PREVIEW: Blue Jackets vs. Stars
Columbus returns to Nationwide Arena after going 1-1-1 on West Coast trip
By
Craig Merz
NHL.com Independent Correspondent
The Blue Jackets went 1-1-1 on their quick trip to California, which on a grading scale would appropriately rate a C, as in consistency and confidence.
As the Blue Jackets return to Nationwide Arena to play the Dallas Stars, they are still in search of both those qualities. As a team and individually for many players, the psyche is fragile.
"We've got some guys who don't feel good about themselves, so we've got to try and build them up," coach John Tortorella said.
Confidence. Trying to get it back can be as elusive as capturing a leaf blowing in the November wind.
"I don't know where it goes, how you get the confidence," Tortorella said. "I don't know where it goes sometimes when you don't have it, but we've got try and find it."
He hopes grabbing a point at Anaheim on Sunday helps boost morale. Pierre-Luc Dubois scored his second goal of the game with 32 seconds left in regulation to tie score at 2 before Cam Fowler potted the winner for Ducks 36 seconds into overtime
"Scoring a last-minute goal helps," Tortorella said. "Do you want to win the game? Yeah, but we'll take the point and go."
The overtime loss capped an up-and-down swing to the Left Coast. It began with strong 4-1 win at San Jose on Thursday but was followed by a 4-1 loss Saturday at the Los Angeles Kings, who had lost seven of their previous eight games and fired coach John Stevens the next day.
Even the overtime point Sunday was tempered by the fact it snapped a seven-game losing streak for the Ducks.
"We need consistency. We understand how we need to play," defenseman Seth Jones said after the game in Anaheim "We had a great game in San Jose. Then we kind of, I thought, wet the bed in LA.
"Then we come here, maybe 35 minutes is good, 40 minutes is good, but we've got to put 60 minutes together every night. It's never going to be perfect, but we've got to find a way to not trail every game especially, not come back every game, and jump out to a lead."
Forward Markus Hannikainen is also puzzled the unpredictable play.
"Obviously, the San Jose game was a good game from us," he said, "but still, consistency is a big thing for us. Night after night we've got to keep grinding. That's the style of play we've got to keep every single night. That's a key factor for us."
The players held meetings and had video sessions in the short time between the LA and Anaheim games.
"It's early in the season to get things out of the way and going right," defenseman Ryan Murray said. "You get a chance sometimes to sit down and talk about it and make sure that everyone's on the same page and everyone knows what's expected of each other. It's important.
"Teams go through it at some point of the year. We kind of went through it the past couple of games."
Power up
The power play has not converted in the past 20 chances, but Dubois saw improvement despite going 0 for 6 vs. the Ducks.
"It starts with getting momentum, getting some chances," he said. "That's how you get some confidence, then the puck gets into the net. We did a good job. We didn't get a goal, but we got some momentum, got some chances. We've got to build off that."
Tortorella agreed, "The last two or three power plays we had much better puck movement, had opportunities to score, had a couple of rebound chances we missed."
Earning a spot
Hannikainen was scratched the first eight games but has played himself into a more prominent role the past six games. Sunday he was double-shifted on his usual fourth line with Brandon Dubinsky and Riley Nash as well moving up to the third, replacing Oliver Bjorkstrand, to play with Alex Wennberg and Anthony Duclair.
"He's not coming out of the lineup," Tortorella said Hannikainen. "He's played that well as far as his effort and around the puck. He ends up making a couple of good offensive plays."
Blue Jackets projected lineup
Artemi Panarin -- Pierre-Luc Dubois -- Cam Atkinson
Nick Foligno -- Boone Jenner -- Josh Anderson
Oliver Bjorkstrand -- Alexander Wennberg -- Anthony Duclair
Riley Nash -- Brandon Dubinsky -- Markus Hannikainen
Zach Werenski -- Seth Jones
Ryan Murray -- Markus Nutivaara
Scott Harrington -- David Savard
Sergei Bobrovsky
Joonas Korpisalo
Scratched: D Adam Clendening, D Dean Kukan, F Lukas Sedlak
Injured:None
