A Case of the Blue…Jackets

COLUMBUS, OH - Two minutes and fifty seconds into the third period, Josh Mahura was in pursuit of a puck when he was upended by Columbus goaltender Elvis Merzlikins, who came out of his net high in the slot. The moment felt like how the game versus the Blue Jackets happened.

After a strong start and an even board after the first period, Columbus, a team that came into the game holding down the second wild card spot in the East, upended the game as a whole with a four-goal offensive outburst in the middle period that ultimately sealed the fate of the game at a 6-2 loss.

“We needed to defend better,” head coach Dan Bylsma said. “The goal is not to outscore the opposition. The goal is to win the hockey game with more goals than they have. And we just gave them too many goals tonight, too many opportunities…and lapses in our defensive coverage, and you end up chasing the game.”

Wright Response

Coming into this game, Bylsma and his staff had made some changes to the forward trios, moving Oliver Bjorkstrand alongside Chandler Stephenson and Andre Burakovsky, and Jared McCann switched over to a line with Eeli Tolvanen centered by Shane Wright. The latter swap would pay off for the Kraken.

Dan Bylsma has said that getting the first goal of the game doesn’t dictate the rest of the game. But he does put weight on the second goal because it either gives either team a two-goal lead or returns the score to even. The Kraken made the second goal of the game count in this one.

Just like the last time these two teams played, Sean Kuraly scored the first goal of the game, but ten seconds later, Seattle responded.

Wright won the very next faceoff, and then, as the puck moved into the Kraken’s offensive zone, he won a board battle against Luca Del Bel Belluz, spun and fed Tolvanen in the slot, who moved the puck quickly off his stick to beat Elvis Merzlikins and make it 1-1. It was the seventh time this season the Kraken have scored a response goal after an opponent’s.

“I was just shooting the puck,” Tolvanen said. “I had a couple of good opportunities today.”

Second Period Swing

The Blue Jackets have been very good in their own building this season – coming into this game when playing at home, Columbus led the league in goals per game (4.10), and the most goals scored (86). Seattle knew all of that and also knew that this is a team that has some big bodies that can be active net front.

After a fairly even opening 20 minutes, the Blue Jackets offense surged in period two. The Kraken were unable to take advantage of their first of three power plays and it was then that Columbus went to work.

After facing nineteen shots, Philipp Grubauer was replaced by Joey Daccord in net – the first time there’s been a mid-game goaltender swap by the Kraken this year. Bylsma said it was an attempt to send a message.

“You’re just trying to wake up your team,” Bylsma said. “Particularly after the third goal, I think there was a dip in our play and a dip in our emotions, and that led to the fourth goal. And you know, the game's not over. You win some, you're going to lose some. But, you have to stay in the fight. You have to stay in the battle. And we stepped out of it for too long there in the second period.”

Seattle had been getting looks (and led in offensive zone time). They generated 25 shot attempts while allowing 23. But, defensively, as assistant coach Dave Lowry told Kraken Hockey Network’s Piper Shaw during the second intermission, “We didn’t get our clears and had some breakdowns in coverage. We gave them some easy goals defending the middle of the ice.”

“We've had success doing the D zone (systems) that we're doing. And, I think on any given night with anyone's D zone, it can get broken down, and plays can happen. But I think overall, just from man to man, I think it's something that obviously we can do better on. And I think that shows tonight, but I think our D-zone system-wise is fine. It's just a matter of executing it.”

Two-time Tolvy

In pursuit of narrowing the gap, the Kraken made another shift in forward combinations in the third period. Tolvanen moved up with Stephenson and Burakovsky, and 8:44 into the final frame, Brandon Montour started the breakout with a quick stretch pass to Stephenson, who skated into the zone even with the faceoff dots before dropping the puck to Tolvanen, who promptly scored his second of the game. This was Tolvanen’s first multi-goal game this season and third as a member of the Kraken.

In the final 20 minutes, Seattle controlled play, outshooting Columbus 12-4, but Kirill Marchenko added a late empty net goal to set the final score 6-2.

“Everyone was pretty pissed off, honestly and rightfully so,” Mahura said. “So obviously, we tried to come on the third and have a push and see what could happen. But, obviously, just too much to overcome from the second.”

By The Numbers

• In 5-on-5 play, the Kraken won the offensive battle both in terms of volume (60%) and quality (57.7%). But the second period was where they weren’t on the plus-side, and obviously Columbus was able to capitalize.
• Jared McCann led his team in individual shot quality.
• Matty Beniers’ line (with Jaden Schwartz and Kaapo Kakko) led all Seattle lines in terms of tilting the ice. They primarily faced off against Columbus’ top line and came out plus-10 in shot attempts and generated 78 percent of all shot quality in 12:57 of playing time.
• Kaapo Kakko led all players in the game in offensive zone possession time (:53).
• Elvis Merzlikins earned his 13^th quality start of the season thanks to his play, which prevented .6 more goals than he should have.

Here’s a look at our data-driven Instant Analysis from Sportlogiq (Click HERE for how to read this graphic):