. It’s been really exciting. and it’s been a new experience. I didn’t know much about Columbus coming in, and it’s been great.”

The Athletic / Duhatschek Notebook: How the second half of the season has affected the NHL awards race

By Eric Duhatschek, The Atheltic – April 5, 2019

In 1980-81, my first year of voting for NHL awards, there were 21 teams in the league and three voters per team, for a total of 63 ballots cast. In those days, not every game was on television and NHL stats were published weekly; meaning if you wanted to do an informed job as a voter, the best way to do so was by contacting your colleagues in other NHL cities. You wanted either to gain greater insights into who might be having a quietly distinguished season on the teams they covered, or alternatively if there was someone posting gaudy stats that might have some underlying weaknesses in their games that weren’t readily apparent to the casual eye.

It was an imprecise process – just as it is today, where you can now weigh a mountain of statistical evidence and underlying analytical numbers and filter that information through common sense, plus the old-fashioned eye test. Old guy alert: I may even reference plus-minus in this discussion.

One interesting byproduct of calling around and talking to other writers about candidates in their markets was that the process could often act as a de facto straw poll, a means of discerning how voters were leaning. For about a decade, it wasn’t all that difficult to accurately forecast how the annual NHL awards would be distributed.

Now, it’s harder.

There are 31 teams and the voter pool has been greatly expanded. Last year, a total of 164 ballots were cast and there was a great deal of suspense surrounding most of the major awards, including the big one – the Hart Trophy, which annually is awarded to the player adjudged to be most valuable to his own team.

Ultimately, Taylor Hall of the New Jersey Devils edged Nathan MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche for the award. The common thread there: Each player – one in the Eastern Conference, one in the Western Conference – were the catalysts behind extraordinary year-over-year gains by their respective teams. Colorado went from 48 to 95 points and qualified for the playoffs as the second wild card in the West, while New Jersey went from 70 to 97 points and qualified as the second wild card in the East.

Voters are annually tripped up over the precise definition of the Hart – not necessarily the best player but the most valuable to his team – which provides endless fodder for debate, because there will be years when a player may be a candidate for the Hart and yet, might not even be the most valuable to his own team.

Given how the voter pool has grown so large, the only straw poll with any genuine merit is a new-old thing that the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association instituted two years back – conducting a midseason poll of the membership to see how it was collectively leaning in the awards chase.

The PHWA votes for the Hart, the Calder, the Norris, the Selke and the Lady Byng. The NHL Broadcasters Association votes for the Jack Adams; the 31 NHL GMs vote for the Vezina; and the NHL Players Association votes for the Ted Lindsay, which is awarded to the league’s most outstanding player.

Midseason voting patterns are always interesting to reassess because a lot can change in half a year – and usually does.

But this year is a little unusual in that many of the midseason leaders probably did enough in the second half to cement their early leads. Let’s look at where things stood halfway through the year and how – if at all – they may have changed in the second half.

Hart Trophy

At midseason, Tampa’s Nikita Kucherov was the choice, ahead of Johnny Gaudreau of the Calgary Flames and Edmonton’s Connor McDavid.

Kucherov was leading the NHL in scoring at that point, and for a time, it looked as if his greatest competition might come from the Colorado Avalanche’s Mikko Rantanen. But Rantanen started to fade in the second half before getting hurt, dropping him back to into the pack. A year ago, McDavid reeled in Kucherov in the final month in the scoring race, and even though Kucherov finished third overall in 2017-18, he didn’t even make it into the top five in Hart trophy voting.

That will change this year.

Kucherov has been the best player on the best team in the league this year and since his three closest competitors in the scoring race (McDavid, Patrick Kane and Leon Draisaitl) are on teams that won’t qualify for the postseason this year, he should win the award in a runaway. The greater intrigue will be to see who joins him as a top-three finalist. Voters traditionally penalize players if they aren’t in the playoffs and they generally don’t like goalies or defencemen either. (Since 2000, only one defenceman, Chris Pronger; and two goalies, Jose Theodore and Carey Price, have won the Hart).

Assuming that pattern repeats itself this year, and the top three finishers are all forwards again, the runners-up will likely come from a group that included Sidney Crosby, Brad Marchand, MacKinnon or Gaudreau, though there is a part of me that wonders if Alex Ovechkin is going to get any love here, after managing yet another 50-goal season on behalf of the Washington Capitals.

Predicted winner: Kucherov. Predicted runners-up: Crosby, Marchand.

