After CBJ wins, we'll give three takeaways about what stood out or what we'll remember from the Blue Jackets victory.
RECAP: BLUE JACKETS 2, BLUES 1
1. Jet Greaves delivered another standout performance in net for the Blue Jackets.
Whenever Columbus has turned to the netminder over the past three seasons, he’s always delivered, but this showing in St. Louis was perhaps the best of his NHL career.
Greaves turned aside nine shots in the first period, eight more in the second and 14 in the third to earn his fifth career win and second of the season. He finished just 12 seconds short of his first career shutout only to see it spoiled when Colton Parayko got a rebound by him on the power play, but the Blue Jackets and Greaves were able to play out the final seconds to complete the victory.
It seemed clear Greaves was on his game from the early going, and that continued on as the Blues got better throughout the game. St. Louis finished with numerous grade-A chances – including a second-period one-on-one chance for Brandon Saad and a third-period open look for Philip Broberg – only to see Greaves answer each time.
“Jet was a real solid tonight, real calm back there, made some huge saves for us,” Cole Sillinger said.
“Jet stood on his head tonight,” Adam Fantilli said. “He was great. We wish could have gotten the shutout for him there with 10 seconds left, but he’s awesome. Any time he’s up here, he has a sense of confidence back there, and he’s been playing great.”
The praise was extensive from his teammates, but for Greaves, it just felt like another day at the office. His growth into the NHL goalie the past couple of seasons has largely stemmed from bringing consistent effort and performance on a daily basis and staying in the moment, and those are the things he leaned into as the saves started to pile up.
“I never really think about it so much,” Greaves said. “I'm just trying to stay in the moment as much as I can and just take it one play or one shot at a time. So for me, I’m just trying to be present. It’s kind of tough to say.”
He was all that and more, and the only disappointment for some might have come from the fact that Parayko’s goal denied him the shutout, but Greaves said coming out with the win was much more important.
“At the end of the day, you want to play well, but more than anything you want to win hockey games,” Greaves said. “That’s what it’s about.”
2. The Blue Jackets helped Greaves by putting the body on the line.
As head coach Dean Evason spoke to the media Friday morning, he extolled the virtues of his team’s increasing dedication of blocking shots.
His players weren’t in the room, but it sure felt like they were listening Saturday night (or, more likely, he’s had the same conversation with them as he had with us). The Blue Jackets blocked 23 shots in St. Louis, reaching that number for the fourth straight game, with Dante Fabbro leading the way with seven and Ivan Provorov right behind with five.
“That shows commitment from your group to keep the puck out of the net,” Evason said.
Not that it’s always easy. The Blue Jackets did lose forward Zach Aston-Reese in the third period after a shot block, but that can be the price of doing the little things to win a game. It might not be fun, but getting in the way of shots is certainly necessary.
“I mean, it sucks,” Fantilli said of blocking shots. “It’s a sacrifice. It hurts, but it helps us get wins. No one wants to do it, but the guys that do it and do it well, that’s going to help our team a lot.”
Greaves was certainly thankful afterward, as the Blues pushed for more offense as the contest went on but rarely found an easy path to the net.
“That's something that's huge for us to have success is blocking shots,” the goalie said. “I think the guys did a great job of putting their bodies on the line to help the team.”
3. The team’s second road win in a row couldn’t have come at a better time.
The Blue Jackets’ victory was their fourth in a row and eighth in 11 games, and it moved the team into sole possession of the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
This is a real playoff race at the moment, and if you’re going to make it to the postseason, you have to win games in a variety of ways. And as most CBJ fans know, there’s been a major dichotomy between the team’s home and road records this season.
Columbus has been one of the best teams in the NHL at home this year, moving to 14-5-3 with Thursday’s win vs. Seattle and boasting the most prolific home goal-scoring record in the league.
The road has been a different story, as the Blue Jackets entered Saturday night’s game vs. the Blues tied for last in the NHL with just five wins (5-12-3) away from home. That simply isn’t good enough for a team with high hopes, and the Blue Jackets took to the ice knowing it.
“Obviously, I talked to you guys about our road record, and they take pride in that too, right?” Evason said of his players. “They don't want to have the road record be what it is, so they're competing their butts off to try to win hockey games out here.”
On the road, the goals haven’t – and won’t – come as easily as they have at Nationwide Arena, so the Blue Jackets have to be able to bear down and play enough defense to get wins. On this night, they did that in the shadow of the Gateway Arch.
“It was just kind of a greasy 2-1 road win,” Sillinger said. “We talked about being better on the road and being able to win hockey games like that, and that was a big one for our group.”