CBJ Today: A scrimmage filled with goals
Foligno, Dubois hat tricks lead way as Jackets tally 15 times
Scrimmage Time
The Blue Jackets took the ice in a darkened Nationwide Arena with music blaring and Greg Murray's voice welcoming them. There were pregame intros, then a lineup on each blue line for the national anthem.
And then, after Murray introduced Leo Welsh for the national anthem, there was the usual pause, and then a few voices from players on the ice.
"LEO!"
You can't say the Blue Jackets don't get it.
And it sure felt good to be back Wednesday night in Nationwide Arena as the White team earned a 9-6 victory over the Blue squad.
HELMETS FOR HEROES: Nominate a hero to thank them for their hard work during these unprecedented times and win a signed CBJ helmet
For a team looking for offense, the 15 goals had to feel good, especially for someone like Nick Foligno who had a hat trick for the losing squad.
"I said I'm scoring about 40 this year, so I have 37 left," Foligno said. "We joke around, it's a scrimmage, but it's still nice to put the puck in the net."
Head coach John Tortorella, who watched from the stands behind the CBJ bench, said there were takeaways despite what was a sloppy scrimmage. Then again, that might just be what was expected; the team had an 11-5 scrimmage as it prepared for the bubble this summer.
"There's some things to take away from it," Tortorella said. "I know you guys need to write something, but I'm not going to make such quick evaluations and start spouting off what I thought about this player and that player, good and bad. The guys are tired, I can see that. They had a couple of good days, and now they were playing a night game after skating this morning. But there's some things I take away from it."
Here's a breakdown of the scrimmage.
Format: It was a true gameday atmosphere in the building, with a DJ playing during full-length warmups, an intro video and full intermissions between each of the periods. The first two periods were played as a traditional game before the final 20 minutes were split up into special teams -- three four-minute periods of power play time, a four-minute 4-on-4 period and a four-minute 3-on-3 period. A handful of players also swapped sides between the second and third periods to make the power-play setups work.
Standouts:As we noted, Foligno finished with a hat trick for the Blue team, while Andrew Peeke had a goal and two assists. Cam Atkinson and Boone Jenner also scored for Blue. On the White team, Pierre-Luc Dubois had a hat trick and an assist, while Oliver Bjorkstrand celebrated his new contract with two goals and an assist. Goals also came from Seth Jones, Riley Nash, Nathan Gerbe and Liam Foudy.
Notes: The two teams were evenly matched based on the way they were separated, so there was no surprise it was a spirited contest. It's also hard to judge goalies in a game like this; both Elvis Merzlikins (gave up nine goals for Blue) and Joonas Korpisalo (gave up all six for White) were under siege at times during the sloppy play. Six of the 15 goals also were scored during the special teams period.
In 12 minutes of power-play time, the Blue Jackets scored two power-play goals. Both goals were scored by the unit that featured Dubois, Bjorkstrand, Foligno, Seth Jones and Cam Atkinson, as Bjorkstrand ripped a shot past Merzlikins and had another tipped home by Dubois. The bad news is that a pair of shorthanded goals were given up, as both Jenner and Foudy tallied on shorthanded breakaways.
Did not play: Seven of the 41 players on the camp roster did not take part -- forwards Tyler Angle, Zac Dalpe, Gus Nyquist, Cliff Pu, Justin Scott and Kole Sherwood as well as defenseman Gabriel Carlsson.
Lines:
If you're in the mood
White
Alexandre Texier - Pierre-Luc Dubois - Oliver Bjorkstrand
Liam Foudy - Riley Nash - Emil Bemstrom
Eric Robinson - Kevin Stenlund - Nathan Gerbe
Zach Werenski - Seth Jones
Scott Harrington - Michael Del Zotto
Adam Clendening - Jake Christiansen
Joonas Korpisalo
Blue
Nick Foligno - Max Domi - Cam Atkinson
Boone Jenner - Mikko Koivu - Mikhail Grigorenko
Stefan Matteau - Ryan MacInnis - Trey Fix-Wolansky
Vladislav Gavrikov - David Savard
Dean Kukan - Andrew Peeke
Thomas Schemitsch - Gavin Bayreuther
Elvis Merzlikins
