Tuesday night saw the Columbus Blue Jackets welcome back Sergei Bobrovsky, after a long stint on IR, having not played a game since December 8, 2015 in a 3-2 overtime loss to the Los Angeles Kings. However, this “welcome back party” wasn’t exactly in the fashion that the fans, or Bobrovsky himself, probably would’ve enjoyed after over a month out.
As they announced the starters at Nationwide Arena, you could feel the energy and excitement in the crowd to hear the PA announce “Sergei Bobrovsky in net”, and as he did the crowd let out a massive cheer for their goaltender to welcome him back and to let him know that they collectively were desperate for him to return. This excitement was compounded with the fact that the Blue Jackets were able to score the first goal of the night. The first goal of the game came from young prospect Kerby Rychel, his first goal of his NHL career, from a sublime feed from fellow prospect William Karlsson. This excitement was short-lived as the rest of the period was, in theory, played well by the Blue Jackets, but went into the intermission down 2-1, primarily due to poor play by certain defenseman and sloppy giveaways in the defensive zone.
Sergei Bobrovsky Welcomed Back With Beatdown
The second period started much the same way that the first ended, with the Washington Capitals capitalizing on mistakes by defenseman and ruining the return of Bobrovsky even more than they already had. The simple fact of the game was that stupid mistakes were made and Bobrovsky was simply left out to dry on most, if not all, of the five goals he gave up on the night. The two in the second period were just that, as they both came from the powerplay that was the direct product of a double-minor by defenseman Justin Falk, of the Blue Jackets.
The only solace for Blue Jackets fans on the night would be the fact that cult hero Boone Jenner, who many believe to be an All-Star snub, was able to bag his team-leading 16th goal, tied with Brandon Saad for the team lead. Other than that and two points from newly-arrived blueliner, Seth Jones, there wasn’t much to cheer about on the return of the Russian netminder.
Despite only saving 22 of 27 shots on the night, Bobrovsky had the backing of the Blue Jackets Head Coach, John Tortorella, as he said “We know he’s going to be better, he’s been out for a while and you know, a couple of them he has no chance on. But yeah, it’s a tough spot, but this is the only way you got him out of this play, so we’ll keep on playing him and we’ll see where we go.” The coach also spoke on the mistakes that lead to the goals, pointing out that they were few and far between, but the ones that were made were big ones that let the game slip away again.
The loss to the Capitals sees Bobrovsky fall to 11-13-1 on the season, with his save percentage falling to a .912, and his GAA rising up to a 2.63 for the season. Despite these numbers, it doesn’t tell the whole story to a very tumultuous and disappointing season for the Russian and, regardless of the result last night, the CBJ fanbase will continue to back the perennial starter in hopes that he can find his former Vezina-winning form sooner rather than later.
