You're Our Only Hope, Obi-Wan Dubinsky

Leia looking like she's got a few miles on her....

On a night when Ryan Johansen is out of the line up for a bit of a 'reset' as the Coach called it, Savard is out, Jack Johnson questionable, and Justin Falk up from the Monsters, it looks like a different kind of a night for the CBJ.  Coach has a good day planned for Joey, it is to be hoped he'll see it that way.  In all walks of life, sometimes its good to step back for a minute, if you can, take a deep breath, and gather yourself.

If nothing else, its entertaining.  Twitter has Joey traded already, to those who can't afford Stamkos.  Twitter has Tortorella 'up to his old tricks', which couldn't be further from the truth, except for the shot he took at Pittsburgh, which is funny as heck.  I have come to the point where I find Tortorella's press conferences must see stuff.  I've been watching the post game ones, I might need to start watching the pregame as well.  There's some pith in his video.

Since I last took keyboard in hand, the CBJ played a stout first period against the Stars, got a little sideways against them in the second, and the Stars stepped on the gas.  That's what teams that are in first place in the league will do.  Lindy Ruff was pissed because the CBJ had pushed them around in the first period, and unimpressed that the Stars had done the pushing in the second period.  The CBJ gathered themselves, and more or less stopped the bleeding, but the offense just isn't happening, and they ended up with one goal again.

Tortorella is actually doing a really good job with this mess.  He kinda hooked me when he said the players had played with 'moxie' after the Stars game.  He didn't blast them for getting zipped by the leading point scorer in the league, who got some space and made them pay, a couple of quick rights to the jaw and the fight is over, whether the big lug goes down or not (to use a boxing analogy).  I expected him to be upset, but he wasn't.

Tonight's game should be interesting.  I'm looking forward to it.

GO JACKETS!!!

Same as it Ever Was, Same as it Ever Was

Ok, Wennberg, all is forgiven.  But I still want those 2 goals!

Just wanted to take a minute to point out that we are 1 point off the pace of where we were last year in the 2014-15 season.  And we had a pretty rough 7 game losing streak at the end of January and early February of 2015  before going on the late season run.  These guys still have some winning streaks in them, but it sure is frustrating and difficult to see now.  But if we can avoid further losing streaks (like the one we are in now), then we can hang in there and pick 8th.  Or something like that.

At this time last year we were in the midst of a 10 -1 run, so some winning would be a good thing.  We have the powerful Dallas Stars tonight, so that is a real challenge.  We'll see how it turns out.

GO JACKETS!!!

I'm Tired of Living in Mudville

Joonas Korpisalo played well enough to win.
Unfortunately, his team mates hung him out to dry.

As my compadres at DKM  Hockey remind me often, I am an old fart.  For those of you that don't recognize the tag line, it's from the old baseball poem 'Casey at the Bat'.  To make a long story short, the poem ends:

There is no joy in Mudville, mighty Casey has struck out. 

So, when Mrs. Gallos uttered those words on the way out of the arena, I had to use them.  For it captures the essence of Blue Jackets fandom.  Another season in the tank because they can't play to win.  Too many conservative, defensive minded coaches, making them afraid to make a mistake.

One lousy goal.  Dammit.  Korpisalo played plenty well.  It would be nice to see this team find a sense of urgency in, say, the first period, instead of the last 3 minutes when you are behind.  And its time to start winning the damn home games.  C'mon man!  This is lame.  Just lame.  Hang your heads in shame.  At home you are supposed to play to win, not play to not lose.  The crowd was behind you!  What gives??  Will you get mad enough to start winning if we boo you lustily?  That's the approach the Philadelphia fans prefer.  I'm not a fan of that, tell you the truth.

And I'm not a fan of 'pass it around the outside because I'm afraid to shoot' offense.  We had 15 lousy shots on goal deep into the third period until Wennberg coughed up his second gift of the night.  I love Alexander Wennberg, and I think he will be a great player, but hang you head in shame dude, because you gave this one away on a silver platter.  AND, lest you think I dwell on your mistakes, I wouldn't if you would use your copious offensive skills to actually win a game.  You are allowed to shoot the puck, particularly if you are walking down the slot with the puck.  But no, you pass it.  SO, as a huge fan of yours, you, personally owe me two goals.  And I want them damn quick.  Keep in mind I pay for tickets to every game, so I'm not in my basement writing this rant.  I just got home from the game, and I'm steamed.  PLAY TO WIN DAMMIT!!!

GO JACKETS!!

Lake Erie Monsters on Fox Sports Friday at 7:00

From Fox Sports

PROGRAMMING NOTE

Lake Erie Monsters on STO Tomorrow at 7 p.m. and Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

SportsTime Ohio will be airing live the Lake Erie Monsters’ productions of the Monsters-Chicago Wolves games tomorrow and Saturday (Dec. 11-12). Puck drops at 7:00 p.m. Friday and 7:30 p.m. on Saturday.

