Game 25/Pittsburgh: My Take

The Columbus Blue Jackets slump extended to five games with a loss to the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins, 7-2, in front of the second-largest crowd in Nationwide history.

While there clearly was a huge story in the overwhelming presence of Penguins fans - and their having swiped CBJ season ticket holder presale codes to snatch up hundreds if not thousands of game tickets at season ticket holder discount prices, not to mention the effect on the supposed home ice advantage that the CBJ should have enjoyed - I'm not going to talk any more about the Penguins in this post.  This is a Blue Jackets blog, and I've got better things to do than waste energy discussing how the visiting team's fans caused a massive CBJ marketing fail.

No, I told my Pens-loving friend (who was gently baiting me in the spirit of healthy competition) that the recent matters involving the game made this game not about the Penguins to CBJ fans but instead about the CBJ themselves.  They've been in a slide, and they had to get out of it.  In my mind, I didn't care whether it was the Penguins or the Panthers visiting Columbus.  Sorry, that's how I felt and still feel.
A quick overview of the game itself:

1. Steve Mason got run after the fourth goal in the first period (on 13 shots, giving him a .692 GAA).  The dribbling pucks wiggling their way through his five-hole and past the goal line will haunt me.  I think I scared the Dark Blue Toddler when I shouted "NOOOOO!!!!!" after the second goal.  Whoops.  
2. Matthieu Garon stopped 19 of 22 (.864 GAA), nothing stellar.
3. The 2 CBJ goals came from Chris Clark and Sammy Pahlsson.  So it looks like we're back to bottom-two liners carrying the offense.  Not a good thing.

Now for the repercussions:

Watch coach Scott Arniel's press conference.  It's very telling.

Now, let's dispel the silliness.  The 3rd jersey "jinx" (the CBJ haven't won a game in them yet) is cute and funny, but it's crap. What's not crap is the Twitter comment that Ben Berry made:

When #cbj realized they aren't as a good yet as the wings, they stopped thinking they were good enough to beat everyone else.

I think that this comment is much more salient to the discussion. The Red Wings dissected the CBJ over the course of two games and, in the process, appeared to crush the growing but still-fragile sense of team confidence in Columbus.  That the team folded so quickly and so completely in going into this tailspin (with a minor arching of their backs in the shootout loss to Nashville), that's what scares me. In the end, that also brings me to some harsh realizations about the club.

The Dispatch's Tom Reed offered my same thoughts in a humorous light:

#CBJ general manager Scott Howson probably working the phones like a telemarketer. After 2 periods: #Pens 7, CBJ 1.

I'm not joking when I say that I hope Howson is doing just that - picking up the phone and talking to other teams.  You see, I'm growing more and more convinced that there's something in the DNA of that locker room that simply is not conducive to building a winning team.  Scott Arniel astutely owned up in the post-game presser to the role that I outlined in last night's recap, that of hockey psychologist:

I'm not going to be as dumb to suggest that Scott Howson will fire Scott Arniel, but I will suggest that this is probably the moment that Arniel was hired for. (It's also the moment that Ethan Moreau was claimed for, but I'll stick with Arniel for this post.) Surely Howson discussed this confounding attribute of his team with every coaching candidate over the offseason. Now, it's Arniel's job to pull the team out of that "safe place" - or, better yet, to facilitate an environment when they pull themselves out.

After the disaster that was tonight's game, I'm not sure that's enough.  I think that Howson and Arniel need to have a serious heart-to-heart talk, or series of such conversations, dissect the problem and agree on what they need to do...or whom they need to move...to get that team on the right track for the long haul.  I know that Howson has said that he has the right roster, but that's not being demonstrated on the ice.

And it's not just the recent slump.  It's the propensity of this team not just to lose but lose big.  I thought that they had turned the corner with their wins early in the season, but the recent evidence proves otherwise.  This team might achieve some success, and it might actually get in the playoffs, but I'm increasingly dubious that they have the fortitude to go deep.  And I'd really like to avoid another 1st round sweep like we had in 2009.

There's a time and place to name names, to suggest who should stay and who should go, and now's not the time.  But I'll leave you with this: Everyone, EVERYONE on this roster should be in play.  It takes giving up assets (or picks or prospects) to get assets.

That's enough for now.  It's been very hard not to blog in anger, and I don't want to say anything that I'll regret later.  So let's call it and circle around later, OK?