Norris Trophy

At midseason, the PHWA selectors picked Mark Giordano of the Calgary Flames first; the Leafs Morgan Rielly second; and Brent Burns of the San Jose Sharks third. The Norris, awarded to the defenceman who demonstrates the greatest all-around ability in the position, is the one trophy where the PHWA has recently spread the love around – there have been six different winners in each of the past six years, including last year, when Victor Hedman of the Lightning got the nod ahead of the Kings Drew Doughty. Doughty, and last year’s other finalist, PK Subban of the Nashville Predators, are not factors in the race this year, but Hedman’s strong second half has nudged him into contention and maybe even into the lead.

But Giordano has maintained his almost point-per-game scoring production; is a league-leading plus-39; and has probably been the single most important contributor to the Flames’ unexpected surge to the top of the Western Conference. Plus, he’s 35 and having the finest year of his career. Giordano was actually in the Norris conversation in 2015 before an injury ended his season after 61 games and his

37 hopes of winning the award evaporated. Voters get to put five names on their ballots and while both Burns and Rielly have likely done enough to stay in the top five, it will be interesting to see if productive second halves from Hedman and Washington’s John Carlson knock either Burns or Reilly out of the top three.

Predicted winner: Giordano. Predicted runners-up: Hedman, Burns.

Calder Trophy

Last year was a runaway win for the New York Islanders’ Mathew Barzal, who was deemed to be the most proficient player in his first year of competition. Not only did Barzal produce an eye-popping 85 points in 82 games, but injuries also took his two primary midseason competitors — Vancouver’s Brock Boeser and Boston’s Charlie McAvoy — out of the race. Barzal ended up earned 160 out of a possible 164 first-place votes.

The only real question this year is: Can the Canucks’ Elias Pettersson win in the same landslide fashion? Pettersson was the midseason leader in the PHWA poll ahead of two defencemen – Rasmus Dahlin of the Buffalo Sabres and Miro Heiskanen of the Dallas Stars.

Since midseason, however, one wild-card candidate has edged into the conversation: St. Louis Blues’ rookie goaltender Jordan Binnington, who was promoted to the NHL in January and has been the single greatest contributor to the team’s historic second-half turnaround. In a year when goal scoring is up, Binnington’s numbers are right out of the dead-puck era: 22-5-1 record, 1.85 GAA, .928 save percentage and five shutouts in half-a-season of work.

In theory, Binnington’s strong play and value to the Blues’ resurgence should push him into the top three, though voters have historically penalized players for missing chunks of the season. Pettersson will be the runaway rookie scoring leader. Ottawa’s Brady Tkachuk has edged into the second spot and has had a thoroughly respectable rookie season as well. They will likely be the five names on most ballots, order to be determined.

Predicted winner: Pettersson. Predicted runners-up: Binnington, Heiskanen.

Selke Trophy

In the beginning, when Montreal’s Bob Gainey had sole custody of the Selke for the first four years of its existence, the primary criteria was defensive excellence, pure and simple. Over time, however, the Selke has come to represent something else – and has morphed into an award for the NHL’s best all-around forward. Usually, your Selke winner is an exceptionally sound defensive forward, who also happens to be having a really great offensive year. Last year, for example, that player was the Kings’ Anze Kopitar, who had 92 points to go along with all those faceoff wins and responsible two-way play.

The modern-day equivalent to Gainey is Boston’s Patrice Bergeron, who has won the award four times in the past seven years, and last year, finished third – probably because he missed a quarter of the season and voters couldn’t find his name among the scoring leaders (his 30 goals and 63 points in 64 games kept him just outside the top 30).

This year, Bergeron was the PHWA’s midseason choice and even though, once again, he will have missed significant time with injury (16 games, mostly in December), he is seventh in points-per-game; will finish

38 among the scoring leaders; and frankly, is just having a spectacular season. It’s hard to imagine anyone dislodging him from the top of the podium this year.

Florida’s Aleksander Barkov and Mark Stone (then of Ottawa, now of Vegas) rounded out the top three at midseason and they will likely be there, though you could also make compelling cases for the Blues’ Ryan O’Reilly, the Flames’ Elias Lindholm, the Flyers’ Sean Couturier, and one way-under-the-radar player having a quietly effective year, the Coyotes’ Brad Richardson.

Predicted winner: Bergeron. Predicted runners-up: Barkov, Stone.