Handling the calls will be Tony Brown, who is in his first season as the Voice of the Monsters. Brown will be joined by Cleveland hockey legend and Monsters assistant coach/Director of Hockey Operations & Team Services, Jock Callander. Veteran Cleveland sports broadcaster Kenny Roda will serve as rink-side reporter and intermission host.

Tune in to SportsTime Ohio Friday at 7:00 p.m. for Lake Erie Monsters vs. Chicago Wolves action!

Too Many Soft Goals, But No Quit

Banged around a lot tonight

This is not a good time to write.  I'm bitter about the 6-4 loss tonight to Winnipeg.  It clouds my perspective.  Given our history over the last 3 years, the first game out after Bob goes down is a bit of an adventure, but having crapped the bed the first 8 games they don't have the leisure to lose games like this.  But it is what it is, now a quick little 2 game losing streak.  Haven't heard Torts yet, but I can assure you that the Kings are a much better team than the Jets, though I think Winnipeg matches up well against us.

I hated the easy goals early, though the Jets got the bounces for sure.  I liked the 'no quit' in the team, but down 2-0 is kinda late to start showing 'no quit'.  Grrrr.  Rookie goalie and its late in the second period before we even get 10 shots on him.

Gah.  I'm grumpy.  Stop the puck.  CMac often takes a game or two to get in the groove when Bob goes down, so I should be patient.  But having a hard time with that.  Winnipeg wins this series this year 2-0, and it wasn't even really close.  Good news is we don't play them anymore.  

Oh well.  Time to listen to Torts.  That should be awesome.

GO JACKETS!!

Bob Down

Aaron Portzline of the Columbus Dispatch is reporting that Sergei Bobrovsky will be out for up to 3 weeks with a lower body injury.  For the third time in 3 years, the Blue Jackets have started poorly, ridden Bob like a rented mule trying to get back into things, only to have him go down with an injury in December.  At least this time we tried applying the rhetoric about a fast start before the season started.  McElhinney has performed reasonably well in these stretches, and the Jackets have even put together some streaks with him in the net during this time of year.

Perhaps the removal of that safety net the Bob provides will spur new heights from the rest of the team.  The first test will be in Winnipeg on Thursday, where the Jackets should be expecting a very physical game from the Jets.  CMac will rise to this test I think, and maybe Joonas Korpisalo will get his first NHL work, as he was brought up from Lake Erie as the back up today.

It is important to remember that the current situation is similar to where the CBJ was in December of the 2013-14 season when they last made the playoffs.  That required some crazy heroics down the stretch to achieve, but at least makes for compelling hockey.  We'll see how it goes.

GO JACKETS!!

Jackets Take Season Series From Kings

Bob left the game in the third period

The CBJ led the game late into the third period, 2-1, then Bobrovsky got injured, and then they gave up a late goal to send it to a 2-2 overtime.  The Kings prevailed in the last minute of 3 on 3 overtime to make it a 5 point season series.  However, the Jackets took 3 of the 5 points, we don't care about how the Kings finish in the Western Conference, and in the long run of the season this is an okay result.

This is a very powerful Kings team.  I have to wonder if the Blackhawks could have won the Cup last year if the Kings would have made the playoffs.  Certainly Quenville would not have been able to get away with playing 4 defensemen in a 7 game series against the Kings.  But, as Dandy Don Meredith always said, if "Ifs and Buts were Candy and Nuts we'd all have a Merry Christmas".  The Kings outplayed the Jackets for large stretches of the game, but the Jackets held the lead on a couple of opportunistic goals.  The Jackets held on based on the strength of excellent play by Bobrovsky.  But with 5 minutes left in the game he went to the locker room, and Curtis McElhinney came in cold.  CMac did well, but the Kings end up pulling it out.

In the 2013-14 season, Bob went down right about this time of year in a game at Phoenix.  The CBJ ended up making a strong run at that point in front of CMac, and ultimately made the playoffs.  We have been riding Bob like a rented mule.  When we do that, he gets hurt.  You just have to start managing his minutes better, resting him on back to backs, instead of playing him against Mason in Philly.  I don't blame Torts, he doesn't have the historical perspective, but this is like the third year in a row that Bob gets hurt in December.  Of course the last three years we have been behind the 8 ball by December already in every year, so the poor starts really hurt us there.

We will find out later how bad it is with Bob, but CMac will be playing for a bit now.  Time to get him some goals to work with.

GO JACKETS!!!

One, Not so Good, Second, Much Better

Not Liking the Nachos

A below average effort against Florida by the CBJ Friday night elicited a below average blogging response, the decision to write about two games at once later in the weekend.  On Friday night the Blue Jackets played a sleepy first period, and ended up losing in a shootout to Florida 2-1.  After the first period there were significant moments when the forecheck dominated possession, by which I mean playing 'keep away' along the boards.  However, the Blue Jackets did not generate much offense out of these instances of prolonged possession, meaning that their 'possession' statistics (e.g. CORSI) would suffer.  So it goes.

Importantly, Michael Chaput scored his first NHL goal, and Scott Hartnell was given a seat in the press box.  Hartnell was reported to be upset about the coaching move by the Puck Rakers.

