CBJ Today: Playing time down the stretch
Each weekday this season, BlueJackets.com will post CBJ Today, a look at news, notes, analysis and fun stuff from around the Blue Jackets world. It’s everything you need to know if you’re a fan going into the day.
The Daily Buzz
A rarity in these times – today is a third straight day without a game for the Blue Jackets, but it will be a furious push to the finish starting tomorrow. Columbus will have five games in eight days to complete the campaign, with the first of those a 7 p.m. start tomorrow night in Carolina, the last road game of the year. In the meantime, the Jackets will practice this afternoon in Nationwide Arena.
Goalie Rotation
A few days ago, the one place in the CBJ lineup that seemed pretty straightforward was in net.
With Elvis Merzlikins and Joonas Korpisalo both healthy, the plan likely was to rotate the two down the stretch as the Blue Jackets reach a critical offseason between the pipes. Maybe there was hope to get Matiss Kivlenieks a game, but he was splitting time in AHL Cleveland with prospect Daniil Tarasov, giving each a chance to hone their games.
That all changed Sunday night when Korpisalo suffered a season-ending lower-body injury against Tampa Bay. When the clearly laboring Korpisalo got up and skated off immediately after giving up a third-period goal, it looked as though his season would be over, and the team announced earlier this year that it is.
So that’s led to a shuffling of the decks in Columbus. With Cam Johnson, who has served most of the year as the taxi squad goalie, out sick, the Blue Jackets called up both Kivlenieks and Tarasov to Columbus, and both practiced with the team along with Merzlikins yesterday.
Both are currently on the taxi squad, but Kivlenieks was an emergency recall to back up Merzlikins on Tuesday and figures to be called up to join the active roster for each game going forward. It seems likely Merzlikins will start the majority of the games in the last week (and if Tuesday’s 41-save shutout is any indication, he could finish strongly as the No. 1), but could Kivlenieks get some time or Tarasov make his NHL debut?
Tortorella said that will be up to, in part, goaltending coach Manny Legace and general manager Jarmo Kekalainen.
“I’m gonna rely on Manny and Jarmo,” Tortorella said. “I will say this — Kivi is grinding away here. Kivi has played some games, shows that he can play in the National Hockey League. I hear tremendous things about Tarasov.
“You know, I am still a little bit old school. I think there’s a little bit of merit that comes involved in this also when you have an injury, but I also have to, in some decisions that Jarmo has to make at this position, I also have to defer to him and get information with him and Manny.
“But I don’t want Kivi forgotten here because of the potential of Tarasov coming here, now the injury and there’s an opening. I don’t want Kivi forgotten, I’ll put it to you that way.”
A short translation is that it seems very likely Kivlenieks gets at least a game down the stretch, and Tortorella has talked about giving him that opportunity a few times this year after he looked solid in a six-game cameo a season ago.
So far this year, Kivlenieks has a 2.27 GAA and .926 save percentage in seven games in the AHL. Since coming over from his native Russia, Tarasov has played in four games with a 3.23 GAA and .883 save percentage, though it’s very easy to see the size and skill of the massive 22-year-old Russian who went 11-3-2 this year in the KHL.
It will be interesting to watch how the Jackets juggle things in the last five games.
Peeke’s Performance?
Meanwhile, as the Blue Jackets finish things out, one thing that surprises many people is the lack of Andrew Peeke in recent games on the CBJ blue line.
The 23-year-old second-round pick hasn’t played since April 19 in Florida, being held out of the lineup for the last four games as a healthy scratch.
While Peeke is considered a potential rock on the blue line’s second or third pair in a David Savard-less future, his absence has been surprising to some, especially considering he’s played just 16 games this year between Columbus and Cleveland. After all, with the team out of it, the thought is Peeke could gain some valuable experience these last few games.
Tortorella said a lot is at play here, though. First off, the Blue Jackets are already getting looks on some guys they have to make decisions on this offseason in Michael Del Zotto, Mikko Lehtonen and Gavin Bayreuther. Then with the late-season roster rules, sending Peeke down to Cleveland again to polish his game is out, and Tortorella also says the Notre Dame product has struggled at times this year.
“It’s a tough position to not play games, and he hasn’t played many, but I thought he looked a little overwhelmed when he was playing,” Tortorella said. “Those are the things we have to talk about. I have had conversations with (assistant coach Brad Shaw) and Jarmo on this. I don’t want to hurt the kid, either, where I continuously put him out there and have some struggles. I thought there were some struggles in his game.
“I just want to be careful. And this is done through a community of conversations with these guys, a coach, a general manager, about what we think is the best.”
Tortorella did say he thinks Peeke will get another chance down the stretch, and the defenseman has spent extra time on the ice recently and has some one-on-one meetings with Shaw to work on his game.
If we’re being honest, it’s probably not an explain that will please everybody, as many want to see some of the youngsters down the stretch, but it is the explanation at hand from the head coach.
AAA Jackets Win
It will all come down to the last day of round-robin play for the AAA Blue Jackets U-18 team, which earned its first win Thursday at the USA Hockey Nationals.
The Jackets posted a 4-1 win over the Maine Nordiques, getting three points from captain Cole Miller and two points apiece from assistant captain Code Brekke, Kory DiPonio and Graham Broadfoot. Each of those players scored in the win, which makes the U-18 team representing Columbus junior hockey 1-1 at the tournament.
The round robin will finish today as the Jackets take on the Rocky Mountain RoughRiders. The Jackets and Nordiques are now 1-1, with Rochester (N.Y.) 2-0 and the Rocky Mountain team at 0-2. The top two teams in each bracket will move on to the final eight, with quarterfinal play scheduled for Saturday.
In other words, with a win today, the Jackets have a pretty good chance at advancing. The game in suburban St. Louis is scheduled for 11 a.m., so good luck again to the young Jackets!