1 Columbus Blue Jackets News Clips Apr. 24, 2019 Columbus Blue

Columbus Blue Jackets News Clips Apr. 24, 2019 Columbus Blue Jackets PAGE 02: Columbus Dispatch: Bruins top Maple Leafs in Game 7, will face Blue Jackets in second round PAGE 04: Columbus Dispatch: Dean Kukan making impact with increased playing time PAGE 06: Columbus Dispatch: Young Blue Jackets learned from Monsters' title run PAGE 07: Columbus Dispatch: Blue Jackets' success unites us all PAGE 09: The Athletic: ‘Jackets required’: Inside Columbus’ playoff jacket tradition PAGE 12: The Athletic: Playoff Primer: What to look for in Blue Jackets-Bruins series PAGE 15: The Athletic: Alexa! How do scouting and technology merge in the playoffs for CBJ? PAGE 20: Columbus Dispatch: Blue Jackets' game-plan goal is primarily simplicity Cleveland Monsters/Prospects PAGE 22: Cleveland.com: Cleveland Monsters fall 2-1 to Syracuse in Game 3, lead AHL first-round series 2-1 NHL/Websites PAGE 23: AP: The name on the back matters: NHL is now marketing its stars PAGE 26: AP: Part of Seattle’s NHL future is honoring its hockey past PAGE 28: The Athletic: The Natural: Rising TV star Patrick Sharp finds a new grind to embrace in retirement 1 Bruins top Maple Leafs in Game 7, will face Blue Jackets in second round By Brian Hedger, Columbus Dispatch – April 23, 2019 BOSTON — The waiting was the hardest part. After eight days, three practices, a dress rehearsal and a lot of questions about “rest versus rust,” the Blue Jackets finally know their opponent in their first trip to the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. It’s the Boston Bruins, who took a 2-0 lead in the first period Tuesday night at TD Garden and turned it into a 5-1 win in Game 7 of a hotly contested series against the Toronto Maple Leafs — the second straight year Boston has eliminated Toronto in that fashion. Coincidentally, Columbus kid Sean Kuraly — Boston’s fourth-line center — did the most damage. After assisting on the game’s first goal late in the first period, scored by Joakim Nordstrom, Kuraly scored a backbreaker early in the third to put the Bruins up 3-1 on his second point of the game. “I think when I find myself thinking the least amount is when I find myself making good plays,” said Kuraly, who’s from Dublin and played in the Ohio AAA Blue Jackets program. “It’s kind of like I don’t really know what was going on at the time. I was just playing, kind of taking what was next. I just found myself close to the net and just put it on net, really.” Whether he remembers it or not, it was a beauty of a goal. After scooping the puck with one arm on his stick in the neutral zone, Kuraly split two defenders, skated into the offensive zone and fired a wrist shot under the crossbar on the far side of the net. It was his first goal of the playoffs and fifth playoff goal of his career. “It’s a blast,” Kuraly said. “You just get lost in the game in the playoffs. That’s the most fun. I grew up idolizing these games and dreaming of being in these games and watching them on TV. It really is a dream come true.” The team he watched growing up in Ohio? “Well, my family is all from Toronto, so it was the Maple Leafs,” he said. Now, after helping Boston take them out, he’ll get a crack at his other childhood favorite — the Blue Jackets. Kuraly still skates at the Ice Haus in the summer, often with Blue Jackets players and other alums of the Ohio AAA Blue Jackets, so he’ll see a lot of familiar faces when the series shifts to Nationwide Arena next week. The opening game is set for 7 p.m. Thursday at TD Garden, which was the only part of the series schedule released Tuesday. 2 “We got to watch a lot of (the Blue Jackets’) series because it was on other days than ours, but they’re playing really well and they’re probably one of the hottest teams in the league right now, after taking down Tampa,” Kuraly said. “They’re going to be a tough team.” The same can be said of the Bruins, who are built similarly to the power-heavy Blue Jackets and finished second only to the Lightning in the Atlantic Division and NHL standings. Boston has a high-caliber top line, led by Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand, and balanced scoring depth up front. The Bruins are also talented and deep on the back end, led by veteran Zdeno Chara and Charlie McAvoy. The Blue Jackets went 1-1-1 in three games against the Bruins this season, all within a three-week stretch late in the season. Their lone victory was a 7-4 win March 12 