The Columbus Blue Jackets visited the Calgary Flames on Wednesday night to kick off their trip through Western Canada. They ultimately were defeated by the Flames with a final score of 5-1. Now, let’s take a look at some key aspects that led to the result.
Early Deficit Applies Pressure
The Flames celebrated Nazem Kadri’s 1,000th career NHL game with a pregame ceremony before their matchup against the Blue Jackets. His teammates were ready to play, and in the opening moments, it became clear the Blue Jackets weren’t so ready.Â
Morgan Frost gave the Flames a 1-0 lead just 56 seconds into the game, then Blake Coleman scored his sixth of the season just under 40 seconds later to make it 2-0. The game wasn’t even two minutes old, yet the Blue Jackets trailed 2-0. Regardless of circumstance, that type of start is unacceptable in the NHL.Â
To make matters seemingly worse, Adam Fantilli took a hooking penalty just over five minutes into the affair, giving the Flames their first man advantage of the night. Ironically, that penalty ended up helping the away team, but we’ll get to that shortly.Â
Marchenko Breaks Goal Drought
Even though it may not have felt like it, especially considering he’s still on a point-per-game pace, Kirill Marchenko entered Wednesday’s game in the middle of a seven-game goal drought.Â
Kirill Marchenko, Columbus Blue Jackets (Amy Irvin / The Hockey Writers)
After Fantilli took the aforementioned penalty, Marchenko found an opportunity to break the drought while shorthanded. He got a breakaway off a pass from Boone Jenner, then wasted no time putting the puck behind Flames netminder Dustin Wolf.Â
Marchenko’s tally marked the first shorthanded goal of his career and broke his tie with Dmitri Voronkov for the most goals on the Blue Jackets this season, moving Marchenko into sole possession of first place.Â
Marchenko’s goal drought did showcase one important thing about his development, though. When he first entered the league, if Marchenko wasn’t finding the back of the net, he didn’t add much more value. These days, he’s making plays and helping the Blue Jackets in multiple ways, whether they’re reflected on the scoreboard or not.
Offensive Zone Mistakes Lead to Major Deficit
Entering the second period, the Blue Jackets were trailing, but the game wasn’t out of reach just yet. Then, just under eight minutes into the period, as the Blue Jackets pressured Wolf, a misplaced pass sprung the Flames the other way. Kadri and Joel Farabee found themselves with a 2-on-1, and ultimately Kadri scored, making it 3-1. The new deficit was certainly less than ideal for Columbus, but still manageable if they picked up their level of play.
Instead, another errant pass by the Blue Jackets in their offensive zone sent the Flames on a rush the other way once again. This time, Adam Klapka kept the puck on the 2-on-1 rush and fired it past Jet Greaves to make it 4-1 and effectively put the game out of reach for the Blue Jackets.Â
Both of the Flames’ second period goals were the direct result of a mistake by the Blue Jackets in their offensive zone. As a result, both were avoidable goals. While mistakes and odd-man rushes are bound to happen in any hockey game, these were the result of reckless plays and bad decision-making rather than the defense forcing a bad play and earning their chances.Â
Related: Blue Jackets’ First 10 Games Show Real Progress
A bad start could have been salvaged had the Blue Jackets played their game for the remainder of the night; instead, they made unforced errors and put the game out of reach early on. The Flames were motivated, especially knowing how important this game was to Kadri, but the Blue Jackets were unable to match their energy, and they got the result that reflected that.
