Sergei Bobrovsky is authoring some kind of story right now, and even his head coach couldn’t recall off-hand a run quite like the Blue Jackets goaltending has strung together.
In what admittedly was not their cleanest or most complete effort in the first 28 games, the 24-year-old netminder held the Jackets together through regulation, overtime, and a spotless shootout. He made 39 saves – equaling a season-high he set just two days ago – and catalyzed the Blue Jackets to a 1-0 shootout win over the Coyotes in front of 14,231 at Nationwide Arena.
Bobrovsky’s hot streak is undeniable. His teammates have played a strong defensive game in front of him (as was the case tonight once again) and have given him opportunities to see as many pucks as possible with minimal traffic. Bobrovsky’s strongest test came in the shootout, when Phoenix sent Mikkel Boedker and old Jacket nemesis Steve Sullivan to the plate. Boedker missed the target high and wide with a wrist shot, and Sullivan tried a sweeping forehand deke that Bobrovsky sniffed out all the way.
Though the scoresheet was a lonely neighborhood Saturday, it wasn’t for a lack of action on the ice.
Jared Boll and Paul Bissonnette renewed acquaintances in the second period tonight, engaging in a spirited brawl that ended with Bissonnette’s jersey shredded like old tax documents. The Blue Jackets got some energy from that and played a strong second and third period, withstanding a pair of Coyotes power plays at the end of the second and start of the third.
Blue Jackets coach Todd Richards put his two most consistent shootout performers – Artem Anisimov and Mark Letestu – 1-2 in the batting order to start things off after another whirlwind overtime. Anisimov went to his signature backhand deke, and Letestu went bar-down in the second round to give Columbus an insurmountable edge in the shootout.
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