The Final Step

Scoring was the expectation. With a 5-on-3 power play for the Blue Jackets in the first period of the fourth game of the season, the top power play unit took the ice. Columbus dominated the zone, rotating the puck around. From below the goal line Cam Atkinson fed the puck to Artemi Panarin on the right circle. As Florida goaltender James Reimer sealed the right post, across the ice Zach Werenski stepped down from the blue line, took Panarin's feed and got the one-timer off before Reimer could slide to his left.

The goal was nothing spectacular. Again, as with any 5-on-3, scoring was the expectation. For the Panther fans in the building, this goal simply meant their team was down 1-0 with plenty of time left in their home-opener. But to the Blue Jackets, and Zach Werenski, this goal was far more significant. It was another tick on the timeline of a five-month recovery from surgery to repair his shoulder for the CBJ defenseman.
"It feels good," Werenski said. "It feels good when you can get on the scoresheet early on, kind of that monkey off the back feeling."
Throughout the 2017-18 season, the CBJ powerplay struggled for various stretches. While essentially playing with one shoulder, Werenski was very limited in his mobility. His arm was unable to be brought higher than a 45-degree angle away from his body due to a brace wrapping the shoulder and looping around his torso. This limited one part of his game in particular; his shot.
"I don't have a huge wind up or anything like that but just to get it off clean and get it off like I know I can -- it felt good tonight," Werenski said.
As with any athlete unable to play at 100 percent, there was plenty of frustration for Werenski, who set the Columbus franchise record for goals by a defenseman in a single season. Unable to let "half-slappers" go from the top, one of the most talented two-way defenseman in the league was unable to contribute as a shooting threat on the powerplay. Now at 100 percent and clearly ready to fire, Werenski brings a whole new dynamic to the CBJ powerplay unit that scored twice that night.
Werenski walked through how he can affect the power play by shooting: "I think when I'm a shooting threat it definitely helps create other options. On Duclair's goal I just tried throwing one on net there just showing them I'll shoot the puck. Then the next I pass to Bread, they kind of front me and a seam's wide open to Duclair and he puts it in. I think if I shoot the puck it just adds one more threat to our power play."
"You can see he's much more comfortable shooting the puck," Tortorella said. "I think he feels very comfortable with the shoulder.
Back to his full physical capability, Tortorella thinks Weresnki is well on his way to taking the final step in his recovery.
"The last thing that gets by the board is the mental part of it," Tortorella said. "I think he's getting through it."