It’s time for the Blue Jackets to get greasy to secure a playoff spot.
After overwhelming the Montreal Canadiens on March 26 and still losing 2-1 at Bell Centre to finish a frustrating 1-2-0 road trip, they’re back on the postseason bubble and clinging to third in the Metropolitan Division while staring down a tough closing slate.
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Losing defenseman Damon Severson to an upper-body injury won’t help, but a bigger issue is now hovering over the Blue Jackets (38-23-11): They’re not scoring enough goals despite controlling most matchups. Because of that, veteran coach Rick Bowness is pointing them in a new direction.
“We’re playing really solid without the puck, right?” Bowness said. “That’s not our issue. Our issue right now is, clearly, trying to score some more goals. We could’ve easily won all three of those [road] games. It wasn’t good enough, what we were doing offensively, so that’s my job is to identify that and give them more instructions on how we’re going to score more goals.”
“Listen, to get into the playoffs, it’s hard to get in, and when you get in the playoffs, it’s harder,” Blue Jackets coach Rick Bowness said.
So, what’s the plan?
Think of it like sandpaper grades. Bowness feels the Jackets are using one that’s too fine, like the kind you’d pick to prep a coffee table for staining. He wants a much rougher grade, extra course, for the end of the regular season and playoffs.
“Listen, to get into the playoffs, it’s hard to get in, and when you get in the playoffs, it’s harder,” Bowness said. “It’s harder because you’re playing against a really good team every night. You’re not playing a first-place team [and then] a last-place team. It’s none of that. Every night, you’re playing against a good team that has time to make adjustments to everything you’re doing, so the next 10 games are going to be the hardest 10 games we’ve played all year. And when we get in, and we’re going to get in, it’s going to get harder.”
To heck with the analytics battle, too.
Blue Jackets center Charlie Coyle shoots and scores against the Canucks on Jan. 15.
The Blue Jackets are winning that regularly now, which is good, but games aren’t won or lost on theoretical expected goals. They’re won by scoring actual goals, which the Jackets didn’t do nearly enough on their last road trip.
“We’re going to have to be harder, offensively, to play against,” Bowness said. “I’m not going to hide behind analytics and say, ‘Expected goals-for and shots.’ That’s not winning games for us. So, that’s my job is to give them the direction on how we’re going to score more goals and be harder to play against.”
The term he prefers is “nasty,” but greasy, grimy and/or gritty also fit the bill.
“Everyone we play now, because of the respect our team has earned, we’re getting everyone’s ‘A’ game, and it’ll get harder in the next 10 games because now it’s life-or-death for a lot of teams,” Bowness said. “We’ve got that third spot right now. It’s up to us to keep it.”
Blue Jackets reporter Brian Hedger can be reached at bhedger@dispatch.com and @BrianHedger.bsky.social
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Blue Jackets battle Montreal
Montreal Canadiens goalie Jakub Dobes (75) celebrates the win against the Columbus Blue Jackets with teammate forward Zack Bolduc (76) at the Bell Centre.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus Blue Jackets coach Rick Bowness says team will make playoffs