NHL season suspended

[VetteMan]

Coming off an impressive comeback win, The Columbus Blue Jackets find themselves one win away from advancing past the NHL qualifying round. They will get their first chance to finish off the Toronto Maple Leafs in game 4 Friday night.

[VetteMan]

Auston Matthews scored on a power play at the 13:10 mark of overtime and the Toronto Maple Leafs rallied from a 3 goal deficit in the 3rd period to beat the Blue Jackets 4-3 on Friday night, tying the best of 5 at 2 wins apiece. The Leafs scored 3 times in a span of 3:34 seconds to knot the score late in a game, that Columbus and goalie Elvis Merzlikins had largely controlled until then. On Thursday night the Blue Jackets had rallied from a 3 goal deficit to eventually win in overtime. This time time with Nick Foligno in the penalty box for tripping, Matthews beat Merzlikins from the right circle to get the overtime win. Not saying that they can't come back and win game 5, but it's going to take a long time to try to figure out just how did they give up 3 goals in a span of 3:34 seconds, especially when you are ahead 3-0.

[VetteMan]

Joonas Korpisalo stopped 33 shots and the Columbus Blue Jackets advanced to the 1st Rd of the NHL playoffs with a 3-0 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs in a decisive Game 5 on Sunday night. Zach Werenski's floater from the left point in the 1st period held up as the deciding goal. Liam Foudy sneaked in a shot from a bad angle with 8:20 remaining, and captain Nick Foligno sealed the win by scoring into an open net with 23 seconds remaining. Korpisalo posted his second shutout of the series. The Blue Jackets advance to the 1st Rd where it will meet the 2nd seeded Tampa Bay Lighting.

[VetteMan]

Columbus Blue Jackets management will never say it publicly, but you better believe they are taking note that the players that left for greener pastures as URA, Sergei Bobrovsky, Artemi Panarin and Matt Duchen are all out of the playoffs, meanwhile the team that was left for dead, plays on. I wasn't very confident that the Blue Jackets would be able to get themselves ready for game 5, after a very emotional loss in game 4 that they probably felt as if they let slip away. They certainly proved me wrong.

[OHHS old timer]

The puck dropped at 3:11 eastern time for Tampa Bay v Columbus....

It is now 8:55 and they are getting ready for period #8. Yep, we tied at 2. Tampa tied it up early in the 3rd and that has been it.

Both teams have had scoring chances in the overtime periods....both goalies have played fantastic. Tampa has 84 shots on goal, while Columbus has 62. Longest game ever for both teams!!

Both were kinda sloppy in period 7 so we'll see what happens in period 8. I think Tampa just broke an NHL record for shots. Win or lose.....what a game!!

I LOVE THE STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS!!!!!

[OHHS old timer]

BTW......

If you are waiting for Boston v Carolina....keep waiting. That game will played tomorrow at 11 AM.

[OHHS old timer]

The puck dropped at 3:11 eastern time for Tampa Bay v Columbus....

It is now 8:55 and they are getting ready for period #8. Yep, we tied at 2. Tampa tied it up early in the 3rd and that has been it.

Both teams have had scoring chances in the overtime periods....both goalies have played fantastic. Tampa has 84 shots on goal, while Columbus has 62. Longest game ever for both teams!!

Both were kinda sloppy in period 7 so we'll see what happens in period 8. I think Tampa just broke an NHL record for shots. Win or lose.....what a game!!

I LOVE THE STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS!!!!!

Now 5th longest game in NHL history. Oh, the Blue Jackets goalie has set the for most saves in a game.

[VetteMan]

The #2 seeded Tampa Bay Lighting just beat the #7 seeded Columbus Blue Jackets 3-2 at the 9:33 mark of the 5th overtime. Being that the game was close to being 2 1/2 games long, I know the players have to be spent, because I'm worn out just from watching it. I know the goalie for the Blue Jackets set a record for saves, as I'm sure he had over 85 saves. Tampa Bay has a very good team, but the Blue Jackets gave them everything they had, and them some.

