Much better.
Was Wendesday night's outing a perfect night for the Columbus Blue Jackets?
Far from it. But after two straight losses in the friendly confines of Nationwide Arena, the Blue Jackets just needed a win, and they got one with a 5-1 downing of the Buffalo Sabres.
A national television audience got to tune in to see the Blue Jackets do it, which had to be nice for a franchise whose Q-rating isn't exactly the strongest.
What can we take from this one? Well, glad you asked...
Skill Wins Out
If you're also an Ohio State football fan, you've probably seen a movie like this before.
Talented team shows up. Talented team struggles for a while against a less talented team. Finally, the talented team's skill overwhelms the opposition after a game effort.
That's kind of what the Blue Jackets did to Buffalo on Wednesday night. Is Columbus the most skilled team in the NHL? Not quite, but there's more skill out there than perhaps any previous iteration we've seen. The addition of Artemi Panarin helps a ton, and guys like Oliver Bjorkstrand and Sonny Milano can create offense out of nothing.
This year, possession metrics have loved the Jackets, but Buffalo was the team with more consistent offense and pressure through 35 minutes on this night. Then, suddenly, the man who reloads charges in the cannon – not the mention the GIF factory workers here at 1OB – had to work overtime with three goals in less than three minutes, two of them off the rush.
It was almost as though the Jackets – who had already watched Milano, Bjorkstand and Cam Atkinson ring the iron – said, OK, enough of this. We're the better team, and here we go.
No longer does this franchise have to play a nearly perfect game to earn two points. On a night like this, there's enough skill out there to put the pedal to the metal when need be.
Oliver's Twist
Early in the second period, Bjorkstrand rang the post, and Pierre McGuire had an observation about the young Blue Jackets forward.
"People are going to find out about this guy sooner rather than later," McGuire said.
After goals in the past two games, it appears Bjorkstrand is on the way to making that a reality. In addition to the tallies, he twice rang the post, and his quick release later drew more praise from Pierre.
On the goal, which came on the power play in the first period, he certainly showed it off.
Welp, good luck stopping that one. #CBJ pic.twitter.com/Ttf3eKwFvl
— 1st Ohio Battery (@1stOhioBattery) October 26, 2017
Props to Milano for the pass and Boone Jenner for the screen, but Bjorkstrand put it where mama keeps the cookies, to quote Sabres legend Rick Jeanneret. If he can keep scoring (and all evidence from the end of last year shows he can), the Jackets get that much more dangerous.
Notorious BOB
Sergei Bobrovsky deserved a shutout, and his teammates wanted it to, as you could tell by the way Zac Dalpe slammed his stick to the ice when the blanking was ruined by Seth Griffith's goal with 2:34 to play.
But make no mistake, Bobrovsky turned in a vintage Bob showing, turning aside 34 of 35 shots and being very strong while the Blue Jackets let Buffalo carry possession in the first half of the game.
No stop, of course, was more important than his breakaway blanking of Ryan O'Reilly early in the second, a save that kept the Jackets' 1-0 lead and prevented Buffalo from really seizing momentum.
Bob is certainly doing Bob things tonight. #CBJ pic.twitter.com/1vi0fWqRCm
— 1st Ohio Battery (@1stOhioBattery) October 26, 2017
After a shaky outing Saturday vs. the Kings, Bobrovsky turned in a gem vs. the Sabres, making the routine look exactly that and the spectacular pretty good too.
Blurred Lines
Do we put too much into lines at times? Probably.
Yes, it's important to know who plays with who, and the best lines get nicknames and a certain amount of glory.
But it's early in the season right now, and head coach John Tortorella has shown a willingness to play with combinations during games in order to maximize who appears to have the most jump on a nightly basis.
That tinkering clearly worked against Buffalo, as Tortorella moved some things around in the second period and got results. Atkinson was joined with Jenner and Brandon Dubinsky, with the latter setting up the second goal off the stick of Seth Jones. Josh Anderson joined the top line with Artemi Panarin and Nick Foligno, with the centerman in that trio getting the third goal and Anderson the fifth. In between, Matt Calvert scored while playing with Alexander Wennberg and Bjorkstrand.
There was a message in there with Wennberg, who the staff would assuredly love to pair again with Panarin down the road. And whoever is with Panarin still needs to learn to play with the dynamic Russian in a way that maximizes his talent.
But in the short term, lines will likely be played with as the season goes on. And for one night, those tweaks did the Jackets good.
Calvert Does It
Artemi Panarin he ain't, but Calvert clearly created some immediate chemistry with Wennberg. Calvert is like a Vitamin C shot to any line, providing an energy and boost that quickly rubs off on others, and his tenacity resulted in a pair of turnovers and scoring chances early in the second.
Finally, the reward came later in the period when Wennberg won a faceoff, Calvert crashed the net, tipped the puck and then cleaned up his own rebound to make it 4-0.
It was perhaps the most Calvertist goal ever, and it was certainly deserved by the longest-tenured Jacket – and one who has still been as key to the team as ever.
