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 Friday's 3-1 loss at United Center:
NICK FOLIGNO [GAME SCORE: 1.40]
John Tortorella wanted to "stop the rhetoric" after Friday's loss to Carolina, imploring his top players to step it up and simply play better. Foligno is one of those players, and as the leader, he took charge and was aggressive right from the jump tonight in Chicago. His goal tied the game in the first period (a score line that lasted 22 seconds, but still) and he played nearly 21 minutes, finishing the night at 62% Corsi in all situations and 50% at 5-on-5.
SAM GAGNER [GAME SCORE: 1.22]
This is back-to-back strong games for Gagner, who again saw plenty of ice time on a line with Scott Hartnell and Lukas Sedlak. Those three have a simple approach: get in the offensive zone (or win an offensive zone face-off) and establish possession, then funnel pucks to the net looking to generate offense. Gagner neatly set up the Blue Jackets' only goal tonight and carried a 69% Corsi at 5-on-5, part of a unit responsible for several of Columbus' even-strength scoring chances in the game. After 6-7 chances on Thursday, Tortorella said the Blue Jackets had 17 chances against the Blackhawks on Friday.
JACK JOHNSON [GAME SCORE: 1.05]
Johnson was a horse in Raleigh on Thursday and such was the case again on Friday. As the Blue Jackets ramped up their game in the second and third periods, Johnson and David Savard played a key role in that; Johnson played a shade under 22 minutes with a 61.6% Corsi in 5-on-5 situations. He picked up the second assist on Foligno's first-period goal.
