CBJ vs ANA - STANLEY CUP FINAL RECAP

With one final challenge left standing between them and their goal of climbing hockey's greatest mountain and claiming the most prestigious trophy in all of sports, the Blue Jackets squared off against the Anaheim Ducks in the Stanley Cup Finals. The Ducks were coming off an impressive regular season themselves, winning the Pacific Division with a record of 45-23-14 for 104 regular season points, but the Blue Jackets again had home-ice advantage in the series. 

Riding high from their series win against long-time rival the Winnipeg Jets in the Western Conference Finals, the Ducks matched the Jackets' energy before ultimately falling short in a close game which saw Columbus taking home the first victory at Nationwide Arena by a score of 3-2. Again the referees had an impact on the game granting the visiting Ducks five chances on the man advantage, while somehow only finding a single opportunity to put the Jackets on the powerplay. This had become a consistent problem for Columbus over the course of the playoffs, but their strong penalty kill led by starting netminder Darcy Kuemper and players like Nic Dowd, Nick Paul, and team captain Duncan Keith, made sure that they kept teams off the scoresheet with a teammate in the box. Nazem Kadri carried over his strong play from the previous series, matching his game 6 total against the Maple Leafs with another two-goal performance for Columbus, while rookie standout Matty Beniers picked up the game-winner with just two minutes remaining in the third period. 

Columbus then dropped the second game of the series on home ice as it looked like the Ducks would make this a challenging series for the Blue Jackets. Even while outshooting their opponents 29-23 and out chancing them by a whopping 57-37 margin, Columbus was only able to find the back of the net once, off a shot from star defenseman Quinn Hughes, which knotted the game at one in the second period. This time the Blue Jackets' penalty kill let them down as both of the Ducks' goals came with a Jackets skater in the penalty box, as they once again were awarded a lopsided advantage on the powerplay with three chances in the game, while the officials were unwilling to blow the whistle against the Ducks for even a single powerplay in favor of Columbus. 

As the series shifted to Anaheim, the Blue Jackets knew they needed to put forth a better performance on offense if they were going to take home the coveted hardware. After some pointed comments during the post-game presser about the officiating over the course of the playoffs, and seeing the first two calls go against the Columbus squad, the calls finally started to even out for the Blue Jackets. Max Domi forced the officials' hands by taking their judgment out of play by clearing the puck over the glass in the defensive zone, forcing them to finally penalize the Ducks for only the second time in the series. The Jackets were unable to score on their first opportunity of the game but were rewarded with another chance when Mikael Backlund made an absolutely pitiful attempt to draw a call and was penalized for diving. With Backlund's ego certainly bruised from such a soccer-like flop, perhaps the part that would hurt the most was that the Jackets' star winger Tage Thompson would make them pay just 17 seconds into the ensuing powerplay which ultimately turned out to be the game-winning goal. Brad Marchand would add a tally late for the Ducks, but Anaheim was unable to find the game-tying goal and fell by a score of 3-2 on their home ice. 

Perhaps feeling empowered by the fact that the Jackets were finally seeing the calls get evened out, the Columbus squad exploded for a seven-goal outburst in game four against the Ducks, chasing starting goaltender Tristan Jarry from the game after he let in four goals on just eight shots. It was the first time Malcolm Subban saw game action since the first game of the playoffs when Anaheim chose the bold move of risking starting the backup netminder in their first game against the San Jose Sharks, perhaps to buy Jarry some time for extra rest. This was only the second time in these playoffs a team had scored seven goals, with the first coming in the second game of the playoffs as the Florida Panthers pummeled the Buffalo Sabres on home ice. Perhaps even more impressive was the fact the Jackets put up a touchdown on the road, the momentum seemed to swing drastically in the favor of Columbus after taking a 3-1 series lead. Matthew Benieres was again at the center of the action, posting his best playoff performance yet and picking up three points on the night with a goal and two assists. Tage Thompson also posted three points with a goal and two assists as the star winger brought his goal total up to 10 for the playoffs. 

The series returned back to Nationwide Arena in what proved to be the series-clinching game for the Blue Jackets, who were exhilarated to be able to lift Lord Stanley's Cup on home ice. Matty Beniers continued with his excellent play scoring the first goal of the game and assisting on the game-winning goal, earning first-star honors. Brandon Hagel was awarded second-star honors which was a nice confidence booster after having a rough playoff after not performing up to expectations for the Jackets in his first postseason run with the team. Darcy Kuemper ended the season with another stellar performance, relinquishing only a single goal on 24 shots from the Ducks and earning him the third star of the night. Long-time Blue Jackets captain Duncan Keith was able to lift the Cup high above his head on the final night of his RHL career announcing after the game that this would be his final season playing professional hockey. There isn't a better way to call it a career than by riding off into the sunset with the Stanley Cup in tow.