PREVIEW: Blue Jackets look to rebound from weird loss against Blues
Columbus will try to shake off Thursday night's setback in a Saturday home game
"It felt weird," winger Oliver Bjorkstrand said to begin his postgame address.
"It was just a weird game," defenseman Zach Werenski said.
"It was a strange game," head coach Brad Larsen said.
OK, the head man didn't win Wordle, then, but it seemed just about everyone agreed the five-letter descriptor for the game was weird, in all green squares.
The Blue Jackets had advantages in offensive zone possession time, shots on goal, and both expected goals and shot attempts at 5-on-5, but they lost a game that included two pucks Columbus put into its own net and an empty-net goal for the Caps on a gamble that didn't work out for the home team.
Add in a few other mistakes by the home team -- a turnover and a blown line change that each led to goals as the Caps built a 3-0 lead -- and sometimes all you can do is shrug.
"It was not our night, I can tell you that right now," Larsen said. "I'm a realist. A 7-2 game, normally you're thinking, 'Wow, that was a disaster,' but our guys gave it tonight. You feel like you're doing a lot of good things, you claw back in it, bang, you hurt yourself. One of those nights."
In all, as Larsen seemed to suggest, the errors were much more borne of execution than effort.
"I thought we played hard tonight," Werenski said. "A couple of mistakes early on, we get it to 4-2, a few more mistakes after that. It was just kind of a weird game. It was a big one for us, and we didn't pull through, but there's still a lot of hockey left. I'm just happy with the way the guys worked tonight. We could have easily gave in when we were down a few goals, but we kept working throughout the whole game.
"You know, what are you going to do? Stuff like that happens."
The hard part for the Blue Jackets is the game felt essentially like a must-win if the team's slim postseason hopes were to stay alive. Columbus entered the game 11 points behind Washington for the last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, but a win would have drawn the Blue Jackets within single digits with 20 games to play.
Instead, they're now 13 points back -- essentially 6½ games -- with 20 to go, a hill that is pretty hard to climb in the three-point era. But if there's any saving grace from Thursday night, it's that it seems unlikely that much could go wrong again tonight against the Blues in front of what is expected to be a sellout crowd in Nationwide Arena.
"We try to learn from every game," Bjorkstrand said. "Now we have to move on to the next game and focus on that. But we try to get better and learn from mistakes. At the same time, you can't think too much about the past games. You have to move forward and be ready for the next one."
Know the Foe
Coming off a Stanley Cup championship in 2019, the Blues remain one of the top contenders in the NHL, a veteran, physical team with plenty of postseason experience having made it nine of the last 10 seasons.
St. Louis is in a bit of a rough patch, though, coming to Columbus with a 2-3-3 record in the last eight games. That includes two straight shootout setbacks against Winnipeg on Sunday and Pittsburgh on Thursday.
Despite those setbacks, St. Louis' numbers are among the best in the league, including a 5-on-5 scoring ratio that places tied for sixth in the NHL with the Blues outscoring teams 139-111 at 5-on-5. Overall, the Blues are fifth in the NHL in scoring (3.52 goals per game), seventh in team defense (2.75 goals allowed per game), third in power play (25.6 percent) and sixth in penalty kill (83.1 percent). If there's any weakness, it's in the realm of standout depth on the blue line - and the fact they'll have to go through Colorado in the playoffs to earn another Stanley Cup.
Up front, the forward group is deep (nine forwards have at least 12 goals and 34 points), veteran and talented, but two youngsters are making noise in Jordan Kyrou and Robert Thomas. The former leads the team in what has been a breakout, All-Star season, as the 23-year-old has 22 goals and 37 assists for 59 points, while the 22-year-old Thomas has a 12-36-48 line to place third on the team in scoring.
Vladimir Tarasenko is also in the midst of a bounceback season, placing second on the team with 20 goals and 54 points, while New York Rangers import Pavel Buchnevich is fourth with a 19-27-46 line. From there, the depth is strong, with Ivan Barbashev (19-25-44), Ryan O'Reilly (13-26-39), Brayden Schenn (17-20-37), David Perron (18-18-36) and Brandon Saad (18-16-34). Torey Krug (8-25-33, +23) and Justin Faulk (8-20-28, +33) lead the blue line.
In net, 2019 Stanley Cup champion Jordan Binnington has been pushed this year by Finnish sensation Ville Husso, who is second in the NHL per MoneyPuck.com in goals saved above average per 60 minutes among goalies with at least 20 games played. Husso is 15-4-4 in 25 games with a 2.22 GAA and .930 save percentage, while Binnington is 13-12-4 in 29 starts with a 3.11 GAA and .903 save percentage.
