Bobrovsky raising the bar

By Jim den Hollander

Editor

Midwesthockey.info

The Columbus Blue Jackets will get a second shot at shrugging off elimination when it makes the tough trek to Pittsburgh’s PPG Paints Arena tonight (April 20) for Game 5 of its Best of 7 NHL Metro Division semi-final tonight.

The Jackets dropped the first three to the defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins and many experts and broadcasters put a fair chunk of the responsibility at the feet of Sergei Bobrovsky, a possible Vezina (Best Goaltender of the Season) candidate.

Indeed, a quick look at the numbers shows a sub .900 (.891) save percentage heading into Game five and making the numbers a little more glaring is an injury suffered by Matt Murray during the warm ups for Game 1 forced veteran Marc-Andre Fleury to the crease for the host Pens.

He has come through in a big way in what might be his final season in Pittsburgh, posting a .923 save percentage and picking up wins in each of the first three games of the series.

The toughest loss for the Jackets was in game three as it fought back from losses of 3-1 and 4-1 in Pittsburgh and owned a 3-1 lead after 20 minutes.

It was the Jackets though trailing 4-3 early in the third and needing a late goal from Brandon Dubinsky to push the thing to overtime where Jake Guentzel finished off a hat trick to lift the visitors into a 3-0 series lead.

The hosts though did rebound for a 5-4 win in Game 4 but again saw an early lead trimmed. This time the hosts were up 3-0 early in the second  and 4-2 in the opening minute of the third but ultimately had to hold off its rival through the final 32 seconds after Guentzel’s fifth of the series had the Pens within a shot.

The Jackets outshot the Penguins in both games in Pittsburgh so making the most of its opportunities and getting the timely stops from Bobrovsky could help the team get back into this series.