GDT: Game 5 | Columbus @ Minnesota | 8 PM EST

[LetsGOJackets!!]

Congrats to the team and to the fans. Just watching highlights and looking at the stats.. unbelievable shot differential - and there are some real bright spots, playing fast, great passing, some dangles. Need to get them believing in each other.. and knowing each player on the ice will be where they should be.

 

[I3LI3]

something that is baffling to me… Tex has no points through 5 games while having the worst +/- on the team (+/- means little. I know).

he seems like he has been playing to atleast 2 points minimum these first 5 games. weird

 

[Johansen2Foligno]

something that is baffling to me… Tex has no points through 5 games while having the worst +/- on the team (+/- means little. I know).

he seems like he has been playing to atleast 2 points minimum these first 5 games. weird

He is our escape goat

 

[I3LI3]

one thing I absolutely love about Fantilli’s goal is Provy’s excitement for the kid.

https://x.com/bluejacketsnhl/status/1715921603664507048?s=46&t=AxNq1rfcZuAa4d4gFZJJtg

instantly arms raised as if we won the cup. love to see it.

 

[Deep Blue Metallic]

Gutsy road win. Dominated, but still had to get the victory in OT.

Two honest questions from a visitor...

Is Werenski okay? Big fan. Hope he's not being rushed, or rushing himself.

Can CBJ win with Merzlikins? No idea what options you have in net.

 

[Youngguns80]

 

[koteka]

Can CBJ win with Merzlikins? No idea what options you have in net.

Probably not but we hope he returns to what he used to be given he has an untradeable contract.

Daniil Tarasov is his backup, and he is always injured.

Spencer Martin is a guy we found on the waiver wire.

Jet Greaves is an up and down AHL goalie with a cool name. We like goalies with cool names.

Sergei Ivanov is a promising Russian who is 5’10” or 5’11”, depending on the website. He has some folks excited.

Melvin Strahl is a 5th rounder we just drafted.

I’d say the Jackets future is Merzlikins figures it out, Ivanov overcomes the perceived height issue and is the real deal, or we don’t have our future goalie on the team. I lean towards the third option, but it would great if Merzlikins at least becomes a serviceable goalie while Ivanov cooks in the KHL for a few seasons.

 

[koteka]

Wild should wear those unis permanently

Those are awesome jerseys. Way better than the normal green jerseys. And we should make the cannon our primary jersey.

 

[Dr. Fire]

The book on Elvis seems to be, shoot the puck between his glove/blocker and pads. Seemed like damn near every Minny goal last night was to that area.

Other than Elvis, great team effort. Should have won going away. I love this 4th line. I have not been real big on Kuraly, or Roslovic, but they seem to be clicking with Danforth. Hope Vincent keeps them together and sees how this works longer term. Hell of a lot better 4th line than we saw before he put it together.

 

[MAHJ71]

The book on Elvis seems to be, shoot the puck between his glove/blocker and pads. Seemed like damn near every Minny goal last night was to that area.

Maybe, but more so get traffic in front of him as he seems to be below average at tracking pucks. 1 or 2 goals last night I felt like he should have had if he just tracks it better. The other few Wild just did a damn good job taking his sight away.

 

[tunnelvision]

And we should make the cannon our primary jersey.

With that logo and colors they could design a really cool white road jersey of it, if they were just willing to put the tiniest bit of thought and effort into it.

 

[spintheblackcircle]

I know there were a lot of negative voices after a couple of games but this team has looked solid for the last two

Anyone complaining after 4 games should not be listened to.

I just wanted to add a few comments rather than make it sound as harsh as it did. With a new coaching staff, so many new skaters and important players like Zach and Elvis coming back from injuries and Tex coming back…..to expect great things right out of the box would be really unfair. The fact that they are 3-2 seems about right given how they have played.

I know it seems ridiculous to ask fans of a team that have never won anything to keep being patient but I don’t know how else to watch his team right now other than being patient.

