PREVIEW: Blue Jackets finish homestand against Red Wings

BLUE JACKETS (7-5-0) vs. RED WINGS (8-6-2)

Of course not, but in case you were wondering, Blue Jackets defenseman Zach Werenski said that was the case three times after the loss to New York. That was in response to a question about if the message when the team is winning -- stay the course and don't get too high or too low -- remains the same when it's losing.
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"Yeah, we don't panic by any means," Werenski said. "We have a day off tomorrow, come back Monday vs. Detroit and try to get a win there. I think this weekend, we were 0-2, but I think we could have gotten at least one point out of it, maybe even two the way we played yesterday. That's how the game of hockey goes, though. You can lose some games you should win and win some games you should lose. It's all over the place.
"No need to panic, but we have to learn from it, watch some video on things we can clean up, and all the good things we've done, we have to keep doing that. There's no need to panic. Just try to get back to our game Monday."
And there is a lot of truth to what Werenski said about the Blue Jackets playing some good hockey, including everything before the Rangers' three-goal explosion midway through the second period Saturday night and even some of the chances the Jackets had in the third period.
Friday, there were a lot of good minutes as well in a fantastic hockey game that the Capitals were able to win with a goal with 1:22 to go. In fact, according to Natural Stat Trick, the Jackets at 5-on-5 had 52.9 percent of the shot attempts, 60.0 percent of the scoring chances and 63.8 percent of the expected goals in the two games, yet came out 0-2.
That speaks to some bad luck, as well as maybe how big the mistakes the Jackets made were. Almost all of the nine goals scored over the weekend by the Capitals and Rangers were the result of breakdowns by the Blue Jackets, either turnovers that gave the opposition advantageous looks at the net or players getting out of position.
Fixing that going into tonight's game against the Red Wings will be of the utmost importance, but perhaps its good to have errors of execution rather than errors of effort because the former can be taught as the days go by.

Know the Foe

Could this be the year the Red Wings rebuild ends up with a playoff berth?
We're a long way from that, but after six straight seasons without postseason hockey, it's at least fair to say Detroit is making progress with an 8-6-2 record through 16 games, including victories in four of five.
Perhaps most encouraging, the team's youth is leading the way. A pair of first-round picks -- 2019 defenseman Moritz Seider and 2020 forward Lucas Raymond -- are off to impressive starts and look like keepers, while 2016 second-rounder Filip Hronek, 2017 first-rounder Michael Rasmussen and 2018 first-round pick Filip Zadina are pitching in as well.
Add in bounce-back seasons for Tyler Bertuzzi and Dylan Larkin, plus a solid campaign from trade acquisition Alex Nedeljkovic in net, and Detroit is in the mix in the Atlantic Division. The overall stats haven't been super impressive, though, with the Wings checking 18th in the league in scoring (2.88 goals per game), 25th in team defense (3.13 goals allowed per game), 24th in power play (15.4 percent) and 24th in penalty kill (75.9 percent).
Bertuzzi played just nine games last year because of injury, but he's come back with a vengeance, placing tied for sixth in the NHL with nine goals and 11th with 16 points in just 13 games to lead the way for the Wings. Raymond has been a revelation as the Swedish rookie has posted six goals and nine assists for 15 points. Seider adds a 2-10-12 line and plus-6 rating from the blue line, while Larkin has a 6-5-11 line in 12 games. Vladislav Namestnikov has seven goals as well while Hronek has seven helpers from the blue line.
In net, Nedeljkovic came over from Carolina in the offseason and has gotten off to a strong start, going 4-2-2 in nine games (eight starts) with a 2.78 goals-against average and .919 save percentage. Thomas Greiss has 27 starts against the Blue Jackets -- most against any team in his career -- and is 12-9-4 in those games; this year, he's 4-4-0 with a 3.09 GAA and .909 save percentage.