PREVIEW: Blue Jackets at Ducks
Columbus finishes West Coast trip
By
Craig Merz
NHL.com Independent Correspondent
The old joke is that a team struggling on the power play should decline the man advantage but there's nothing funny about the Blue Jackets' plight.
A disheveled power play not only didn't score in five tries against Los Angeles on Saturday, but the Kings got a pair of shorthanded goals 59 seconds apart on the same penalty in the third period to put away the Blue Jackets 4-1.
The Blue Jackets have failed to score on their last 14 power plays while giving up three shorties in the past three games.
There is little time to fix the problem with the quick turnaround game at the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday.
"We've got to figure it out amongst us, it's not the coaches," defenseman Zach Werenski said "It's no one else. It's on us, the players that are on it. They put a plan in place for us to succeed and we have to go out there and everyone has to do their job.
"For me at the point, I have to move pucks and get pucks to the net. If it's someone on the flanks, they've got to make plays. If it's guys standing net front, they've got to stand net front."
The Blue Jackets last scored on the power play at 2:35 of the third period Oct. 25 at St. Louis when Anthony Duclair got the team's second man-up goal of the game.
The lack of production since is emblematic of a bigger problem captain Nick Foligno said in a scathing rebuke after the loss. The Blue Jackets looked great in a 4-1 win at the San Jose Sharks on Thursday but reverted to their familiar inconsistency two days later.
"I just don't see the commitment that's needed to win consistently in this league. I don't know why guys haven't realized that," he said. "We talk about, 'Oh, we learned from the Washington series (2018 Stanley Cup playoffs).' Well, we haven't learned (bleep), obviously, with the way we're playing. Talk is cheap on this team, and I'm tired of seeing guys talk and not do it. That's my challenge to everybody in here.
"I mean, enough's enough. There are only so many rah-rah speeches you can give. Only so much the coach can say. Eventually you have to go out and do it, do your job, play for the right reasons, play for your team, accept the role that you need to play and just do what you need to do to help us win. We do it on some nights, but there are too many nights early in the season where we haven't done it. That's (bleep)."
"Teams know we're a good team, so you're getting that team's best every time you play them. But we're not giving teams our best, so what do you expect the result to be?"
Timing is everything
The Blue Jackets' power play had an opportunity very early to stamp on the Kings when longtime nemesis Jeff Carter was called for hooking Seth Jones 48 seconds after the drop of the puck.
Scoring on the power play is priority one, of course, but those two minutes can build momentum and set a tone without getting a goal. The Blue Jackets did none of that and it was fatal.
Consider these facts: LA had lost seven of eight; allowed the first goal in eight straight games, hadn't scored in the first period for five consecutive games; had given up a goal in 24 straight periods and yielded three or more goals in eight straight games.
Yet, the Blue Jackets' first power play produced only one shot, a 20-footer from Pierre-Luc Dubois 28 seconds into it. The Kings scored on a delayed penalty at 12:03 of the first - the fifth straight game the Blue Jackets have allowed the first goal - and were never headed.
Columbus had only one other shot (Cam Atkinson) in 8:49 of power-play time for the game.
"You look at guys, they don't even want the puck," Foligno said. "You're struggling, you're looking for confidence. But man, that's when you have confidence. You're a man up. You're a man up out there, and we're pissing away games because of that. It's disappointing."
What to look for
With a third game in four days, Joonas Korpisalo may get the start against the Ducks for the hard-luck Sergei Bobrovsky, who was victimized by Anze Kopitar on the first shorthanded goal after making a great initial save on him then was beaten on the second by Dustin Brown's penalty shot. … Defenseman Scott Harrington played only 7:40 vs. the Kings, so Dean Kukan or Adam Clendening may draw in for him. … Brandon Dubinsky played 10:44 in 19 shifts in his return after missing 10 games with an oblique strain. He centered Riley Nash and Markus Hannikainen as Lukas Sedlak was scratched, but the lineup Sunday is anybody's guess, and it will be interesting to see who takes the power play shifts.
On the pond
The Ducks lost a 3-2 shootout at home to the New York Rangers on Thursday for their seventh straight defeat, one shy of the Anaheim record, set Oct. 12-30, 1996, and matched Nov. 3-20, 2005. … The current losing streak is the Ducks' longest since they were 0-6-1 from Nov. 13-27, 2011... Ryan Getzlaf has seven points (two goals, five assists) in a four-game point streak. … The home team has own seven of the past eight in the series
Blue Jackets projected lineup
Artemi Panarin -- Pierre-Luc Dubois -- Cam Atkinson
Nick Foligno -- Boone Jenner -- Josh Anderson
Oliver Bjorkstrand -- Alex Wennberg -- Anthony Duclair
Riley Nash -- Brandon Dubinsky -- Markus Hannikainen
Zach Werenski -- Seth Jones
Ryan Murray -- Markus Nutivaara
Scott Harrington -- David Savard
Joonas Korpisalo
Sergei Bobrovsky
Scratched: D Adam Clendening, D Dean Kukan, F Lukas Sedlak
Injured:None
