Playing against the Blues always brings out some oomph in Rick Nash’s game, which in return brings out the Blues’ desire to get physical with the Blue Jackets. For two teams in the same division who don’t really have much of a rivalry aside from that stuff about a soccer game, they sure do seem to get into it when they play each other.
The second fight of the game, between B.J. Crombeen and recent call-up Dane Byers, was a wake-up call to a Blues team that came out of the gate like they were skating through molasses. The Blue Jackets scored seconds before, as Cam Atkinson wristed one past Brian Elliott thanks to a bit of not paying attention to who was near the goaltender.
Coach Ken Hitchcock criticized the team’s intensity level in an interview with Bernie Federko during the game, and almost immediately Chris Stewart decided to make his coach’s disappointment go away. He, on a breakaway, backhanded roofed the puck over Curtis Sanford in an amazing play:
The goal woke the Blues up, who started playing much more physically for the rest of the period, especially Barret Jackman, who seems hell-bound and determined to go after Rick Nash all night long.
About five minutes after Stewart’s goal, Oshie netted another power play goal for the team via an outstanding feed from David Backes.
The Blues have killed off 37 penalties in a row, and Oshie’s PPG was the 2,700th in Blues history. The Blues are also holding the shot edge 20-15, but were outshot nine to five in the second.