Lady Byng Trophy

There have been a few players in the past who’ve wanted no business with the Byng — awarded to the player adjudged to have exhibited the best type of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct, combined with a high standard of playing ability — because the notion of gentlemanly conduct and rough-and- tumble nature of NHL hockey seem curiously at odds with each other.

For years, voter fatigue also seems to play a role in the Byng selection process, because it’s often the last ballot they get to and one they tend to sometimes rush past. Invariably, voters tend to skim the penalty minutes column, compare them to the points total of a player and then use some weird formula between those two categories to make their selections. Which is too bad because the award has been around since 1925 and a generation of greats – from Red Kelly and Dave Keon to Jean Ratelle and Mike Bossy – have won the Byng multiple times. At midseason, the PHWA went with Barkov, Toronto’s Rielly and Sean Monahan of the Flames 1-2-3. But Byng voting can be particularly scattershot, and you’d have to consider both O’Reilly and Toronto’s Auston Matthews will get some consideration. But Barkov has had an exceptional second half for the Panthers, and since voters had him atop the list even before his surge up the scoring ranks, you’d have to think he’s a pretty safe choice here.

Predicted winner: Barkov. Predicted runners-up: O’Reilly, Monahan.

Vezina Trophy

Up until 1981, the Vezina was a statistical award and went to the goalies with the best collective goals- against average. In the final year the Vezina was awarded that way, it was shared by a trio of Montreal netminders – Richard Sevigny, Denis Herron and Michel (Bunny) Larocque.

Then, the NHL introduced the William Jennings Trophy for lowest GAAs and gave the GMs the mandate to choose the goaltender adjudged to be the best at his position. Jim Carey, in 1996 for Washington, was my favorite selection because he interrupted a five-year run for Dominik Hasek. At midseason, the writers gave the Vezina to Anaheim’s John Gibson ahead of Vegas’s Marc-Andre Fleury and the Leafs’ Frederik Andersen, which were all reasonable choices at the time. But Gibson couldn’t keep the Ducks in the playoff chase, so he is unlikely to get the nod.

The Islanders are in contention for the Jennings, but because they divide the workload between Robin Lehner and Thomas Greiss, neither is considered a viable Vezina candidate. Among the top half-dozen GAA leaders, there is really one genuine starter, Dallas’s Ben Bishop, but injuries have limited Bishop’s minutes played this year as well. Until a recent injury, it looked as Fleury would lead the league in wins – that honor now will likely go to Tampa’s Andrei Vasilevskiy – and they will both get some votes. But Montreal’s Carey Price kept the Canadiens unexpectedly in the playoff race for most of the season; and

39 is coming off a really difficult underachieving year. GMs tend to have a long memory and may give some love to Price because of his contributions to Montreal’s solid year.

Predicted winner: Vasilevskiy. Predicted runners-up: Fleury, Price.

Jack Adams Award

Generally speaking, the Adams award goes to the coach that oversaw the most surprising turnaround in a team’s fortunes, despite the criteria actually being to the coach adjusted to have contributed most to his team’s success. Last year, it went quite sensibly to Gerard Gallant, who took an expansion team, Vegas, to the Pacific Division title (and subsequently to the Stanley Cup final). At midseason, the writers gave the award to the Islanders’ Barry Trotz ahead of the Calgary Flames’ Bill Peters and the Lightning’s Jon Cooper. I would have no issue with those three finishing in that exact order. Trotz’s work, to get the John Tavares-less Islanders into the playoffs, and helping to turn the NHL’s worst defensive team into its best, is an example of why coaching does matter. Peters was a little bit of a controversial hire in Calgary, due to his four playoff-less years behind the bench in Carolina, and given that he was hired to accomplish just that with the Flames. But Peters managed to weave the old with the new in Calgary and helped them become conference champions. And while we all love Tampa’s talent, what Cooper has accomplished in turning the Lightning into a powerhouse, with a still relatively young nucleus, should not be overlooked. They are among the league leaders in offence, defence, special teams and the one metric that sometimes tends to be overlooked when picking a winner in this category – points in the standings.

Predicted winner: Trotz. Predicted runners-up: Peters, Cooper.

The PWHA also predicted winners in two other award categories that do not exist in the NHL – one for the NHL’s best defensive defenceman and another for its comeback player of the year. About a month ago, a regular reader wondered if it would be worth naming an all-discard team – that is, a team of players, coaches and managers who had fallen out of favor with one organization who then resurrected their careers elsewhere.

