Are the Blue Jackets catching teams by surprise?
It’s a fair question to ask after Monday night’s 6-1 drubbing of reigning Western Conference champion Edmonton. The Blue Jackets played with pace, took advantage of their opportunities and pulled away from the Oilers in a relatively stress-free victory.
The hard work and aggressive forecheck are the staples of CBJ hockey that head coach Dean Evason is trying to implement after four straight seasons without playoff games in Columbus, and his reaction is that if teams are surprised by the Jackets’ style of play, they shouldn’t be.
“I hope not,” he said when asked the question after the Oilers game. “I hope that we’re playing the way that we play. The standard that we’ve set, we’re trying to meet that every night regardless of who we play and what their mentality is. We’re going to play hard every night, and we’ll see where we sit. We’ve talked to the group about that from day one, that we’re going to play hard and that teams are going to have to match our work ethic.”
If there was a strategic part of the win over Edmonton that Evason was particularly happy with, it was how the Blue Jackets played with a lead. In his mind, the Blue Jackets got sloppy with the puck after taking a 2-0 advantage Saturday in Nashville, and they paid for it as the Predators came back to post an overtime victory.
On Monday night, the Blue Jackets were much smarter with the puck after taking a 3-0 first-period lead and never let the Oilers back into the game.
“We were really happy with the start, and then even more happy when we got up the three goals after the first period,” Evason said. “We went in and talked to the group about (how) the game puts you back in the same spot. We’re 2-0 up in Nashville and we’re turning pucks over and maybe think we’re gonna just score a lot of points, and the important part is the two points.
“We played the proper way (Monday) and were able to score some more goals, but we didn’t turn the puck over as much.”
They’ll have to play another full 60 against an Islanders team already looking for points, but Cole Sillinger sounded like his coach in the locker room after the win over the Oilers. If the Blue Jackets are catching people by surprise, so be it.
“You’re going to have to ask the other 31 teams that,” Sillinger said. “But you know what? What we want to make sure when teams are playing the Blue Jackets, it’s not going to be easy. We’re going to be in your face, we’re going to be playing fast, we’re going to be tenacious, we’re going to be relentless, and we’re going to execute.”
Know The Foe: New York Islanders
Head coach: Patrick Roy (Second season)
Team stats: Goals per game: 2.33 (29th) | Scoring defense: 3.00 (9th) | PP: 13.3 percent (29th) | PK: 62.5 percent (31st)
The narrative: Lou Lamoriello has built a team that has made the Stanley Cup Playoffs five of the last six seasons, but after back-to-back runs to the NHL’s final four in 2020 and ‘21, the Isles have lost in the first round each of the past two seasons. Getting over the hump has proven difficult, as the Islanders just haven’t had the firepower to match up with some of the top teams in the league. It’s been a bit of the slow start, with the team sitting 3-4-2 after last night’s 3-1 loss vs. Anaheim on Long Island.
Team leaders: Scoring is up across the NHL but the Isles haven’t reaped the benefits yet. Kyle Palmieri and longtime Blue Jackets killer Brock Nelson are tied for the team lead with four goals, with Palmieri’s seven points atop the chart and Nelson right behind with six. Coming off a 70-point season that showed he’s one of the top offensive defensemen in the NHL, Noah Dobson has six assists, while new winger Maxim Tsyplakov has a goal and four assists. Mat Barzal (2-3-5) and Bo Horvat (3-2-5) are also among those with five points.
Veteran Semyon Varlamov is set to get the start against the Blue Jackets between the pipes, and the 36-year-old is 1-2-1 with a 3.72 GAA and .854 save percentage.
What's new: It’s the Islanders, so as usual, not much. They’ve built a core that has been together for a while, though Tsyplakov has been a nice addition after scoring 31 goals in the KHL a season ago. Of the team’s top 10 scorers so far this season, he’s the only one who wasn’t with the Isles last year.
Trending: The Islanders swept the three-game season series a year ago and have generally had the better of things the past six seasons, as Columbus is just 4-12-2 since in 2018-19.
Former CBJ: Anthony Duclair notched two goals and an assist in the five games but went on long-term injured reserve recently with a lower body injury, while Liam Foudy played two games with the team earlier this year before being returned to the AHL.