at Nationwide Arena, when Boone Jenner led the way with his first career hat trick. “My initial thought is they beat a really good team, because I thought Tampa was lights-out and saw them firsthand late in the year,” Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said. “So, clearly, we’ve got our hands full.” 3 Dean Kukan making impact with increased playing time By Adam Jardy, Columbus Dispatch – April 23, 2019 Dean Kukan doesn’t remember which Lightning player had the puck, or which one was bolting toward him down the center of the ice begging for a one-timer. Skating backward during the third period of Game 4 of the first-round series against Tampa Bay in the Stanley Cup playoffs, all the Blue Jackets defenseman remembered was what followed. With the Jackets clinging to a 4-3 lead and trying to close out the series sweep at Nationwide Arena, Kukan sacrificed his body, diving to the ice to neutralize the scoring chance. It worked. Kukan’s 6-foot-2, 186-pound frame absorbed any attempt to turn the odd-man rush into a scoring chance, sending the puck into the corner. To the cucumber-cool Kukan, the encounter seemed as much a walk in the park as a key moment in a tight game on the biggest stage to that point of the season. “You don’t really panic because you’re so concentrated and focused on the game,” he said Tuesday after practice and a film session. “You don’t really think about other stuff. It’s just, you play hockey your whole life. It’s just automatic, you do that. It was the right play there. It was good.” When he got back to the bench, Kukan didn’t get any special praise from his coaches or teammates. The play was replayed during the team’s post-practice film session, but otherwise it didn’t register much on his radar. That’s as much a credit to his personality as anything, and probably has a lot to do with how the native of Volketswil, Switzerland, found himself logging such important ice time. Signed to a two-year contract extension in March 2018, Kukan, 25, has played 44 games in the NHL — all with the Jackets — including a career-high 25 games this season. With injuries thinning the defensive corps, Kukan played in the final eight regular-season games and skated in all four playoff games against Tampa Bay. Since getting into the lineup on a consistent basis, Kukan has found that the opening minutes of games help get him into a mental zone where he can focus on his job. “Once I’m out there, I try to make a difference,” he said. “I try to battle really hard. That’s of course the first thing, always battle hard, but then also when I feel confident, I try to make plays. It’s worked well so far, and I feel like it gets better game to game.” Bobrovsky, Jenner return In the final practice before Wednesday’s flight to Boston, two familiar faces were back on the ice for the Jackets. Forward Boone Jenner and goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, both of whom had been inactive since the Tampa Bay series concluded to allow for what coach John Tortorella has described as “maintenance,” took part in the practice that started at the Ice Haus and ended at Nationwide Arena. 4 “It felt really good,” Jenner said of his return. “It’s tough not being out there and practicing with the guys, but you’ve got to take care of what you can and try to get out there as quickly as you can.” Bobrovsky said the time away from the ice allowed him to work on parts of his game similar to when the coaches have occasionally given him consecutive games off during the regular season. “It’s important to manage your energy level at this time of the year,” he said. “You’re not going to develop much. It is important to get your game together and get enough energy to execute your game.” Defenseman Markus Nutivaara, who missed the final two games of the Tampa Bay series after an illegal hit by Nikita Kucherov, did not skate. 5 Young Blue Jackets learned from Monsters' title run By Adam Jardy, Columbus Dispatch – April 23, 2019 At the time, Zach Werenski had no idea how close he was to the NHL. Seven games into his American Hockey League career, the defenseman had joined the Lake Erie Monsters in the spring of 2016 hoping for a playoff run. In a locker room occupied by fellow future Blue Jackets Oliver Bjorkstrand, Josh Anderson, Markus Hannikainen, Dean Kukan, Joonas Korpisalo and Lukas Sedlak, Werenski said he gained one appreciation from the run to the Calder Cup that was to follow.

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