Blue Jackets Score: April 9, 2017
Game 82 / Check out the whole project here
82 games later and here we are. The end of regular season came with a win, a playoff spot, and a preview of what leaving all your blood, sweat, and tears on the ice means.
-On Saturday night the Jackets rolled into Toronto just in time to see the Leafs play the Penguins on the very ice they would be skating on in less than 24 hours. It was a heck of a game that lead to the Leafs winning and clinching their spot in the playoffs just one day before the end of the regular season.
-As you can imagine, Toronto was flying high. And it was that energy that kept the Jackets from taking a single shot for the first 10-plus minutes of their game on Sunday.
-Even though we ended the first period with only 6 SOG we were able to hold off a 4-minute penalty kill for high sticking and Korpi didn’t let anyone past him.
-There must have been some major talks in both dressing rooms during the first intermission though because both teams came out looking to prove something in the second. To the Jackets, we needed a win to show our fans and our team that we control our own winning destiny. To the Leafs, a single point in this game would have meant that they would’ve faced the Ottawa Senators in the first round of the playoffs instead of the Presidents' Trophy-winning Capitals.
-The Leafs, van Riemsdyk especially, really got his skates going early in the second 20-minutes of the game when he scored two goals in a row within the first 7 minutes. As of recent that would have seemed like a death sentence. But tonight the CBJ got their battle back and rallied with 3 unanswered goals before the second period was up.
-Matt Calvert got the wheel rolling with his first goal in many games. followed by Josh Anderson, and finally a short-hander by Atkinson. As one of the top goal scorers this season, Cam has been expected to produce in the last slew of low games. But tonight he was able to make it click.
-Tortorella was happy about the win, but was more excited about the upcoming week. ’’I am sure they're going to be ready to play. What the result's going to be, I don't know, but this team's going to have some fun. Now it's time to have some fun and just let them go and play.''