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I was wrong again. For today’s tilt, I expected CBJ to bury Detroit in a physical battle. Detroit showed up on time. Svechnikov’s goal was beautiful, and now the big winger has 3 goals and 2 assists (5 pts) in 8 games played. If he’s sitting out, it’s not because of the effort.
When Roslovic scored, Detroit was outshooting CBJ 21-11. That seemed to turn the tide, but early in the third Rasmussen scored his first of the season, and the way he needs to score. Hard to the net. In fact, he pushed it off the pegs as part of his celly. He looks to be taking steps on the Keto diet and lifestyle....Captain CAVEMAN!!!
For good measure, Hronek scored a nearly 200ft empty netter for only his second goal of the year, and Namestnikov got another one for his 6th. Both players have deserved better fates, and Namestnikov has been killing himself and playing hard. Pickard was good in his limited workload, and seeing Svechnikov out with Zadina on the last shift tied it up nicely. Zadina has been throwing the body and backchecking far better than I thought would be the case. At 21, he’s playing the game hard, and the goals will come.
This back to back was something we didn’t see last year. The effort, in particular. Detroit outplayed Columbus for long stretches in both matches, and outshot the Bluejackets 29-17 today and 34-22 yesterday. Total shots of 63 to 39. This group seems to be playing for each other after a really bad series in Nashville.
It was nice to see Rasmussen on the receiving end of some praise. He has been aggressive and physical. He seems to be in the right kind of bad mood pretty much all the time. Two of the more criticized first round picks had very good games today.
Heading to Florida could very well be a humbling experience, so it’s best not to get too ahead of myself. However, even if this effort had led to a loss, it would still have been a good game. That’s what we’re looking for. That is what this time is supposed to be spent on discovering. Make the players grind it out and figure out how to be a tough team to play against. If this is a glimpse of where the team is heading, then the next few years should get progressively better.
If you didn’t catch it, a graphic about Moritz Seider was pasted on the screen at one point. He has the second highest points per game (of players playing 20 games or more) in his Swedish league at .68. The highest was .69. That’s who’s coming. More defensive contracts are expiring and Seider is, to me, ready to go. Berggren has certainly made the case to compete for a spot. Veleno should as well. Better days are coming.
I’d be remiss not to mention Mantha’s effort. He had an unreal drive, right up the middle, catching the puck bouncing it off his stick and getting two shots on net in that single sequence. When he’s skating, it is impressive. There was a lot of good to go around. What impressed you about the team’s effort? Let me know.
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