Oh, and he was feted throughout the last homestand as he passed the 1,000-game milestone, with friends and family packing Nationwide Arena for what turned into a week-long celebration. Why not add a trio of hat trick pucks to the silver stick and other gifts he received?
“They don’t happen often, especially for me,” Coyle said of the hat trick. “I love when we win. We just want to win in here, and it seems like it’s kind of a new guy depending on the night. No one really acres who it is. We get the two points we came here for, and everyone is happy. Tomorrow it’s gonna be a new line, someone, whatever, but we’ll just have to play the right way and it’s going to work out.”
For a player who says he doesn’t love the limelight, Coyle sure has had a lot happen over the past week to force him into it. But it’s also clear that even though he’s in his first season with the Blue Jackets, his personality, work ethic and dependability have won over the locker room.
“I’m sick of talking about that guy,” Zach Werenski joked. “It’s been the 1,000th game, the ceremonies, now tonight. No, honestly, he’s been incredible, and I really can’t say anything else. I feel like I’ve said it all. He’s one of the best teammates I’ve played with, and obviously what he does on the ice, he plays the right way. I think he leads by example. It’s nice to see him get the four points tonight and three goals, but it’s everything else away from the puck that he does that’s so important for our group.”
And while the scoring was nice, Werenski’s point about what Coyle brings on the defensive side rings true. He’s centered the Blue Jackets’ shutdown line throughout the season, spending most games matched against the opposing team’s top trio. That was the case again on Friday as head coach Rick Bowness didn’t have the last change but tried to get Coyle, Mathieu Olivier and Cole Sillinger out against Connor Bedard’s line throughout the night.
Coyle ended up skating 8:13 of 5-on-5 play against Bedard, and the Blue Jackets had a 9-5 edge in shot attempts, a 6-1 advantage in scoring chances and 5-2 edge in shots on goal per Natural Hat Trick.
“Give Charlie’s line a lot of credit,” Bowness said. “He has those three goals, (but) you see the job he did defensively? That’s just as important. That helps us win the game.”
2. The Blue Jackets are making a habit of playing from ahead under Bowness, and it’s paying off.
This has been a strength of the Blue Jackets for much of the season, as Columbus has scored the first goal in 17 of the last 22 contests and 32 of 53 games overall, which has allowed the CBJ to place fourth in the NHL in time spent leading games. But it’s been particularly notable since Bowness took over, with the Blue Jackets taking a 1-0 lead in seven of eight games; they’ve won all seven of those contests and lost the only time they allowed the first goal.
“I didn’t even know that, so I appreciate you sharing it,” Werenski said. “Yeah, obviously when you can get off to a lead early in the game, it’s definitely a bonus. I think playing from behind, you can sometimes end up chasing the game a little bit. For us to get in front, (we’re) just establishing our game, getting to the game we want to play.”
Coyle did the honors on this night, as he buried the rebound of a Werenski shot with the Blue Jackets on the power play in the final minute of the first period. But as Bowness noted, having an early lead is good, but the one that matters most happens when the clock says all zeroes.
“We want to come out hard, and give the guys credit for that, they are,” Bowness said. “But the most important thing is the end when we have to make sure we have one more than they have at the end of the game. We’ve done a good job of that.”
3. The Blue Jackets again held a third-period lead, limiting what the Blackhawks were able to generate in the final frame.
When you score first and hold a lead, there’s a good chance you’re going to be ahead in the third period, and that means you’ll have an opportunity to close out games. Columbus’ struggles finishing out games the first half of the season were well-documented, but they haven’t reared their ugly head in a while, with the Blue Jackets again finishing things off Friday by taking a 3-2 lead into the final period and not allowing a goal to the Blackhawks.
The key, players and coaches alike have said, is just sticking to the same style of play that put them ahead in the first place.
“We haven’t really changed much,” Werenski said. “We just stick to our game plan. Bones is talking a lot, staying positive, just telling us to keep on the pressure and keep on the attack. I just think as the year has gone on, we’ve matured more as a group and are finding ways to close out games now.”
Columbus was outshot 9-3 in the final period against the Blackhawks, but the good news is that they didn’t allow Chicago many grade-A scoring chances to even the score. Per Natural Stat Trick, at 5-on-5 in the final period, Chicago had a single high-danger scoring chance.
Bowness liked the way his team defended with the lead, but added the next step for the Blue Jackets is to keep generating offense.
“We didn’t put enough pucks on net in the third, so we’re gonna be preaching that,” Bowness said. “We want to play on our toes, we want to after them, but it was a solid game. We didn’t give up much in the third, so that’s a good thing, but we still want to generate a little bit more.”
