“That goal he scored against Vegas, the track,” Vincent said. “The defense that was there; he did a real good job. His speed from here to there between the blue lines. He caught that guy, created the turnover, so that’s the defensive side, the intensity side of the shift. And then to re-attack, the skill side took over, and (he went) post and in. That was a real good indication of his potential.
“His mind-set is right. He wants to take advantage of that chance that he has right now. We want to give him that chance, and so far it’s been working really well.”
The early success has allowed Nylander to settle into a top-line role with the Blue Jackets, as he’s been skating the past five games with fellow wing Johnny Gaudreau and center Boone Jenner. In that time frame, he’s averaged 18:20 of ice time per game, showing he’s earned the trust of Vincent and his staff.
“We knew that he trains hard,” Vincent said. “We know that he’s got speed and quickness. We know that he has good hands. We know that he was an early pick. All these are good, but when the player puts it all together and becomes a real good player, the one thing that I’ve been impressed with him, it’s his hockey sense, his ability to read the game.”
It’s never too late for a player to take advantage of an opportunity, and Nylander has done just that. Whether it’s the right fit, comfort in his new situation or just the hard work paying off, Nylander feels like he’s in the right place at the right time, buoyed by the time he spent in the minors working on his craft.
“Yeah, of course,” he said. “I’ve been working on my shot, skating, my tight turns, all that kind of stuff. Obviously down there, you’re able to play your game, do really good stuff, but at the same time work on your defensive zone, play the way you want to play. Obviously, that helped a lot and gave me a lot of confidence.”
Marchenko Fires, Marchenko Scores
Kirill Marchenko looked a lot like Kirill Marchenko when he scored a third-period goal in Tuesday’s game at Detroit.
A season ago, he was a free-wheeling, free-shooting dynamo, showing no remorse when it came to firing the puck at will as a rookie in the NHL. He set the CBJ rookie record with 21 goals, and one of the reasons was he was never shy about shooting the puck, finishing with just four assists in his first-year campaign.
Marchenko was that way at the start of the 2023-24 season as well, posting 133 shots on goal in his first 51 games this year – 2.61 shots on goal per game, with 12.0 percent of them going in for a total of 16 goals.
But in the next 13 games before Tuesday, Marchenko had just 23 shots on goal, an average of 1.77 per contest, and just one of them went in the net. So when he got the puck on the power play in a 2-2 game Tuesday and quickly fired past goalie James Reimer, it was a sign of what makes Marchenko so special.
“It’s a great goal,” Vincent said. “He’s a good shooter, so that’s why he’s there on the power play. We want to see more of that.”
And as the numbers above show, it might just start with simply shooting the puck. Marchenko’s skill in doing so has become obvious across two NHL seasons in which he’s had 39 goals, but his sophomore season has been filled with more ups and downs then his freshman campaign.
All NHL players go through it, but Marchenko acknowledged there have been times this season when he’s thought a bit too much rather than just letting his natural skills take over.
“Sometimes yeah,” he said. “You ask me about shots, sometimes I think a lot. The best point for me, I think I need to relax and play hockey, just trust my instincts and do what I can do and don’t think a lot. But I don’t know what I can say. I try to think off the ice. On the ice, just focus on the game and how I can play.”
It’s a tough balance to strike sometimes, especially when the pucks aren’t going in as much as they had been. Marchenko has five goals in 34 games since notching a hat trick in Buffalo in December, and for someone whose confidence rarely seems shaken, he has looked a bit more tentative at times in recent weeks.
It hasn’t helped that injuries have led to a number of shakeups in the CBJ lineup, but Marchenko said he’s doing his best to finish strong and mesh with his new linemates as the end of the season nears.
“I think I can shoot all the pucks, but sometimes I try to play smart,” he said. “We have a good line, and we try to help each other. We try to play the pass, too, but sometimes the pass doesn’t work. Maybe more focus on the shots. But if a guy is open, I try to make the pass. If it’s a good chance for shot for me, I do. I just play the game.”