The coach was not especially happy about the effort Friday night, and shockingly, was vocal about that.  The players seemed to take that to heart on Saturday night when they jumped the Flyers on their home ice, laying a 4-1 loss on Philadelphia.  Hartnell, back in the lineup and playing with verve, had a goal and two assists.  Foligno, recently released from the purgatory of a 20 game scoring drought, scored two goals.  Shockingly, the CBJ also got scoring from the defense, when an oft deflected snap shot from the point by Jack Johnson fluttered into the net.  It was good to see them have one of those nights where everything went right, and it was an important win over a divisional opponent.

Interestingly, Kerby Rychal and Justin Falk were both sent down to Lake Erie after Friday night's game, a function of other folks returning to the lineup.  They both had played well in their stint with the big club.  This is the normal developmental curve for Rychel, where he will be up and down.  He played well, and with energy, but in the long run we will need more from him.  So back down to Lake Erie to re-vitalize his scoring touch.  For that pick to be a successful one, we need more that a fourth line winger out of him, and he needs the time to develop to that top six winger who is difficult to play against.

Next up, the LA Kings.  This will be a good measuring stick game against which we can see how we handle a heavy, physical team.  It was good to put Friday night's lackluster game to bed with Saturday's win.  It will be good if the offense can start to blossom while retaining a tight defensive game.  We shall see.

GO JACKETS!!

The Bitterness Feels Good

Last night the Columbus Blue Jackets lost a tough road game to the league leading Montreal Canadiens 2-1 on a late penalty.  I fumed for a bit after that game.  Which is good.  Back in 2011-12, when Scott Arniel and the team put a season to bed before Halloween, I never felt this way watching a road game.  We were busy doing the 'Fail for Nail' thing, and my heart wasn't in the games.  I would just turn them off, or watch impassively.  The vibe this year is completely different.

Look, as a season ticket holder, one of my main goals is to have fun.  Winning is fun.  Let there be no doubt.  One of the beauties of the sport of hockey is that you have to learn to grapple with losing, because everyone does it.  Not even the Pittsburgh Penguins go undefeated, though you might not think it based on the attitude of their fans.  This is one of my problems with college football, this notion that you must be undefeated or you are nothing.  It's not realistic.  So losing is one of the things I like about hockey, even though it sucks.  Which is why I felt bitter about last night's game.  We lost.  It sucked.  I was bitter about a dumb penalty by a guy that has been a stalwart this year.  But dumb penalties come with the turf with Hartnell.  It's who he is, it's who he has always been.  He knows where to put that in the team structure.

No, the reason I am happy with my bitterness, is that this team is clearly improving.  They are making incremental progress every day they spend with Tortorella, and addressing the priorities as they come.  The power play has not been a priority, as D zone coverage, the breakout, and the penalty kill have been far more pressing issues.  They are starting to lose games now because of their ineffective power play, so I imagine it will work its way up the priority list.

Last night the Jackets went toe to toe with the best team in the league, yet 'found a way to lose'.  The coach sees this.  He'll fix it.  I like what Tortorella has going on here, and if ever there was a team built for him, this is it.  This is gong to be a fun year.  There's going to be some 'Hell Yes!!' moments, and some moments that suck.  But it's going to be entertaining.  There's a lot of hockey left to be played yet, so we'll see what happens.

GO JACKETS!!!

Battling for His Boys

Dubinsky was suspended for one game.

Coach John Tortorella is a fascinating character.  Earlier in the week he came down like a ton of bricks after a win in New Jersey.  After a tough loss last night in St. Louis I wasn't sure what we would get.  Instead he comes out defending his guys, and launches a scud missile at our increasingly bitter rivals, the Pittsburgh Penguins.  Gosh I love being in the Eastern Conference.

Last night the Blue Jackets lost to the Blues 3-1.  Had the Jackets won, it would have meant that the CBJ had swept the Blues for two consecutive years.  If you asked me about that cold, I think I would tell you that outcome seems pretty improbable to me.  And as Tortorella described the game, it was tied at 1 early in the third period, a good road game.  They got a goal, the CBJ didn't (St. Louis added an empty net goal).  But all in all a good effort against a powerful opponent, but not the result you wanted.  The divisional game the night before was the more important game of the two, and the Jackets played an excellent, hard fought game for that win.

So I felt Tortorella defended his guys in the press conference, even thought he pointed out areas for improvement.  He's ALWAYS going to point out areas for improvement, but he was also effusive in his praise for suspended Brandon Dubinsky.

Then he called the Penguins whiners.  Dang did I laugh.  A classic Tortorella moment, always addressing the truth that no one wants to hear.  Last night Oduya cross checked Parise to the head, in a nearly identical play, as shown in this article by Sam Blazer over on Puck Drunk Love.  The sad truth is that Sam is right, there won't be any discipline for those offenses.  Nice work on that Sam.

At the end of the day, I wasn't sure what we were getting when Tortorella came on board.  But it is definitely growing on me.  Tough loss last night, but time to get ready for the Canadiens, probably the best team in hockey right now.

GO JACKETS!!
GO CREWSC!!