Nationwide Arena was absolutely on fire at the start of the Blue Jackets’ season opener on Thursday night.
The atmosphere was nothing short of ecstatic leading up to the start of play between the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Boston Bruins to start the 2016-17 NHL regular season.
It was a sellout crowd with over 18,000 fans in attendance. The fans were hoping to see a glimpse into the future of the Jackets’ organization, and what to expect moving forward in the season.
The fans got what they wished for through a period and a half of play, but lack of endurance once again struck, and struck hard.
With a new season also comes a new outlook for the Blue Jackets, “Safe is Death.” These are the words that hang from the Blue jackets locker room. Playing safe hockey is like playing losing hockey according to head coach John Tortorella.
The first period was all Blue Jackets. The team got off to a fast start, as rookie Alexander Wennberg took the lead at the 2:58 mark with a wrist shot assisted by Seth Jones and Zach Werenski.
A first career point from rookie D-man @ZachWerenski on the @BlueJacketsNHL's opening tally. #NHLFirsts pic.twitter.com/N5WFLxoKXo
— NHL (@NHL) October 13, 2016
Later in the Period the Jackets took a 2-0 lead when Cam Atkinson Scored the second goal of the season for the CBJ. Things were looking way up going into the second period.
Off to a ? start at @NationwideArena!#CBJ pic.twitter.com/lj53iSqGkg
— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) October 14, 2016
The second period started off with Boston cutting the deficit to one, when Bruins Winger David Pastrnak scored the opening period goal.
This was only to be followed up soon after with the Jackets scoring a goal of their own, pushing the lead back to two, the goal was scored by Jones and assisted by Nick Foligno and Brandon Saad.
this was cooler tho pic.twitter.com/l2kSuuBYDn
— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) October 14, 2016
Everything seemed to be going good for the Jackets mid way through the second period.
The intensity was still there for the team and it seemed like they were going to be able to pull out a home opener win. The Jackets were up 3-1 at this point and everything seemed to be right in the world.
Things then took an ugly turn, and fast. It seemed the Jackets had the wind taken out of their sails. The CBJ were up 3-1 when they let Boston score two unanswered goals near the end of the second period.
The beginning of the third period started out as a completely new game, as each team was tied at three.
It was all Boston from that point on. The Bruins scored three unanswered goals in the third period to steal the game.
Full version: Brad Marchand puts #NHLBruins up 5-3.
+ Brandon Carlo gets his first NHL point. pic.twitter.com/yt5q8Wwkaw
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) October 14, 2016
The Blue Jackets’ endurance was brought into serious question in the opener. They started out as strong as anyone could ask, and slowly fell apart down the stretch.
After the game, a very displeased head coach Tortorella explained his thoughts on the team’s performance.
“We weren’t good through the game. We played tentative and sloppy, and you could use a lot of different words. I don’t have an answer for it. Obviously we have to find it. We have to go out tomorrow and go to work.”
Tortorella later went on to say that he didn’t think they even played clean hockey through the first period regardless of the score.
Most would disagree with this statement but obviously Tortorella expected much more from his squad even with a 2-0 lead in the first period.
Coach Tortorella seemed even more concerned with his first line, who got flat out, outplayed by Boston’s first line. Brandon Dubinsky was a career-worst minus-5, while Atkinson and Boone Jenner were minus-4.
“I’m disappointed in myself right now,” Dubinsky said. “They pressure hard, they have some good players. That top line played well for them. We weren’t able to create the puck time and the forecheck, my line especially, that we needed. We were one and done and then chasing them.”
The Blue Jackets are hoping to bounce back this Saturday in the second game of the season, at home against San Jose.
If the team cannot “Find it” before then, they risk another awful start to a promising season.
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