You just watched the game. Odds are you thought a certain player had a great night, and you're wondering if the numbers back up what your eyes told you. Even if that's completely false, "Battery Mates" is here to help.
We'll pick our own three stars based on Game Score, a comprehensive individual performance metric developed in the hockey analytics community. For more on how Game Score works, read this.
These are 1st Ohio Battery's three stars from Saturday's 3-2 overtime win at Barclays Center:
SERGEI BOBROVSKY [GAME SCORE: 2.75]
There is no goaltender in the National Hockey League playing as well as Bobrovsky right now. He’s on a whole different level, and the Blue Jackets are reaping the benefits of his dominance. He made 35 saves on 36 shots today (.972 save percentage, no big deal) and won his seventh consecutive start, racking up his league-leading 39th win of the season in the process. Bobrovsky’s current run coincides perfectly with a stretch in which the Blue Jackets haven’t scored a ton of goals, and as we saw today, they only needed two to get the job done in Newark and clinch a playoff berth.
BOONE JENNER [GAME SCORE: 1.47]
John Tortorella made sure to point out Jenner’s performance in today’s game, calling him “tenacious” in his post-game press conference. Not only his forechecking and physical play were noticeable; he was a force on the penalty kill and scored a clever shorthanded goal by banking a puck off Cory Schneider from the goal line, a big goal that gave the Blue Jackets an early 2-0 lead. Though he wasn’t particularly dominant at 5-on-5 (-10 in shot attempts), he made the most of his opportunities and helped Columbus on its way to an important win.
LUKAS SEDLAK [GAME SCORE: 1.01]
With Alexander Wennberg out of the lineup for precautionary reasons, it was Sedlak’s turn to get back in the lineup. He made an impact right away, scoring on a penalty shot in the first period and logging nearly 14 minutes 5-on-5 overall. Getting Sedlak back in the mix and into a rhythm is a key development for the Blue Jackets, who are going to be using all of their bodies in the final 11 regular season games while, at the same time, trying to accumulate as many points as they can.
