Some losses hurt a little more than others, and one of those happened for the Blue Jackets on Thursday night.
Columbus tied the score against Detroit with less than three minutes left and had a chance on the power play to take the lead, but disaster struck when Red Wings forward Jonatan Berggren scored coming out of the penalty box with 35.7 seconds to go for the deciding goal in a 5-4 final.
In the blink of an eye, Columbus went from what felt like a guaranteed point, with an excellent chance to leave with a regulation win, to a stunning loss.
Now, the goal has to be not letting one setback become two tonight vs. surging St. Louis as the Blue Jackets battle for points in the Eastern Conference playoff race.
“You hate every loss,” Evason said after Friday’s practice. “But when you lose like that, it stings, right? So to address it today, which we did as a group, it happens. We made some mistakes ... but there’s nothing we can do about it now except learn from that mistake, don’t let it happen again, and let’s move forward.
“As a coaching staff, we wanted to address it with our group, get it out in the open, talk about it and move forward. We just finished a little meeting about how practice went, and practice was upbeat and energetic and guys were having fun. We’ll move forward tomorrow night.”
There is, of course, a blueprint for this. Look no further than two seasons ago, when the Blue Jackets lost a game to the Devils when New Jersey scored the winning goal with less than two seconds to play. That was a loss that could have had a devastating impact on a young, struggling CBJ team, but instead the Blue Jackets came back to win the next two games.
By the time the adrenaline gets going and the puck drops tonight against the Blues, the Jackets expect Thursday’s game to be a distant memory.
“We don’t have time (for it to linger),” forward James van Riemsdyk said postgame. “We have another game in two days, so that’s the beauty of playing this time of year with the schedule being how it is. We have to take what we need from it, but we have to be ready to go (Saturday). We’re right in the thick of a race to try to make the playoffs, so we don’t have time to sulk and feel sorry for ourselves.”
The key for the Blue Jackets might be getting off to a better start. In the latter half of the first period against the Red Wings, Columbus got sloppy and, in the words of Evason, made too many east-west plays to find themselves in a 3-1 hole after 20 minutes. While the Blue Jackets did fight back to tie the game twice, it’s a lot easier to win in the NHL from ahead than behind.
“We have to start a little better, on time,” Zach Werenski said. “When you spot a team a two-goal lead at the end of the first, it’s usually hard to come back from that. A better start is needed for the next game.”
Know The Foe: St. Louis Blues
Head coach: Jim Montgomery (First season)
Team stats: Goals per game: 2.73 (24th) | Scoring defense: 2.93 (13th) | PP: 16.5 percent (26th) | PK: 73.8 percent (28th)
The narrative: The Blues won the 2019 Stanley Cup but have captured a single playoff series in the past five seasons, missing the postseason altogether each of the past two seasons. They face an uphill climb this year as they enter tonight on the wrong side of the playoff bar, and it feels like a proverbial roster that’s caught in between – not too young or too old, and not good enough to consider itself an elite contender for the Cup but not bad enough to bottom out, either. The November firing of head coach Drew Bannister to bring in Montgomery has been a bit of a shot to the arm, but the Blues still have work to do to be a playoff team.
Team leaders: Jordan Kyrou has become a consistent producer over the years and is putting together numbers in line with his career averages, as his 16 goals and 32 points lead the Blues through 39 games. Robert Thomas is next with an 8-22-30 line, while Dylan Holloway has a 14-13-27 line and has thrived under Montgomery (10-9-19 in 19 games). Pavel Buchnevich adds nine goals among his 25 points, while Colton Parayko is the top defenseman with 22 points, including six goals.
Cup-winning goaltender Jordan Binnington has been the starter for 28 games on the year, going 11-14-3. Joel Hofer is 8-3-1 with a 2.75 GAA and .905 save percentage and is expected to go tonight after Binnington started last night’s home game vs. Ottawa.
What's new: The Blues do have some intriguing young players on the roster, including 23-year-olds Holloway and defenseman Philip Broberg, who were added as restricted free agents from Edmonton this summer in a move that opened eyes across the league. Add in 22-year-old forward Jake Neighbours (10 goals) and 2021 first-round pick Zachary Bolduc and there’s hope for the future. The Blues are also 10-5-3 under Montgomery while allowing just 2.39 goals per game since he took over.
Trending: Columbus won both games a season ago, taking a 5-2 victory in Columbus and a 1-0 victory in St. Louis in their only shutout of the season. The Blue Jackets have won three of the last four and six of the last nine in Nationwide Arena.
Former CBJ: Brandon Saad is now in year four in St. Louis and has a 7-6-13 line in 33 games including a hat trick last night, while Alexandre Texier is in his first year with the Blues after an offseason trade from the Jackets. He’s played in 20 games with three goals among his seven points.
