When the Shirelles sang "Mama Said (There'd Be Days Like This)," well, Brad Larsen can relate.
The Blue Jackets head coach is skippering a team beset with injuries and with some young, raw players in the lineup. No day is really the same, and that includes good days and bad days. Unquestionably, Wednesday's 9-4 loss to Buffalo that included the first-ever 6-0 first period deficit in franchise history was a bad day.
"What you don't expect is the amount of injuries to the key guys," said Larsen, who has such names as Zach Werenski, Jakub Voracek, Justin Danforth and Jake Bean likely out for the season. "So what comes with that is a lot of guys playing in situations with inexperience and youth. So what comes with youth and inexperience? Probably inconsistency.
"The swings, we don't want them (to be) that egregious, that big. And sometimes with youth and inexperience comes that stunned look where you get into the Buffalo game there, you look at the nine goals, (the game is) done in 16 minutes."
But the flip side of that is there are good days, too, when the young Jackets have their game. That happened Friday evening, as Columbus got back on the ice, found its battle level and structure and polished off a veteran Calgary team in a 3-1 victory.
"As we go through things like last night, it was a heck of a game," Larsen said. "You just want to put that in a jar, put a lid on it, and then unleash that against LA. I don't have a crystal ball. We gave up five chances (against Calgary) at 5-on-5 in three periods against a really good team. They had some looks on their power play and 6-on-4 and 6-on-5, but 5-on-5, it's five chances in three periods.
"That's a heck of a job by a group of young players, and so now you have to move forward and you try to build off that."
