No more big breaks for the Blue Jackets now that the All-Star break is in the rearview – and while their first game back wasn't all that impressive, one performance stood out above the others. Meanwhile, a former Blue Jacket is shining bright in Sin City – and it's not William Karlsson.
Here's your mid-week heat check.
ARTEMI PANARIN, BLUE JACKETS WINGER
Counting the shootout, the Blue Jackets found the back of the net three times on Tuesday night, and all three were thanks to Artemi Panarin. He had a goal and an assist in regulation and added the team's lone shootout goal, plus he had a couple of great chances in the overtime period.
We will always have this beauty of a shootout goal.#CBJ pic.twitter.com/AJK8b5901U
— 1st Ohio Battery (@1stOhioBattery) January 31, 2018
It was just his first multi-point game in the month of January – and it'll go down as his only one – but the Russian winger leads the team by a wide margin. His 41 points (in 50 games) are eight more than Seth Jones, who's second on the club with 33. Panarin's totals put him on pace for a 67 point season, and his impact goes far beyond that.
Believe it or not, Panarin actually leads the NHL in relative CF% at 5-on-5.
Artemi Panarin has a relative CF% of 11.4 in even-strength situations, leading all NHL players https://t.co/ij20ZFLOzp pic.twitter.com/SG7WIPjlEo
— Hockey Reference (@hockey_ref) January 30, 2018
JONATHAN MARCHESSAULT, GOLDEN KNIGHTS WINGER
Turns out, 2016-17 wasn't a fluke for Jonathan Marchessault.
A former under-the-radar analytics darling turned breakout star last year has somehow been even better this year. His 30-goal, 51-point breakout season had many predicting regression (especially given his 15.5% shooting percentage), but he's already within striking distance of that total with 48 points in just 46 games played. That shooting percentage has normalized a bit as well, as it's fallen to a still-very-good 11% rate.
That includes this clutch laser from Tuesday's win over the Calgary Flames.
He's a seemingly more complete player than he was a year ago, with more assists and ice time than he had last season. And not that it means much in the long run, but his plus-minus has actually reversed (-21 last year, +22 this year). He's been excellent as of late, too, with five points in his last five games.
Talk about a late bloomer. It's no longer a matter of if he can keep it up – he's now an established star player. It certainly looks like his (well-earned) six-year, $30 million contract is going to be a bargain, especially if the cap increases at the rate many expect it to.
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