That’s brilliant, and it sort of ties into the comeback narrative (which, by the way, the PHWA defines as returning to a previous high level of performance that was interrupted by subpar play, long-term injury or major illness). If the NHL ever did come up with an all-discard award, they could name it after Martin St. Louis, who went undrafted; and was bought out by his first NHL team (Calgary); only to resurrect his career in Tampa, where he won a Stanley Cup and ultimately carved out a Hall of Fame career.

There are many ways you can assess an all-discard team. I’ll make my selections without comment, but invite readers to debate, discuss and otherwise challenge in the section below.

GM: Lou Lamoriello (Islanders). Coach: Trotz (Islanders). Goalies: Lehner (Islanders), Jack Campbell (Kings). Defence: Noah Hanifin (Calgary), Jordan Oesterle (Arizona), Brett Kulak (Montreal), Luke Schenn (Vancouver). Forwards: Max Domi (Montreal), Dylan Strome (Chicago), Jeff Skinner (Buffalo), Nino Niederreiter (Carolina), Lindholm (Calgary), O’Reilly (St. Louis).

But there are probably lots of others to consider, and I’m willing to ponder other nominations.

The Athletic / DGB Grab Bag: There’s still lots left to play for, a TV pet peeve and a brief history of crazy goalie pulls

By Sean McIndoe, The Athletic – April 5, 2019

From the headlines

Tomorrow is the last day of the regular season, and while a few weeks ago it looked like it was shaping up to be a fantastic night of hockey, it’s suddenly looking like a bit of a letdown. The Western wild-card race ended last night, the Caps clinching the Metro means three of the four divisions are locked up, the scoring race hasn’t been competitive for weeks and even home ice has been settled for several matchups. Apart from the Central title, the only important thing stills up for grabs is that final Eastern wild-card spot between Columbus and Montreal, and it’s possible even that could be all wrapped up by the end of tonight.

But that doesn’t mean that there’s nothing left to play for. So today, let’s look on the bright side as we try to get hyped for the season finale by highlighting some of the important storylines that still need to be wrapped up for various teams.

Tampa Bay Lightning: Nikita Kucherov has a chance to set an all-time record for assists in a season for a winger with 88, breaking the mark that was previously set in the early 1980s when Wayne Gretzky played out of position for six games.

Carolina Hurricanes: Have vowed not to do the Storm Surge during the playoffs, which means this is their last chance to pay tribute to owner Tom Dundon by awkwardly tossing a football around a giant pile of money they’ve set on fire.

Edmonton Oilers: Could theoretically take advantage of an otherwise meaningless game to experiment with some weird lineup they’ve never used before, like maybe one with a fourth forward.

Toronto Maple Leafs: John Tavares can still catch Leon Draisaitl to win the Rocket Richard Trophy that will be retroactively awarded in a few years after we realize that Alexander Ovechkin has secretly been a military-grade cyborg this whole time.

San Jose Sharks: I don’t know, might finally get around to making that trade deadline deal for a decent goaltender.

Ottawa Senators: Might have a shot at keeping Matt Duchene out of the playoffs, as opposed to how they spent most of the last two seasons, keeping Matt Duchene out of the playoffs.

Vancouver Canucks: Elias Pettersson has made it clear all year long that he desperately wants to get his hands on the Calder Trophy, so Saturday’s game against the Blues presents him with a great chance to ask Jordan Binnington if he’ll let him borrow it some time.

Nashville Predators: Will no doubt want to earn a win in front of their raucous home fans, although if they can’t do it tonight they’ll still have two or three more chances.

New York Islanders: Are in a tight two-team race for the Jennings Trophy for fewest goals allowed, and reading that has made you realize you have no idea who the other team is, and now you’re opening a new tab to go and look it up, and now you’re just kind of staring at the screen muttering about how that can’t be right.

Anaheim Ducks: Are the only team that won’t be playing on Saturday because their season ends tonight, so congratulations in advance on the only time in the next decade or so that they’ll be able to say they finished first.

Boston Bruins: Will face the Tampa Bay Lightning in a game that will mark their final opportunity of the year to test their skills against a team wearing blue and white that might actually beat them.

The week’s three stars of comedy

The third star: Chris Chelios – Honestly I’m old enough to remember when he debuted and it feels like longer than that.

Hey people who direct NHL telecasts, can we have a word?

You folks have tough jobs. And for the most part, you do great work. Thanks for that. It can’t be an easy to keep track of one of the world’s fastest sports, one where the action can switch direction based on a quick play here or a random bounce there, and still make all those split-second decisions in real time. I know I couldn’t do it. So, kudos.

