After each CBJ win, we'll give three takeaways from the Blue Jackets victory.
BLUE JACKETS 6, AVALANCHE 4
1. We have to start with the donkey.
Sean Monahan emerged from the Blue Jackets locker room to do his postgame interview with Bally Sports Ohio donning a gray donkey hat. With floppy ears, a Blue Jackets logo on one side and the Blue Jackets “13” patch in honor of Johnny Gaudreau on the other, the donkey is replacing the kepi hat given in the locker room to the team’s player of the game for the time being.
“If you knew John, he probably called you a donkey 1,000 times,” Monahan told Dave Maetzold on the Bally broadcast. "It’s something we’re doing for him. ... I think he’s probably looking down laughing at me right now."
It was fitting Monahan earned the hat considering Gaudreau was one of his best friends and one of the major reasons he signed as a free agent with Columbus this offseason. He earned it with a standout performance that included his first CBJ goal, two assists and a plus-3 rating.
“To be honest, it’s emotional,” Monahan said. “It’s nice. It’s nice to get our first win. You feel the love from this organization, I feel the love from my teammates. And obviously I can feel the love from John.”
The icing on the cake – perhaps literally – is that it came on Monahan’s 30th birthday. He became the first CBJ player in team history with at least three points on their birthday.
2. Monahan scored the goal into an empty-net to ice the victory, and he did so because linemate Kirill Marchenko did the unselfish thing and passed him the puck rather than score himself.
That gesture certainly didn’t go unnoticed.
“Those kind of moments tell us here is a really good group and we take care of each other,” goalie Daniil Tarasov said postgame. “We’re fighting for each other. It means a lot.”
Head coach Dean Evason has spoken repeatedly during the preseason about how close the team is, and this seemed to be another data point in favor of that.
“That’s what makes the team a team,” Monahan said.
For his part, Marchenko said he saw Monahan coming and elected to give up the puck.
“It’s just a normal thing, I think, on our line,” Marchenko said. “If I can make a pass, for sure.”
3. When it comes to holding a lead after the second period, consider the first test complete.
The Blue Jackets were 18-1-7 when leading after two periods a season ago, and those eight losses were one off the league lead in that realm. There were other games when the team took a lead in the third only to see it disappear in the final moments, costing the squad valuable points -- and confidence -- as the year went on.
Those blown leads could be considered part of what happens when a young team is trying to learn how to win games, but those lessons are still not very enjoyable to live through.
The hope is closing out this one against a dangerous Colorado team will be a boost.
"It's obviously nice to keep a lead, but to not sit back and just defend was exciting for us as a staff,” head coach Dean Evason said. “We stayed aggressive. We didn't risk a whole lot, but we didn't shut down and just go into a shell and just try to defend and block shots. Our guys still played the game the right way. We still got a few things to correct out at the end there, but for the most part, we were very happy with that area.”
Colorado had an 18-9 edge in shot attempts at 5-on-5 in the third, but only 6-4 in shots on goal and the Blue Jackets had a 2-1 edge in high-danger chances, according to Natural Stat Trick. Total shots on goal in the frame were 8-7 CBJ, and Colorado didn't have a shot on goal until nearly 10 mintues were gone in the period.
As Evason said, there are some things to clean up, but the Blue Jackets got the job done.
