Gretz: G Bobrovsky getting Jackets on track
For the first month of the season Sergei Bobrovsky was the biggest reason the Columbus Blue Jackets were losing hockey games.
Now, he is the biggest reason they are winning them.
He was at it again on Friday night when put together one of the best goaltending performances of the season when he stopped all 39 shots he faced in a 4-0 win over the Nashville Predators. What made this game so great for Bobrovsky isn’t just the fact that he stopped so many shots, but because he did it behind a defense that spent the last 40 minutes of the game playing with only four healthy defensemen after Fedor Tytutin and Cody Goloubef had to leave the game with injuries after the first period.
They needed him to be perfect, and he was.
His best save of the game came in the first period when he robbed Predators forward James Neal with this incredible pad save, taking away what looked to be a sure goal.
Bob is on the job. #NSHvsCBJ https://t.co/cekzQFz6zw
— NHL (@NHL) November 21, 2015
It’s the latest in a line of strong games for Bobrovsky after a miserable start to the season, including a stretch where he admitted that he had no confidence. It’s no surprise that his recent strong play has coincided with the Blue Jackets starting to win more hockey games.
Bobrovsky managed just an .864 save percentage through his first 10 games of the season, not only one of the worst stretches of his career, but one that helped to single handedly sink their season and help lead to the coaching change that saw John Tortorella replace Todd Richards behind the bench. Since then, including Friday’s game, Bobrovsky is up to .946 over his past six starts. It’s that performance that has helped Columbus start to turn things around under Tortorella with what is now an 8-6-0 record.
That’s the funny thing about coaching in the NHL. A lot of times the success or failure of the guy behind the bench simply comes down to a goaltender performing at an extremely high (or low) level. That doesn’t mean that Tortorella hasn’t done a fine job since taking over in Columbus. But there is no bigger reason for the team winning more games right now than the play of their starting goalie. Just like there was no bigger reason for the team losing under Richards than the horrendous play of the same goalie.
If Bobrovsky had played like this (or even closer to his career level) over the first seven games of the season there is no chance the Blue Jackets go winless during that stretch and it’s entirely possible that Richards gets to keep his job, just like Mike Yeo was able to keep his job a year ago when Devan Dubnyk came into Minnesota and saved their season.
Even after Friday’s win the Blue Jackets are still near the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings and five points out of a the final Wild Card spot, so it’s still a pretty tall mountain in front of them. But with Bobrovsky back on track and playing like the goalie they’ve become used to seeing over the past three years they might at least have a fighting chance now.
Sergei Bobrovsky is starting to play great again for the Columbus Blue Jackets. (USATSI)
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