But I’d like to ask you for one favor, especially as we get close to the playoffs and your natural sense of the dramatic starts to perk up. At some point over the next few days and weeks, you’re going to be doing a game where a team is trailing and pulls its goalie for an extra attacker as the seconds tick away. And chances are, the other team might get the puck and fire a long distance shot at that vacated net. It’s a big moment.

I need you to listen to me: Do not cut the live shot over to the camera inside of the net.

Please. I know it seems like a cool thing to do. I know that it feels like a chance to get the perfect shot of the puck sliding into the net to seal the game at exactly the right moment from the closest possible vantage point.

But that almost never happens. Instead, you’re almost always a little too late to make the cut, and the whole thing is disorienting. And most of the time the puck goes wide anyway, and now we don’t know if icing is being signaled or whether there’s a race for the puck because you’ve stuck us inside the net.

Stop it. The viewers really don’t need you to get creative. There are two and only two angles we need to see while the play is going on: the classic side view, and an occasional closer shot on a puck-carrier or corner battle. And honestly, if you accidentally forgot to use that second one, we’d be fine with it. Stick with the standard view until the whistle blows, and we’re good.

All those other angles are great for replays or when we’re between the action. But when the play is happening? We don’t need the behind-the-net shot for power plays. Or the tracking shot of the goalie being pulled. Or the dramatic zooming skycam shot of the opening faceoff. And definitely not the inside- the-net shot of an empty net goal being scored, or not scored, or who knows what because we can’t tell because you just switched away from the only angle that tells us what’s happening.

Get creative on the replays, if you must. But while things are actually happening, just chill out and show us the game. The viewers will thank you.

Obscure former player of the week

This week’s obscure player is Dave Balon, mainly because I want to tell the story of the wildest season finale in NHL history.

Balon was a winger from Saskatchewan who wasn’t all that obscure in his day. He established himself in the NHL with the Rangers in the early ’60s, and was sent to Montreal as part of the blockbuster 1963 trade involving Gump Worsley and Jacques Plante. He won two Cups in Montreal before being plucked by Minnesota in the 1967 expansion draft; he only scored 15 goals that year, but that was enough for him to be the North Stars’ first-ever all-star, representing the team at the 1968 game. He was traded back to the Rangers that offseason and recorded a pair of 30-goal seasons. He also had a stint in Vancouver and with the WHA’s Nordiques, but had his career cut short by multiple sclerosis. He’d later get into coaching, including several years behind the bench of the Humboldt Broncos.

An interesting thing about Balon is that despite ultimately playing 14 NHL seasons, all four of his career hat tricks came within a single year, with the first coming on Feb. 1, 1970, and the last on January 24, 1971. But it’s the second one we’re interested in. That one came 49 years ago today, on April 5, 1970, and it gives us an excuse to tell the story of what the league’s own website refers to it as “the NHL’s wildest day.” I’m not sure they’re wrong.

Here’s the setup. It’s the last day of the season, and the Canadiens are two points up on the Rangers for the final playoff spot in the East. They also hold a four-goal edge in the tiebreaker, which at the time is goals scored. (Not differential; just total goals for. Remember that.) So all they have to do to make the playoffs is win or tie their final game, while the Rangers have to win, hope for a Habs loss, and also outscore Montreal by five goals or more.

The Rangers were playing the Red Wings in an afternoon game, and coach Emile Francis had a simple game plan: Win, and score as often as possible. They pummeled a Wings team with nothing to play for, taking a 4-1 lead in the first and increasing that to 7-2 after the second. They kept pouring it on, increasing their lead to 9-2 on the strength of that Balon hat trick. Here’s my favorite part: late in the third, with his team up seven goals, Francis started pulling his goalie to try to get more. Instead, the Wings scored a few into the empty net. That didn’t matter, because it’s goals scored the Rangers are worried about, not differential, and they still earned a 9-5 win.

So now it’s over to Montreal, who are in Chicago to face the Hawks. They still control their own destiny, needing a win or a tie to clinch. But if they lose, they need to score five goals to catch up to the Rangers. It’s a close game through two, with the Hawks up 3-2, when disaster strikes – Chicago’s Pit Martin scores twice midway through the third. Now Montreal knows they probably won’t win, and they turn their attention to that goals scored tie-breaker. So they pull their goalie midway through the third in a desperate attempt to score their way into the playoffs. Instead, they give up five empty-net goals, establishing a Chicago record for goals in a period with seven and leading to a lopsided 10-2 final.