[VetteMan]

Two days after making an NHL record 85 saves in a 5 overtime loss, Joonas Korpisalo stopped 36 more shots to help the Blue Jackets beat the Tampa Bay Lighting 3-1 on Thursday to even the series at one game apiece. Ryan Murry and Oliver Bjorkstrand scored in the first period for Columbus, both goals set up by Pierre-Luc Dubois. Alexander Wennberg added another goal in the third period. We've all seen him play this past season, Dubois said about Korpisalo. He's an All-Star, then he gets injured and then he comes back. We all know what he's capable of. We all know in the dressing room that he's one of the best goalies in the NHL, and he's feeling pretty good right now. Both teams looked sluggish at the start, especially the Blue Jackets, which took more than half of the first period to get any offensive push going. Kucherov for Tampa Bay grabbed a carom off of the backboards and banked in a shot off of Korpisalo's back to give Tampa Bay a 1-0 lead 5:24 into the game. The Blue Jackets tied it when Dubois fed Murray with a perfect pass from behind the goal line with 7:08 left in the first period. The Blue Jackets took the lead on Bjorkstrand's one-timer from the right circle on a late first period power play. The Blue Jackets two goals in the first period came on only six shots in the period.

[VetteMan]

The Columbus Blue Jackets dropped game 3 of the Stanley Cup Series against the Tampa Bay Lightning by a 3-2 score on Saturday night. The result gives the Lightning a 2-1 game edge in the best of seven game series. The Lighting are an outstanding team, and most certainly have a decided advantage as far as offensive firepower is concerned. Both teams have outstanding goalie's, and if it wasn't for Korpisalo for the Blue Jackets, I really don't think that any of the three games that they have played would have been near as close. I have to give the Lightning's defense a lot of credit as well, as I think the Blue Jackets only had 17 shots on goal the whole game. The 34-17 shot difference was bad enough for the Blue Jackets, ( Good for the Lightning) I still can't believe that the Blue Jackets had a total of 7 shots in the final two periods. (40 min)

[VetteMan]

The forecast for the Blue Jackets is not looking very promising at this stage, as they dropped game 4 to the Lightning 2-1 to fall behind 3-1 in the series. From this point on it's that old saying, win or go home. The Blue Jackets didn't play that poorly, just not good enough to beat a pretty good team in the Tampa Bay Lightning. The first period the Blue Jackets started quickly, or so they thought. Bjorkstrand scored about 2 min into the 1st period to take a 1-0 lead, but after a challenge by the Lightning coach of offsides by the Blue Jackets, the goal was disallowed and the game stayed at 0-0. The second period kind of got the Blue Jackets back on their heels, as they gave up the first goal just 16 seconds into the 2nd period to fall behind 1-0, and then about 4 min later gave up their 2nd goal to trail 2-0. The Jackets didn't give up and finally did score in the 2nd period to trail 2-1 at the end of the 2nd period. The Jackets had a few scoring chances in the 3rd period, but just couldn't find the back of the net. The Blue Jackets with 6 skaters on the Ice and the time winding down, took a brutal too-many-men on the Ice penalty with 1:07 to go, and the Lightning saw the game out, and that was all she wrote. I've been saying all along about how way to many shots that the Blue Jackets goalie was having to face each game, well today I think that the Jackets actually did have more shots on goal than the Lightning.

[VetteMan]

The Tampa Bay Lightning knocked off the stubborn Columbus Blue Jackets 5-4 in overtime today, to win the series 4 games to 1 to move on to the next round of the playoffs. The Lightning came back from a 2 goal deficit in the 3rd period to tie the score and force overtime. In the overtime the Jackets had a costly turnover that led to the winning goal for the Lightning. Not to take anything away from the Lightning, but the Blue Jackets struggled big time in the 3rd period with a 2 goal lead, in being able to get the puck out of their end of the Ice. I don't know enough about the Lightning to really know how they stack up against some of the other teams in the NHL, I guess only time will tell.

[OHHS old timer]

The Tampa Bay Lightning knocked off the stubborn Columbus Blue Jackets 5-4 in overtime today, to win the series 4 games to 1 to move on to the next round of the playoffs. The Lightning came back from a 2 goal deficit in the 3rd period to tie the score and force overtime. In the overtime the Jackets had a costly turnover that led to the winning goal for the Lightning. Not to take anything away from the Lightning, but the Blue Jackets struggled big time in the 3rd period with a 2 goal lead, in being able to get the puck out of their end of the Ice. I don't know enough about the Lightning to really know how they stack up against some of the other teams in the NHL, I guess only time will tell.

