Columbus Blue Jackets general manager Jarmo Kekalainen felt center Matt Duchene could help the team with their push to the postseason, and that is why he sent conditional first-round picks in each of the next two NHL drafts to the Ottawa Senators in exchange for the veteran forward.
After a slow start over the final six weeks of the regular season, Duchene has proven to be a key cog in the Blue Jackets’ offense through the first two rounds of the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs, something coach John Tortorella attributes to preparation in the lead up to games.
“Obviously, I knew he was a really good player, talented player,” Tortorella said after Columbus’ Game 3 win at Nationwide Arena Tuesday night. “Can he defend? Is he coachable? You get all these questions. You have people giving you all this information.
“Since I have coached him, the thing I truly respect about him is he’s a hockey player. He likes talking hockey. He’s always involved in the video, looking for extra video. He’s made some big plays at key times for us here, and a guy that’s very inexperienced in playoffs, so it’s a good marriage for us as far as the deadline, getting us situated and he’s making some big plays for us here.”
Through seven postseason games with the Blue Jackets, Duchene has tallied five goals, including three on the power play, along with four assists, nine points and a plus-five rating, meaning Columbus has outscored the Tampa Bay Lightning and Boston Bruins by five goals during his time on the ice.
Duchene has a 35.7 percent success rate, meaning he has scored on five of his 14 shots on goal, including the game-winner on the man advantage in double overtime in Game 2 in Boston last Saturday night, and then, in the second period of Game 3 in Columbus Tuesday.
“That was a crazy sequence of events,” Duchene said of the Game 3 goal on an in-arena interview Tuesday. “Everyone battled hard. You just get a rebound in front, and it’s all hard work by all five guys out there.”
The Blue Jackets doubled their Game 3 lead to 2-0 on a power play goal in the second period.
Right wing Cam Atkinson teed up a slapshot from the right faceoff circle that Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask brushed aside, but after Columbus captain Nick Foligno sent a shot on net, Duchene jammed home the rebound for his second tally on the man advantage this series.
“The retrievals of the puck, and Dutchy had a lot to do with that also,” Tortorella said of the biggest improvement the Blue Jackets made on the power play in the playoffs after struggling with the man advantage during the regular season.
“There were so many pucks to the blue and loose pucks after. I’m sure there’s a couple other guys, but I just noticed Dutchy retrieve a lot of pucks to keep us in the zone. Jonesy (Seth Jones) makes another play at the blue line. We just tried to stay with it.”
