The Blue Jackets should be thanking Jake Allen; he made their night a whole lot easier than what it was originally going to be.
Columbus beat St. Louis 7-4 and with it, they look like they're on the right track. None of it was pretty, but it got the job done.
It might also be enough to kickstart the team's confidence and get into another gear. Here are tonight's three things:
Boone Jenner, ladies, and gentlemen
Looking at your forwards night in and night out, you want a consistent performer. You want a player who can do it all. That kind of fits the mold of Boone Jenner. He isn't going to wow you with his skating ability or his offensive ability, but he's going to give it his all. With a little time and space, Jenner can make something happen.
Jenner had time and space tonight, and he was able to put two goals in the back of the net. Jenner isn't going to do this every night, but they needed to have someone pick up the slack. It only makes sense that Jenner was that player.
God bless Jake Allen and Chad Johnson
Like a gift from above, the Blue Jackets were blessed with horrible goaltending by the Blues. Jake Allen had clocked in with an .810 save percentage before getting the hook (four goals against) and Chad Johnson was at .727 in relief (three against). Neither were seeing the puck well, and it appears to be a consistent message throughout this year as to how the Blues can be beaten. Their goaltending leaves them very vulnerable.
Seven different Blue Jackets players had multi-point games, which doesn't happen every night. Most of the time you need to grind it out. That's why the "thank you" from the Blue Jackets locker room should be a steak dinner for Johnson and Allen.
D-d-d-defense
This is going to keep coming up. The defense is looking fine offensively, but it feels like the amount of odd-man rushes against is problematic. Tonight was another night of a Blue Jackets goalie putting up a pretty weak save percentage (though Korpisalo made a few key stops in the third period), and the defense goes through stretches where it hemorrhages chances.
One problem, in particular, came when Oliver Bjorkstrand turned over the puck trying to exit the zone and the Blues were all over it. Why? Almost every Blue Jacket was flying up the ice at that point and the puck support was non-existent. While the Blue Jackets want to play fast, they don't need to lose basic tendencies and their structure. Then again, outscoring your opponent is a much cooler way to go about your business.
