Five games. Eight days. Two points to make up.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
A six-game losing skid has put the\u00a0Blue Jackets\u00a0on the wrong side of the playoff bar,\u00a0but\u00a0there\u2019s\u00a0no time to sulk about it.\u00a0Starting with tomorrow night\u2019s game in Detroit, the Blue Jackets will race to the finish needing wins to make up ground in the Eastern Conference and end a five-year playoff drought.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Easter Sunday\u00a0was part of just one of two stretches after the Olympic break in which the Blue Jackets have multiple days off between\u00a0games,\u00a0a welcome reset ahead of what will be a frantic finishing stretch.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It\u2019s also a chance for the Blue Jackets to consider what has been missing from their game of late, as Saturday\u2019s 2-1 loss to Winnipeg was punctuated by a 20-minute players-only meeting postgame.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI just think it\u2019s good to communicate,\u201d forward Mason\u00a0Marchment said afterward. \u201cWe\u2019re all men in here, and we\u2019re a family. It\u2019s nice to hear what everyone (thinks) and where we all sit. I think for me, it\u2019s just belief, just believing at every stage, whether you\u2019re up or down or whatever is going on, just believing in each other and the guy next to you.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
That belief\u00a0has been\u00a0present throughout the entire season, both when the Blue Jackets\u00a0sat in\u00a0last place in the Eastern Conference in January and then when the team won\u00a020 of 27 games to get back into a playoff position.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Blue Jackets will need to lean into it as they try to work their way back in a crowded playoff race, and the teams in front of them remain in sight.\u00a0Philadelphia holds third place in the Metropolitan\u00a0Division\u00a0and Ottawa occupies the final wild card spot, both with 90 points, while the Blue Jackets are two back with 88.\u00a0The New York Islanders (89 points), Detroit (88) and Washington (87) remain in the mix.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
So\u00a0what has been missing as the Blue Jackets have gone 0-5-1 in the last six games? Head coach Rick Bowness and defenseman\u00a0Zach\u00a0Werenski\u00a0both pointed to a lack of connection on the ice, with players struggling to consistently get on the same page.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the effort\u00a0is there,\u201d Werenski said. \u201cI think guys\u00a0are working, but I think\u00a0it\u2019s that unpredictability.\u00a0We\u2019re\u00a0just all\u00a0not on the same page right now. And it feels like when we were winning, we were all on the same page. We were predictable for each other \u2014 all five guys as a unit on the ice, breakouts, neutral zone, frustrating teams offensively. We stuck to our game plan for 60 minutes.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0think guys are doing it out of any other reason than\u00a0they\u2019re\u00a0trying to help,\u00a0I think guys\u00a0really want to win and make the playoffs, and we have a lot of character guys in this room.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0making sure\u00a0we\u2019re\u00a0all on the same page. Hockey is a full five-man team game, you all\u00a0have to\u00a0be predictable to each other and set your teammates up for success.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
That lack of connection has made it difficult for the Blue Jackets to get their game going, as the success throughout the winter was predicated on a strong forecheck, pressuring opponents into mistakes and working together as a five-man unit in the defensive zone to get the puck up the ice. Injuries haven’t helped, as the Blue Jackets have missed Damon Severson’s skill to move the puck on the back end as well as Mathieu Olivier’s ability to get in on the forecheck and make opponents think twice about their next move.<\/p>\n
But to head coach Rick\u00a0Bowness, the biggest issue has been a case of the Blue Jackets getting away from what makes them successful.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAll our issues right now are related to just terrible puck management,\u201d Bowness said after Saturday’s game. \u201cWe\u2019re making very poor percentage plays. We create the second-most chances on the forecheck in the entire league, yet we want to get inside the blue line and make cute little plays against good teams that aren\u2019t working. \u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u00a0have to\u00a0change their\u00a0mind-set.\u00a0We\u2019re\u00a0a north, hard-skating\u00a0and pressure team. You turn the puck over as much as we\u00a0did,\u00a0you\u2019re\u00a0on your heels all the time. Both goals (against Winnipeg), we had control of the\u00a0puck\u00a0and we just turned it over and gave it to them.\u00a0That\u2019s\u00a0what\u2019s\u00a0frustrating to me.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
As the team has gotten away from that style, the offense has suffered. The Blue Jackets have just 10 goals in the last six games, and there’s a belief that frustration with that could be leading to players pressing to do too much.<\/p>\n
It hasn’t hurt the team too much in the defensive zone — the Blue Jackets have allowed only 11 goals at 5-on-5 in the last six games — but it has left Columbus susceptible to opposing forechecks, leading to the Jackets not being able to clear the zone or create sustained offense. They’ve also faltered in key situations, giving up seven power-play goals in the last six games and being outscored 11-1 in the third period, perhaps because of a stretch of 17 games in 30 days to close out March.<\/p>\n
That’s why the rest over the past few days could be so critical, and the Blue Jackets know the blueprint for success is there. There is a historical precedent for such a strong finish, as the 2019 team was out of the playoffs with eight games to go, then won seven of them to clinch a postseason berth and beat Tampa Bay in the opening round of the playoffs.<\/p>\n
“I think it\u2019s similar in a sense,” Werenski said. “I remember we had the deadline and we had all the conversations in the room about winning and playing the right way and we finally turned it around, and then next thing you know we\u2019re dynamite in the playoffs.<\/p>\n
“Stuff like this, it happens. It sucks. There\u2019s no one that hates it more than the guys in that room. We were so close and we were in such a good position, and now we\u2019re on the outside looking in, but there\u2019s still time to change that and it starts with tomorrow.”<\/p>\n
Just don\u2019t expect the Blue Jackets to give up. The last few games haven\u2019t been their best, but they\u2019re dedicated to putting together a finish they hope they\u2019ll remember for a long time.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cListen, this group cares,\u201d Bowness said.\u00a0\u201cIt’s\u00a0a good group.\u00a0They’re\u00a0frustrated, and I get that. But\u00a0don’t\u00a0ever think they\u00a0don’t\u00a0care, and\u00a0don’t\u00a0ever think\u00a0they’re\u00a0not trying. They are.\u00a0Do we need some better\u00a0efforts? Yes, without a doubt. And\u00a0we’re\u00a0going to get them. This is a proud group.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI’ve\u00a0said from day one,\u00a0I’ve\u00a0loved working with them. I still believe in them, and I still love working with them.\u00a0Do we have some issues we have to straighten out?\u00a0Yes, and some of that is on me as well.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Five games. Eight days. Two points to make up.\u00a0\u00a0 A six-game losing skid has put the\u00a0Blue Jackets\u00a0on the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":544354,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5108],"tags":[3644,5180,897,230,5179,5,4],"class_list":{"0":"post-544353","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-columbus-blue-jackets","8":"tag-blue-jackets","9":"tag-bluejackets","10":"tag-columbus","11":"tag-columbus-blue-jackets","12":"tag-columbusbluejackets","13":"tag-hockey","14":"tag-nhl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116359779196065725","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544353","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=544353"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544353\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/544354"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=544353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=544353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=544353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}