The Columbus Blue Jackets acquired center Matt Duchene at the trade deadline from the Ottawa Senators in late February, and the veteran NHL forward found a groove during the first round of the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
After taking some time to adjust to a new team, Duchene proved critical in the Blue Jackets’ historic four-game sweep of the NHL’s best regular-season team, the Tampa Bay Lightning, as he scored three goals, handed out four assists and had a plus-five rating.
“Everyone just wants to look at numbers and think it’s all about that, but our team play, we all play at a different level in the playoffs,” Duchene said after a recent practice. “Even when we made the playoffs, I think we were firing at maybe 85 percent, 80-85 percent.
“I still think the best thing that happened to us was that 3-0 deficit in Game 1. I think it just loosened us up mentally and allowed us to let go of maybe some of the pressure we were feeling of the team we had here, just play hockey and that goal Nick (Foligno) scored in Game 1 was what set us up.”
In Game 2 of the series, Duchene increased Columbus’ lead to 3-0 early in the second period.
After left winger Artemi Panarin moved the puck into the attack zone and slid a pass to defenseman Zach Werenski on the right side of the rink. Werenski sent a pass back to Panarin, who then put a shot put on net. Duchene collected the rebound in front of Tampa Bay goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy and scored the goal.
In their Game 3 win, the Blue Jackets took a 1-0 lead over the Lightning when Duchene tallied his second goal of the playoffs 1:44 into the second period.
Defenseman Seth Jones controlled the puck along the right point and swung it left to Werenski. The former Lake Erie Monsters standout blasted a shot from the blue line that was deflected in on net by right winger Cam Atkinson.
Vasilevskiy stopped the tip-in attempt from Atkinson, but the rebound bounced to the right of the net. Duchene corralled the deflection and wristed a backhanded shot into the back of the net.
During the final seconds of the series, Panarin and center Alexandre Texier iced the series-clinching victory with empty-net goals 19 seconds apart late in the third period. For good measure, Duchene tried to clear the puck from beyond the red line and sailed it nearly 200 feet into the empty net for the goal.
“No matter how skilled guys are, it’s always going to take a little bit of time to get acclimated, so it might have been what he would say ‘a slower start’ as far as putting up points, but he’s obviously playing his best hockey for us when we need him the most,” Atkinson said.
Duchene was producing offensively while playing against the best lines from the Lightning, something that was not lost on Columbus coach John Tortorella.
“He wants to be able to do that,” Tortorella said. “He feels he can do that, and he has shown a tremendous amount of concentration on that part of the game.
“I think it’s really good timing for the organization, where it gives me a little bit of flexibility up the ice. We can balance our lines sometimes, and I think it’s good timing for him. I’m not sure what the conversation is, but I know he has not had a lot of experience in the playoffs. This is a great opportunity for him, and it’s really, really good timing for the Columbus Blue Jackets.”
