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 4-2 loss in Philadelphia:
SAM GAGNER [GAME SCORE: 1.12]
Another day brought another solid offensive showing for Gagner, who appears to be hitting a comfortable stride as the playoffs await. The Blue Jackets have a few things to work out in their team game, mind you, but Gagner's 5-on-5 play has been encouraging over the last few weeks. He picked up an assist this afternoon and finished +7 in 5-on-5 shot attempts, resulting in a 70.6% 5-on-5 Corsi, indicative of a lot of offensive zone time for he and his line mates.
ALEXANDER WENNBERG [GAME SCORE: 0.93]
Wennberg is one of the players that John Tortorella is counting on getting back on track, and he gave his young center every opportunity to do so today. There was a truckload of ice time for Wennberg in Columbus' 4-2 loss (nearly 21 minutes total with 16-plus of those at 5-on-5), and recorded an assist on the Seth Jones power play goal that cut Philadelphia's lead to 2-1.
BOONE JENNER [GAME SCORE: 0.88]
Jenner's game will never get accused of being flashy, but him sticking to his guns and playing a straight-line game is going to help the Blue Jackets, particularly next week in what should be a physical series against Pittsburgh. The offense is starting to come around, as well, which is a good sign after a slow scoring start to the season by his standards. He scored the 4-2 goal in the third period today and was +9 in all situations shot attempts.