 

[Bookker]

something that is baffling to me… Tex has no points through 5 games while having the worst +/- on the team (+/- means little. I know).

he seems like he has been playing to atleast 2 points minimum these first 5 games. weird

I have watched completly all the games, dissected Tex's games - same for almost all the others players - and yes indeed, I've rarely seen so much bad luck overall (in terms of points)

However he is still one of the best forward overall

For example, you take Danforth with 4 points, Sillinger with 2, it's insane to me to say they've been better overall (in terms of energy/grit, pucks steals, pure skill, creativity, defensive backchecks, puck battles wins, decisions etc)
That's why I usually say, don't rely ONLY on points to evaluate players, it's the easy way but not the truth of a whole game on the ice

Tex should have at least 3 or 4 points already, he is just not lucky at all, that's frustrating for him for sure, but it will come soon
I'm just a bit disappointed he's already off the PP, especially to see... Sillinger over him


Nice to see Fantili and Johnson score their 1st of the season too
And one last word for Roslovic, he's been really good on the last 2 games, congrats to him

 

[CBJWerenski8]

It appears both Jiricek and Bean were benched for the majority of the third period

 

[majormajor]

It appears both Jiricek and Bean were benched for the majority of the third period

You got to make time for Gudbranson.

 

[GettingYourMoms]

You got to make time for Gudbranson.

Gudbranson is our future. Jiricek does not have Gud in his surname, he Bad.

 

[stevo61]

I hate when vets get a free pass for being vets. Gudbranson will block shots so clearly Vincent likes that but Gudbranson went from having a solid game to being on his heels as soon as he was forced to start playing those heavier minutes we all wanted him avoiding. If you wont trust Jiricek to play normal minutes then send him down, its by far the worst thing coach is doing currently

 

[Byrral]

Joking aside and as bad as Gudbranson can be he hasn't been that bad yet. The coach is trying to win hockey games and in a tight game he plays the guys who he thinks give the CBJ the best chance to win. At this point in time he thinks Gudbranson is one of those guys. Looks like he's protecting Jiricek, shortening his bench in a close game and not putting him in a position to fail. Jiricek is not going anywhere away from the NHL now and he looks more confident every game. I don't mind how Pazzy is handling him right now. I'm even less concerned about Bean as he's shown to be a good pro.

 

[AndBoomGoesTheCannon]

I thought Gudbranson was pretty good in this game. I recall him sliding to break up a couple 2-on-1 cross crease passes.

one thing I absolutely love about Fantilli’s goal is Provy’s excitement for the kid.

https://x.com/bluejacketsnhl/status/1715921603664507048?s=46&t=AxNq1rfcZuAa4d4gFZJJtg

instantly arms raised as if we won the cup. love to see it.

Selfish player celebrating his own assist point.

 

[Jovavic]

The book on Elvis seems to be, shoot the puck

FIFY

 

[MAHJ71]

 

[GoJackets1]

Johnny and Boone particularly stood out to me in what I watched last night. Both looked great.

 

[Napoli]

The book on Elvis seems to be, shoot the puck between his glove/blocker and pads. Seemed like damn near every Minny goal last night was to that area.

Other than Elvis, great team effort. Should have won going away. I love this 4th line. I have not been real big on Kuraly, or Roslovic, but they seem to be clicking with Danforth. Hope Vincent keeps them together and sees how this works longer term. Hell of a lot better 4th line than we saw before he put it together.

Elvis has awful positioning. If he has to rely solely on his positioning, he concedes a lot. He's very athletic and can move side to side but in terms of making saves with screens around him, he's not good. He's often too deep in his net or just off the angle completely.

I'll give him a pass for this last game bc I realize he's been sick and he's been solid other than that but he almost gave away this game.

 

[NotWendell]

Maybe, but more so get traffic in front of him as he seems to be below average at tracking pucks. 1 or 2 goals last night I felt like he should have had if he just tracks it better. The other few Wild just did a damn good job taking his sight away.

Problem is, one of the goals scored was because there were about six guys in front of him and he had no chance of seeing it.

 

[MAHJ71]

• The Blue Jackets dialed up 54 shots on goal in Saturday’s win over Minnesota, tied for the fourth most among regular-season games in franchise history. Odd fact: The Jackets haven’t won any of those five games in regulation. Odder fact: All five of those games have been on the road. The franchise record is 60 shots on goal in a 3-2 shootout win at Arizona on Dec. 3, 2016. The other games were losses at Toronto (57 shots in a 6-3 loss on Feb. 14, 2018), at New Jersey (55 shots in a 4-3 shootout loss on Feb. 16, 2020), and at Arizona (54 shots in a 2-0 loss on April 3, 2012).

• It’s interesting that Arizona shows up twice on that list, some five seasons apart. It was the same Coyotes goaltender — Mike Smith — in both of those games.

from Portzline’s Sunday article