PREVIEW: Blue Jackets have chance to get right back at it vs. Rangers
Columbus will look to wash away the bad taste of Wednesday night's loss
We won't dwell too much on the particulars Wednesday night's loss to Calgary, but there are some pretty notable developments to come from it.
The 6-0 loss to the Flames in Nationwide Arena featured 62 shots on goal by Calgary, the most in an NHL regular-season game since 1991 and the second most in a regulation game in the past 40 years. It also thus follows that it was the most ever allowed by the Blue Jackets in a regular-season game, beating the previous mark by seven, and the Flames also had sizable advantages at 5-on-5 in shot attempts (75-38), scoring chances (34-13) and expected goals (3.84-1.01) at 5-on-5 per Natural Stat Trick.
GAMEDAY GUIDE: Day-of-game updates from Brad Larsen ahead of tonight's contest
There wasn't much to say after the game for head coach Brad Larsen other than the obvious.
"We were completely outplayed," he said. "You don't have to dissect this. They were the better team. It wasn't even close. They had the puck all night. That's the only observation you need to see. I think everybody saw it. We were not nearly good enough. There's nothing more to say at that point."
The next question becomes why that has happened enough times to be a concerning trend for the Blue Jackets. There already had been two embarrassing losses the team had suffered this month, a 7-4 setback on New Year's Day in which the Blue Jackets allowed seven straight goals to cap the game as well as a 9-2 final in Florida on Jan. 16 that felt like a low point for the campaign.
But on the other hand, there have been some impressive performances throughout the season, including the 6-0 victory over Carolina two days before the Florida game and back-to-back wins over Colorado early in the campaign. Even Friday night's 5-2 setback against a contending Pittsburgh team was filled with a lot more energy than last night's loss, leaving defenseman Zach Werenski concerned about the up-and-down nature of the team.
"There's gonna be some inconsistencies within a season," he said. "I just think the gaps are too far. We can play a really good game and then play a really bad game, then there's no real middle ground in that. It's kind of one or the other, and that's frustrating. It's one thing to lose hockey games. The game against Pittsburgh, we don't get the result we want, but I thought we battled hard that game.
"Tonight, there's no life on the bench. It's one of those frustrating losses. We know we can play with any team in the league. It's just the gaps are too big between our good games and our bad games."
To the Blue Jackets, though, it's just one game, and the good news is there's a chance 24 hours later to get back at it tonight against the Rangers.
"Shake this one off and get ready to go," Max Domi said. "It's a big-time opponent tomorrow. Learn from tonight and get ready to go."
Know the Foe
The Rangers' rebuild -- overseen in part by one John Davidson, current director of hockey operations for the Blue Jackets -- has already yielded plenty of fruit.
New York made the postseason seven straight seasons from 2011-17, making the Stanley Cup final in 2014, but the team pledged to tear it down and build back up after that core reached the end of its run. What followed was four straight seasons without a Stanley Cup Playoffs berth, and people weren't quite sure what to make of the Rangers going into this season.
But as the team has passed the halfway mark, New York leads the Metropolitan Division. While many expected high draft picks Alexis Lafreniere and Kaapo Kakko to be leading the charge by now, instead it's been the continued maturation of Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad, the brilliance of Artemi Panarin, and breakouts by Adam Fox and Igor Shesterkin that have led the team back to prominence.
While some could say it's a bit of smoke and mirrors - per Natural Stat Trick, the Rangers are last in the NHL in shot attempt percentage, scoring chance percentage, expected goal percentage at 5-on-5 - it's hard to argue with a team that is tied for third in the league in wins. It also helps to have a 13-3-4 record in one-goal games, tied for the most wins in the NHL in that stat.
The Rangers have used excellent goaltending to place third in the NHL in goals against (2.54 per game) and fifth in penalty kill (84.1 percent), while the NHL's ninth-best power play (24.6 percent) also has helped an offense ranked 14th in the league (3.00 goals per game).
On the scoring front, four players are above 40 points on the season, placing them in the top 25 in the NHL. Fox leads the way with a 7-39-46 line, which places him first in the NHL among defensemen in both assists and points, while Panarin isn't far behind with 11 goals and 34 assists for 45 points. Kreider's 30 goals make him the first NHL player to reach the mark this season (he has 43 points overall), while Zibanejad adds a 15-27-42 line.
Meanwhile, Shesterkin has been excellent in net, leading the NHL in goals saved above expected (23.4) and goals saved above expected per 60 minutes (.930) as well as save percentage (.937) while going 20-4-2 with a 2.08 GAA. Backup Alexandar Georgiev is 7-6-2 with a 2.92 GAA and .902 save percentage.