The Lightning are projected to play Boston in the next round. A matchup of the top 2 teams in the NHL. Should be a seven gamer....but I hope not. Tampa was 2-1-1 this year vs the B's. We shall see....Go Lightning!!

[VetteMan]

In the end, the Blue Jackets learned another painful lessen. Blue Jackets captain Nick Foligno said that there's always room to grow, and I don't care if you are a young team or an old team. When you don't get the job done, that's where our team is right now. Even though it's very obvious that the Blue Jackets are very challenged as far as scoring goals is concerned, ( 28th out 31 teams ) they still were very competitive against both the Lightning and the Maple Leafs in each and every game. Since the Blue Jackets hired John Tortorella in 2015 as coach, they didn't make the playoffs in the 2015-2016 season, but have made it to the postseason every year since, a franchise record four seasons in a row that includes the sweep of the Lightning last year.

[VetteMan]

In the 70 games or so that were played in the NHL this season, before the coronavirus curtailed the season, the Blue Jackets were ranked either 28th or 29th out of 31 teams as far as being able to score goals. Even though they have earned four straight playoff appearances, if they want to move forward, they are going to have to get some help on offense. General Manager Jarmo Kekalainen is expected to go hunting for another top-6 forward, a goal scorer who can complement veteran's like #1 center Pierre-Luc Dubois and the cadre of emerging rookies. One of the Blue Jackets two proven goalies, Joonas Korpisalo and Elvis Merzlikins, could be of interest to other teams looking to make a trade.

[VetteMan]

The Columbus Blue Jackets have acquired forward Max Domi and a third round pick in the 2020 NHL draft, from the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for forward Josh Anderson. Domi just received a qualifying offer as expected from the Canadiens on Saturday, a one year deal worth 2.9 million. Blue Jackets general manager Jarmo Kekalainen, said that strengthening our center ice position has been a priority for our club, and we are extremely excited to add a player of Max Domi's talent and character to the Columbus Blue Jackets. He's a skilled playmaker that also brings grit and competitiveness, and we think he will be a great addition to our team.

[VetteMan]

The Columbus Blue Jackets spent this past Thursday shedding contracts to clear a significant amount of salary cap space ahead of Fridays free agent signing period. One of the contracts on the move is veteran defenseman Ryan Murry. The Blue Jackets announced that they have traded the No-2 overall pick from the 2012 NHL draft to the New Jersey Devils in exchange for a 2021 fifth-round draft pick. He has one year remaining on his current deal that carries a salary cap hit of 4.6 million.

[VetteMan]

The Columbus Blue Jackets have acquired forward Max Domi and a third round pick in the 2020 NHL draft, from the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for forward Josh Anderson. Domi just received a qualifying offer as expected from the Canadiens on Saturday, a one year deal worth 2.9 million. Blue Jackets general manager Jarmo Kekalainen, said that strengthening our center ice position has been a priority for our club, and we are extremely excited to add a player of Max Domi's talent and character to the Columbus Blue Jackets. He's a skilled playmaker that also brings grit and competitiveness, and we think he will be a great addition to our team.

Following the momentous Max Domi - Josh Anderson trade, John Tortorella professed a hope that the Blue Jacket's offense could loosen up. While that may still be the case, it might take a while. The Blue Jacket's announced that Gustav Nyquist is expected to be sidelined five-to-six months following shoulder surgery. If the 2020-2021 NHL season begins as hoped (possibly in February ), Nyquist would miss a significant chunk of that campaign. To be specific, Nyquist, 31, underwent a procedure to address a labral tear in his left shoulder. Maybe addressing this health issue will help Nyquist regain that form ? It is possible.

[VetteMan]

Reports from both the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Vegas Golden Knights, are that players from both teams have recently tested positive for Covid-19, forcing the temporary closure of both teams practice facilities. The Blue Jackets have reported several players have received positive diagnoses over the last seven to ten days, and that the amount of confirmed cases could be considered significant.

[VetteMan]

The NHL and the NHL Players Association have tentatively agreed on a 56-game season for 2020-21, pending a vote from each sides executive board and Canadians health officials. The start date is slated for Jan.13th 2021. The League has targeted a Jan. 13th start date, with training camps scheduled to open Dec.31st for the seven non-postseason teams from last season, and Jan.3rd for the other 24 teams. The NHL teams will carry a normal 23-man roster and will also include an additional taxi-squad of four to six players, who will be paid their full AHL salaries.