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 Thursday's 2-1 win at Nationwide Arena:
SERGEI BOBROVSKY [GAME SCORE: 2.55]
Bob had himself a night tonight, and there were points in this game when the Blue Jackets really needed him. It took them a while to get going, and their first period was largely spent defending, so he was called upon to keep things in order and he answered that call. He finished with 33 saves - including a big one on Jaromir Jagr in the third period - picking up his league-leading 38th win and sixth in a row. Bobrovsky is 7-0-1 in his last eight starts with a flat-out ridiculous .959 save percentage.
JOSH ANDERSON [GAME SCORE: 2.08]
The Blue Jackets have been looking for some production after putting this line of Anderson, Matt Calvert and William Karlsson back together earlier in the week. The returns of Calvert and Anderson from injury (and now that Lukas Sedlak is activated off injured reserve, add him into the picture as well) give the club a needed boost in the depth department after carrying the minimum up front. Anderson's strong campaign continued tonight with his 15th goal, the game winner, coming late in the second period on a deflection of Jack Johnson's point shot. Anderson was 60.87% in the Corsi category tonight (+5 at 5-on-5) and his line was used extensively late in the game to protect a one-goal lead.
WILLIAM KARLSSON [GAME SCORE: 1.15]
As mentioned above, it was a good night for the Calvert-Karlsson-Anderson line, a good night they really needed. After being the Blue Jackets' pocket ace for most of the season, they've struggled in recent games and tonight, John Tortorella shuffled the deck and made Lauri Korpikoski a healthy scratch. Karlsson and Calvert nearly connected on a shorthanded goal (we've heard that before) and Karlsson assisted on Anderson's go-ahead goal in the final minute of the second period; the assist was Karlsson's 24th point of the season (six goals, 18 assists) and marked his first-ever point against the Panthers.
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