Columbus Blue Jackets News Clips April 4, 2018 Columbus Blue Jackets PAGE 02: Columbus Dispatch: Michael Arace | Beating Red Wings means more for longtime Blue Jackets fans PAGE 04: Columbus Dispatch: Blue Jackets | Power play heats up at right time PAGE 06: Columbus Dispatch: Blue Jackets 5, Red Wings 4, OT | Big rally lifts Jackets again PAGE 08: The Athletic: Zach Werenski's 'scary' night ends well for him and surging Blue Jackets PAGE 11: The Athletic: Stirring comeback in Nationwide Arena a reminder that times have changed with Blue Jackets Cleveland Monsters/Prospects PAGE 15: Cleveland Plain Dealer: Cleveland Monsters mash Iowa Wild on Jeff Zatkoff shutout NHL/Websites PAGE 16: The Athletic: 2017-18 NHL Awards: Who deserves the hardware? PAGE 25: The Athletic: How do teams get prepared to face an opponent in a best-of-seven playoff series? PAGE 29: Sportsnet.ca: 10 types of games you see in NHL's final week PAGE 33: TSN.ca: The significance of Karlsson picking up that puck PAGE 35: USA Today: Hockey Hall of Fame chances for seven of league's grizzled veterans 1 http://www.dispatch.com/sports/20180403/michael-arace--beating-red-wings-means-more-for- longtime-blue-jackets-fans Michael Arace | Beating Red Wings means more for longtime Blue Jackets fans By Michael Arace – April 4, 2018 History came calling to Nationwide Arena on Tuesday night. The mighty Blue Jackets were playing to clinch a playoff spot. The middling Detroit Red Wings were in town, summoning ghosts. The arena was jammed to near capacity, waiting to explode. Before the game, Jackets coach John Tortorella was talking about sorting through lineups as he deals with a few injuries when, suddenly, his synapses fired in another direction, and he launched himself on a rant. “It’s beyond belief how you guys think that we’re in,” Tortorella said, talking about the playoffs (which nobody else had mentioned). “I have other things to worry about than the future lineup. We have to get in. You don’t realize how tough it’s going to be to get in. It’s beyond belief, some of the comments I hear from great, nice people — congratulating me. For what? We’re not in. It’s aggravating me. We have so much more to do. And that’s our main focus.” Perhaps Tortorella saw something nobody else could see beyond the left-field wall. The Wings had a 4-1 lead after 20 minutes, 31 seconds. The fans in the building were stunned. They came in thinking “clinch” with a Jackets win and a Florida Panthers loss. They came in thinking about having a chance to play for home-ice advantage in the first round when the Pittsburgh Penguins come for a visit Thursday. Suddenly, other synapses were firing, and they were thinking, “We’re not in.” The more-grizzled Jackets fans had been looking forward to this Wings game for reasons that went beyond playoff implications. I’m talking about the folks who bought into the Columbus franchise by lighting piles of money on fire, year after year, when Doug MacLean was running the operation. I’m talking about the people who remember when the Jackets and the Wings were in the Central Division, who had Hockeytown rubbed in their faces. Freaking Hockeytown. The Red Wings won four Presidents’ Trophies and three Stanley Cups in the 2000s. The Wings were dominant against the Jackets through 2012-13. Nationwide was a sea of red whenever the Wings were in town. The first time the Jackets made the playoffs, in 2009, the Wings swept them. Remember Game 4? The phantom penalty on Freddy Modin? The winning, power-play goal by Johan Franzen? The series highlight for Jackets fans came when a Detroit fan attempted to throw an octopus on the ice — and was very much dissuaded by a flurry of fists. 2 That was it. Until Matt Calvert’s overtime goal in Game 2 in Pittsburgh in 2014, that was the biggest playoff moment for the Jackets. A fight in the stands. “Hopefully, we can create better moments than that,” Pierre-Luc Dubois said. The oldest, staunchest Jackets fans — among others — would like that very much. They were watching Tuesday’s game and, as it went on, they had to be thinking, “To hell with clinching. Just beat Detroit.” And so it happened. They have Seth Jones, Artemi Panarin and Dubois, among others — and Lidstrom, Datsyuk and forever-young Stevie Y are long gone. The earth turns, the seasons change, time moves on. Dubois has no idea whether Modin deserved a too-many-men penalty deep into the third period of Game 4 on April 23, 2009. He was 10 years old. He’s 19 now. The Jackets came back Tuesday night, tied it up, and Dubois thought: “It was overtime, and