These Are Not the Droids We Are Looking For

Hartnall got on the board today.

Displaying an uncanny efficiency, the CBJ dove to 30th in the league today, seemingly a prerequisite to establishing a forecheck within their system.  A team with nothing to lose played a team with everything to lose, and the team with nothing to lose skated looser, and got the job done on the home ice.  Nothing wrong with how Buffalo played today.  Likely they will face more formidable opponents than the discombobulated CBJ as the season goes on, so we'll see how that goes for them. Meanwhile, on the home front the CBJ cannot seem to establish any level of consistent play.

A fundamental of CBJ hockey is establishing a forecheck, where we get the puck behind the other teams net, in order to make their defensemen turn around and play the puck.  So far this has been an optional facet of the CBJ game, as well as the concept of actually hitting the net when you direct the puck towards it (but it is still a CORSI event, so our statistics look better).  The CBJ were unable to muster any sustained pressure on a back up goal tender.

The illusion of last year's closing winning streak is that you have all year to develop the cohesiveness necessary to play effectively after you are out of the playoffs.  So far that cohesiveness has been absent in the early games of the regular season, and the CBJ have adapted poorly to the increase in pace between preseason and the regular season.  It's time to get up to speed with the rest of the league.

A problem of last year was letting losing streaks get out of hand.  Time to nip this in the bud. Time to play some Blue Jackets Hockey, something that has been missing from the regular season so far.  BTW I do not think Joey is healthy.  I hope he proves me wrong, just as I have been proved wrong on everything I thought before the season.  That's hockey.  And I love it.

GO JACKETS!!!