Simply put, it wasn’t an easy situation the Blue Jackets were in Sunday in Carolina.
Not only did Columbus have to play one of the most difficult teams in the league to handle in the high-pressure, swarming Hurricanes, they had to do it just 22 hours after Saturday’s game vs. Anaheim faced off, 19 hours after it ended and 16 hours after the team got to its hotel in Raleigh ahead of the game.
In that vein, the team’s 4-1 loss to the Canes made some sense, but head coach Dean Evason was at least pleased with his team’s effort in the setback. There were some execution issues – an early shorthanded goal given up, a power play that failed to score to end a four-game goal streak, and tallies given up late in both the first and second periods – but the Blue Jackets thought they stood in toe-to-toe with one of the NHL’s best teams.
“We thought our energy level was good,” Evason said. “Obviously we played (Saturday night), but we had some jump. We had some life. It’s a real good hockey club (in Carolina). I think a couple of breaks go our way earlier, I think it could have been a different game.”
There are few moral victories to be had in the NHL, though, and the cold reality is the Blue Jackets lost that game to fall to 1-5-2 in their last eight games. It’s been a tough skid where the team can’t just point to one thing that’s gone wrong, as they’ve been in many of the contests – they’ve led, tied or been within one in the third period of four of the seven losses – but made enough mistakes at critical times to fall short of victory.
The same could be said in Carolina, where the Blue Jackets were able to stifle the Canes for long stretches of the game but couldn’t take advantage of the opportunities they had.
“I feel like we played pretty well,” defenseman Dante Fabbro said. “It’s just obviously a few structure things that maybe shot us in the foot a little bit.”
The Blue Jackets are in a tough stretch, but forward Kirill Marchenko said they believe they can get out of it, starting with tonight in Tampa Bay.
“We go in every game with confidence,” he said. “Every game, we try to win, we try to play like the No. 1 team on the ice. We don’t think about things like the standings, road games, home games. It doesn’t matter. Just go in the game, do what can do and try to win.”
Know The Foe: Tampa Bay Lightning
Head coach: Jon Cooper (12th season)
Team stats: Goals per game: 4.00 (1st) | Scoring defense: 2.89 (10th) | PP: 28.4 percent (3rd) | PK: 79.5 percent (16th)
The narrative: The Lightning has made the playoffs in 10 of the last 11 seasons and won the 2020 and ‘21 Stanley Cups, making the squad a true NHL dynasty over more than a decade. But the signs that things are starting to wind down are there, including the offseason departure of franchise icon Steven Stamkos as well as consecutive first-round playoff exits. It’s still a veteran team with plenty of star power that knows how to win, even if it is a little long in the tooth these days.
Team leaders: Two-time Art Ross Trophy winner Nikita Kucherov is off to another excellent start at age 31, as the Russian wing is tied for third in the NHL with 43 points, including 14 goals. Brayden Point leads the team with 20 goals including 16 in the last 17 games; the CBJ killer has 30 points in that span. Jake Guentzel (17 goals), Brandon Hagel (15) and Anthony Cirelli (12) have also reached double digits in tallies.
In net, Andrei Vasilevskiy’s streak of five straight top-five finishes in the Vezina voting ended last year, but he could be back this year, as he’s 13-9-1 in 23 starts with a 2.41 GAA and .908 save percentage.
What's new: The team’s all-time leader in games played, goals and points, Stamkos left for Nashville in the offseason, but the Bolts found a ready-made replacement in Guentzel. Longtime defenseman Mikhail Sergachev also was dealt in the summer for talented young forward Conor Geekie and defenseman J.J. Moser. Tampa Bay has won four of five and outscored the opposition 25-9 in that span.
Trending: Columbus won the opening game this season by a 7-6 score at home Nov. 21, upping the team’s record to is 6-15-4 in the series since the 2017-18 season began.
Former CBJ: Now 35 years old, Cam Atkinson signed a one-year deal in Tampa Bay this offseason and has played in 17 games with three goals and two assists.