Balon and the Rangers were in, the Canadiens were out for the only time between 1948 and 1995, and everyone realized that goals scored probably wasn’t the smartest tiebreaker for playoff spots after all.

And anyone who tries to tell you that NHL coaches were stuffy and conservative a generation ago needs to be reminded of the great goalie-pulling battle of the 1970 season finale.

Classic YouTube clip breakdown

Speaking of bizarre goalie pulls in games involving the Rangers on the season’s final day, let’s get really weird. Take it away, Scotty Bowman.

This one’s shorter than our usual clip, which is why I’ve never broken it out before. But it’s such a strange moment, and so few fans seem to know about it, that we had to do it someday. Today’s that day.

It’s April 16, 1992, and the Penguins are in New York for both teams’ season finale. It’s the third period and the Rangers are already well on their way to a 7-1 blowout win, Pittsburgh is locked into third in the Patrick and the Rangers having already clinched the Presidents’ Trophy. Also, the Penguins are the defending champs at this point. None of this matters. So let’s have some fun, right?

By the way, I highly recommend showing this clip to friends with the title and volume off and seeing if they can notice what happens.

We start off with Mark Messier, in his first season as a Ranger, feeding it up to rookie Tony Amonte. That play doesn’t go anywhere, and the Penguins force a turnover back behind their own net. Watching all this unfold is their goaltender, Ken Wregget. He’s the guy in the white helmet. This will turn out to be important.

The Penguins send the play up the other way, with Joey Mullen leading a 3-on-2. Mullen is wrapping up his first full season in Pittsburgh, finishing third in team scoring with 42 goals and 87 points. I’ve mentioned this before, but Mullen was one of an astounding five future Hall of Famers acquired by Penguins’ GM Craig Patrick in one calendar year back in the early ’90s. The list includes Mullen (trade in June 1990), Jaromir Jagr (draft pick in June 1990), Bryan Trottier (free agent in July 1990), Larry Murphy (trade in December 1990) and Ron Francis (trade in March 1991). Craig Patrick was good at his job.

Anyway, Mullen’s rush is broken up and Messier collects the puck to head back the other way. At this point, the crowd makes a weird noise, almost as if something very strange is happening that we can’t see. Spoiler alert: It is.

Messier breaks in on a 3-on-1 and dishes the puck to the front of the net. Nothing all that unusual there, until you notice the small detail that that goalie is now wearing a black helmet. And, uh, is no longer Ken Wregget.

That would be Wendell Young, who has managed to replace Wregget in goal while the play was at the other end. As our play-by-play man Jim Hughson alertly points out, the Penguins have changed goalies on the fly, which is apparently a legal thing you can do. And Young has to make a tough play right away, because the Rangers almost score.

I’d just like to point out that while this sort of chaos seems crazy now, it could become commonplace once we institute the Devan Dubnyk Rule. There’s still time to get that in place before the playoffs, NHL.

OK, so what’s going on here? Details are a little sketchy, but here’s what we know. Bowman wanted to use both goaltenders to keep them fresh for the playoffs, and rather than just switch halfway through

44 the game he decided to have them change every five minutes. Why? Nobody seems to know. But the plan was to do it between whistles.

Here’s where details get sketchy. The New York Times game story somehow doesn’t mention this play at all, and our clip cuts off before we can get any sort of replay or explanation of what we just saw. But according to this interview, it was Young himself who came up with the idea to change on the fly. He and Wregget basically did it on their own as an audible, and some of the Penguins on the ice didn’t even realize it had happened. Their teammates had thrown money into a collection to try to dare the goalies to pull the move off, and they decided to cash in.

And best of all, Young claims that he and Wregget actually executed a high-five as they passed each other during the change. How was this not captured on film? Pittsburgh fans have seen Mario Lemieux and Sidney Crosby and Jaromir Jagr and Evgeni Malkin and five Stanley Cups, but two goaltenders high- fiving during an on-the-fly change would have easily been the most impressive moment in Penguins history. Somebody needs to find this footage.

In totally unrelated news, the Penguins’ season finale is tomorrow, they don’t have much to play for, and oh yeah, they’re playing the Rangers. I’m not saying that Mike Sullivan should order his goalies to do this at some point during the game. I’m just saying that if he wants to be like Scotty Bowman, he has no choice.