I thought it would be cool to score that goal.” Dubois’ goal lifted the Jackets to a 5-4 victory before 18,477 fans. The place exploded. “Probably that one and my first goal of the season were probably the two goals that felt this good,” Dubois said. Bless him. He has no idea. 3 http://www.dispatch.com/sports/20180403/blue-jackets--power-play-heats-up-at-right-time Blue Jackets | Power play heats up at right time By Steve Gorten – April 4, 2018 The Blue Jackets’ power play has languished much of this season but has gradually improved. Tuesday night against the Detroit Red Wings, it produced a season-high three goals in a 5-4 overtime win at Nationwide Arena. Cam Atkinson scored twice with a man-advantage and Artemi Panarin delivered the tying goal on a power play with 2:16 left to give the Jackets five power-play goals in the past two games. “You saw the importance of special teams,” defenseman Seth Jones said. “It’s been coming up big as of late,” Atkinson added. The Jackets are 6 of 11 on power plays the past three games. “It’s perfect timing,” goalie Sergei Bobrovsky said. Cam stays hot Atkinson extended his point streak to eight games. He has seven goals and five assists during that span. “I’m demanding the puck,” Atkinson said. “I feel like I can score on any given shift, especially with the players I’m playing with (Panarin and Pierre-Luc Dubois).” Panarin reaches records Panarin, who also had two assists, topped Ray Whitney’s 2002-03 franchise record for assists in a season — Panarin now has 53 — and tied Rick Nash’s season record for points (80). “It’s not a surprise for me,” Bobrovsky said of Panarin. “I always thought he was a superstar.” Broadhurst draws in Left wing Alex Broadhurst made his NHL debut, playing on the third line with Mark Letestu and Oliver Bjorkstrand. Broadhurst, who has played in 282 AHL games the past five seasons, “earned his way up here” with 19 goals and 22 assists in 66 games this season for minor-league Cleveland, general manager Jarmo Kekalainen said. Johnson returns Scratched the previous five games, defenseman Jack Johnson was back in the lineup in place of Markus Nutivaara (upper body injury). Coach John Tortorella said Johnson has been “unhappy” sitting out, “but has kept his head down and worked as hard as he possibly can. ... It doesn’t go unnoticed and it certainly isn’t a surprise to me.” 4 Werenski struck by puck Defenseman Zach Werenski went into the dressing room in the second period after he was struck in the back of his neck by a point-blank shot from Andreas Athanasiou in the second period. Werenski returned to the game later in the period. “I’m happy it was really nothing,” Werenski said. “It’s more of a bruise.” Slap shots Defenseman Seth Jones had three assists after a career-best four-point performance on Saturday against the Vancouver Canucks. ... Sonny Milano notched his 14th goal, fourth-most by a rookie in Jackets history. He trails Dubois (19), Nash (17) and Boone Jenner (16). ... Tortorella, who coached Daniel and Henrik Sedin for one season in Vancouver, said he met privately with the twins for 20 minutes before Saturday’s game. Their retirement, announced Monday, was among the topics discussed, Tortorella said. 5 http://www.dispatch.com/sports/20180403/blue-jackets-5-red-wings-4-ot--big-rally-lifts-jackets-again Blue Jackets 5, Red Wings 4, OT | Big rally lifts Jackets again By George Richards – April 4, 2018 John Tortorella was late to his postgame news conference on Tuesday night because he was busy watching a hockey broadcast from Florida. Although his Blue Jackets did not clinch a playoff spot this night, they came one step closer with a rousing, come-from-behind 5-4 overtime victory over the Detroit Red Wings at Nationwide Arena. The Jackets trailed 4-1 early in the second period before rallying with two goals in the third and a score by Pierre-Luc Dubois in overtime to win it. “That was a big win,” said Artemi Panarin, who tied it with 2:16 left. “Really big.” The Jackets moved into a tie for second place in the Metropolitan Division with Pittsburgh, which visits on Thursday. The Florida Panthers won on Tuesday, holding the Jackets back from clinching, but the comeback itself was huge. “Our team has reacted very well,” Tortorella said. “People have to give them credit for handling themselves the right way, playing a lot of important games to keep ourselves alive. I appreciate that from our group.” For the second time in as many games and third time in a week, the Jackets fell behind by three yet rallied for at least a point in the standings.