Sometimes you have to throw your hands up and say, that’s hockey.
That’s a bit how the Blue Jackets felt Thursday night in Nationwide Arena. Columbus had the puck for nearly the entirety of the first period, posting a 32-9 advantage in shot attempts and not allowing visiting Vegas to notch a shot attempt until 12 minutes were gone off the clock.
The result? The Golden Knights held a 2-0 lead, thanks to a power-play goal on that very first shot of the game and a rebound goal in the final minute, and Vegas would go on to take a 4-0 victory against the Blue Jackets. That’s hockey.
“I thought we played really well in the first,” Zach Werenski said. “It’s not ideal that the score is 2-0, but that stuff happens in hockey. I feel like we kept playing our game. Obviously, they had a push in the second period. I thought we just needed to get one tonight and maybe it would have opened up for us a little bit more, but after the first they did a good job of limiting our chances, their goalie made some saves, and just a dud offensively for our team.”
While the Blue Jackets were left to rue a strong start that went for naught, they also acknowledge they have to be better going into tonight’s critical game in Nationwide against the New York Rangers. There are some obvious areas of improvement as the Blue Jackets have lost four of the last five – they've been outscored 9-2 in the first period and 7-1 on special teams in that span, and they’ve been shut out twice.
Columbus spent much of its practice Friday working on special teams, including a power play that went 0-for-3 as the Blue Jackets carried the action in the first period. Head coach Dean Evason also noted the team had a quick chat both among itself and with coaches to try to get back on track.
“We had a good chat with them this morning,” Evason said. “They had a little chat amongst themselves, and the attitude is good. It’s right. Our practice was upbeat, and I think we’re in a good place. We just need to catch a couple of breaks. We can’t continually chase games, and we didn’t get a break or we didn’t score a goal or two early in that hockey game last night. There’s been some circumstances, but are we worried or concerned? No. I think we’ll start that game (tonight) and hopefully the outcome will be different.”
Indeed, with 17 games to play and the Blue Jackets tied with the Rangers for the final wild card spot in the Eastern Conference, it’s no time to panic. Columbus is still in a great spot to snap a four-year postseason drought, but they need to stick to their game and play the style of hockey that’s allowed the team to be in this spot in the first place.
Some goals would help, too, and the Blue Jackets had seven in last Sunday’s win vs. the Rangers. To do it again, they’ll have to get to the net and score from the hard areas.
“I think down the stretch here and in recent games, teams are clogging up their zone pretty good,” captain Boone Jenner said. “There’s not much space around the net, so just trying to fight to get there, to get to the blue paint and get a dirty one.”
Know The Foe: New York Rangers
Head coach: Peter Laviolette (Second season)
Team stats: Goals per game: 3.00 (13th) | Scoring defense: 3.05 (20th) | PP: 19.1 percent (24th) | PK: 82.2 percent (5th)
The narrative: With a star-studded roster and two appearances in the Eastern Conference Final in the last three seasons, the Rangers came into the season as a Stanley Cup contender, but this year has been a roller coaster. Convinced his roster needed some major changes, general manager Chris Drury traded captain Jacob Trouba in November and later added standout forward J.T. Miller, but the Rangers enter this game tied with the Blue Jackets for the second wild card spot in the Eastern Conference.
Team leaders: The Bread Man keeps baking up points in the Big Apple, as former Blue Jackets forward Artemi Panarin is averaging over a point per game for the eighth straight season with team-best totals of 28 goals and 69 points. Defenseman Adam Fox has struggled to put the puck in the net this season (five goals) but is still facilitating the offense with a team-high 43 assists (fifth among NHL defensemen), while Mike Zibanejad (15-33-48), Vincent Trocheck (18-25-43), Alexis Lafreniere (14-22-36), Will Cuylle (17-18-35) and Miller (7-10-17 in 14 games) follow and Chris Kreider has 18 goals.
Igor Shesterkin has again been solid in net with a 22-22-4 record, 2.85 GAA and .906 save percentage in 48 starts, while Jonathan Quick (9-6-2, 3.14, .896) has been a solid backup.
What's new: The Rangers have been the epitome of the roller coaster at New York-New York, starting 12-4-1, following that with a 4-15-0 stretch, and now riding an 8-5-2 run coming into tonight’s game. Goal scoring seems to be the big variable, as the Rangers are 8-1-1 when scoring at least three goals in that recent stretch and 0-4-1 when scoring two or less. In a season of upheaval, the trade deadline saw Reilly Smith, Jimmy Vesey and Ryan Lindgren shipped out and Jusso Parsinen, Nicolas Aube-Kubel, Calvin de Haan and Carson Soucy added.
Trending: Columbus was 2-1-1 a year ago against the Rangers and 1-1-1 this season, with a 7-3 win last Sunday in Manhattan and a 1-0 road shootout loss in January sandwiching a 4-3 setback at home Feb. 8.
Former CBJ: Panarin has continued his high-scoring ways in Manhattan since signing with the team after the 2018-19 season, while Quick is a CBJ alum in name only after being with the team for a few days at the 2023 trade deadline.
