Zak MacMillan

"CBJ"

Harrisburg, PA • United States • 23 Years Old • Male

CBJ Post-Game Preseason No. 3: Shootout Victory

Last night, the Columbus Blue Jackets defeated the Boston Bruins by the final score of 3-2 in a shootout victory.

After a scoreless first period, Sonny Milano netted the first goal of the game on the power play in the second period. Because of no video editing, the play could not be reviewed, and the call was cut close as Milano celebrated first prior to the arrival of an official. Was it a close call? Yes. The video from the top and the side was hard to conclude, but it counted anyway.

Not long after, winger Jimmy Hayes crashed the net after receiving a beautiful feed former first rounder Jake DeBrusk; Austin Czarnik had an assist as well.

Daniel Zaar had an awesome goal set up with a tic tac toe effort that started with Brandon Saad, even though he didn't get an assist. Sam Gagner fed the puck to him in the slot to give the Jackets the lead.

Early in the third, Brandon Carlo's slap shot from the point was deflected in by winger Danton Heinen; Seth Griffith was the player that passed the puck to Carlo.

At 65 minutes of play, Sam Gagner was the only player to score in the shootout for the Blue Jackets.

The Bruins played both goalies- Anton Khudobin and Zane McIntyre. Khudobin allowed two goals on 13 shots faced for a 0.846 save percentage (84.6%); McIntyre stopped all 8 shots faced in the final frame and overtime (100%).

Curtis McElhinney was in the net for the whole game for the Jackets, stopping 29 of 31 shots for a 0.935 save percentage (93.5%).

Other thoughts as well before the three stars:

1. Mike Brown was very visible in the game last night. Without Boll and Clarkson, he may be the perfect and cheaper replacement for both guys.

2. Sam Gagner has been the Jackets' best player in the preseason. No words for him thus far.

3. Vitaly Abramov came close to scoring in the game; he had a wide open opportunity. His time will come for sure.

4. Sean Kurlay for the Bruins is a Dublin, Ohio native. Good to see Ohio hockey continue to creep it's way into the NHL level.

5. The Bruins have a good prospect pool, but it's like the Jackets. There are the very good players, and then guys they will probably stay in the AHL.

6. Could the Blue Jackets and Bruins become a rivalry to notice in the coming years? Two seasons ago, when I first started blogging, Dalton Prout and Milan Lucic seemed to be stirring the pot, and last night, things got going again.


CBJ Three Stars of the Night

1. Sam Gagner- SO Winner; assist

2. Curtis McElhinney- 2 GA on 31 SA

3. Daniel Zaar- goal


More to come... Nashvile next.

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