Welcome to “Three things”, your recap-like-substance for Columbus Blue Jackets games. No one wants to read “this happened, then this happened” boring recaps, so instead of doing that, we’ll look at three important things from the night’s action and talk about those.
Here are three things from Tuesday night’s 4-2 loss to Dallas.
Seguin and Benn are sort of good
So it’s not like I’m some all-seeing psychic, but I did say that Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin wouldn’t be held back for long and on Tuesday night, they went the hell off. The duo combined for four goals and three assists, combining on all four of Dallas’ goals.
Seguin in particular had a standout night, netting a hat trick, with two of the three coming in the third period of a tied game. That’s not only great production but it’s clutch as well. Sure, Benn had the highlight reel goal – he fought through a trio of Jackets defenders before sniping a far-side shot past Bobrovsky – but Seguin took hold of this game and won it for the Stars. It’s nice to have one star, but two capable of taking over a game?
Conditioning? Who needs conditioning?
So the big issue with Ryan Johansen was that him missing all of training camp and the preseason was that there was no way he can be effective being out of hockey shape. Sure, he’s still looking like he’s been huffing and puffing but it hasn’t limited his effectiveness.
He added a pair of tallies on Tuesday night, bringing his total up to two goals, three assists in the team’s first three games of the year. He might not be able to keep that pace up over the entirety of a season, but that’s a pretty damn good start for a guy we weren’t even sure would be on the opening night roster.
As he continues to play himself into game shape, things should get even better for Johansen. Many felt he’d take a step back this season before blowing up next year, but Johansen seems to have other things in mind.
Underrated Foligno
One of the reasons for the early success of the injury-depleted Blue Jackets is that Nick Foligno has been a driving force behind the offense. He had a goal and two assists through the first two games (both victories) and grabbed the primary assist on Johansen’s second goal, a power play tally.
Foligno’s style of play – skating at 110%, bringing the physical game – has always been a source of energy for the Blue Jackets, but now he’s chipping in the offense they need with so many faces out of the lineup. He isn’t going to keep it up over the course of a season because he never has, but it’s nice to see the bounces go his way early on.
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