After four games of what head coach Dean Evason called “winning hockey” to start the season, the Blue Jackets found out Saturday night what happens if they’re a little bit off their game.
The injury-ravaged Blue Jackets couldn’t get much traction going, falling 3-1 to the visiting Minnesota Wild. A slow start put the team behind the eight ball, and while the team did get better as the game went on, it couldn’t break through a stingy Wild defense.
Evason said Monday that a look at the video tape showed the performance wasn’t as bad as it seemed on first look, though it was apparent the Blue Jackets didn’t have the same energy as they had in the opening quartet of games.
And unfortunately for the Jackets, with the players that are currently out, it’s a squad that needs to be close to the top of its game right now.
“We didn’t play the first period the same way as we’ve played through all the games, obviously, so far here in the regular season,” Evason said. “We hope and believe it’s a one-off. ... It’s one period, but we gotta catch it right now. Second period was good, but it’s not enough. You have to start correctly, and we have to find a way to do that as a coaching staff and as a team.”
In the locker room, the postgame reaction was that the Blue Jackets knew they needed to be better, and in particular start better. The Blue Jackets players who met with the media acknowledged just how important it is to bring the same level of play on a night in, night out basis.
“We have a standard now on how we have to play, and we’ve done that for four games,” alternate captain Zach Werenski said. “Tonight, we weren’t there. We’re going to learn from it and we’re going to move on, and we’re not going to let it happen again.”
Tonight, the goal will be to put in a full 60 minutes against a Toronto team on the second half of a back-to-back.
“We catch ourselves and we start correctly tomorrow night,” Evason said Monday.
Know The Foe: Toronto Maple Leafs
Head coach: Craig Berube (First season)
Team stats: Goals per game: 3.33 (16th) | Scoring defense: 2.17 (5th) | PP: 15.0 percent (25th) | PK: 84.6 percent (11th)
The narrative: One year after Toronto won a postseason series for the first time in two decades, heartbreak returned to the city last year as the Leafs lost in overtime of Game 7 of the first round vs. Longtime nemesis Boston. The most talked about team in hockey made some changes – in particular, the hiring of Stanley Cup-winning coach Berube – but it’s still a squad built around the highly powered forward quartet of Auston Matthews, William Nylander, Mitchell Marner and John Tavares.
Team leaders: Coming off a career-best 98-point season, Nylander is off to another good start, scoring twice vs. Tampa Bay last night to get to five goals on the campaign, tied for fifth in the NHL. After leading the NHL with 69 goals a season ago – the most in the league since Teemu Selanne and Alexander Mogilny had 76 in 1992-93 – Auston Matthews has three goals in the first six games. Marner has a 1-6-7 line to start the season, while Max Domi has added six assists.
In net, free-agent pickup Anthony Stolarz beat Tampa Bay to improve to 3-2-0 on the season with a 1.83 GAA and .938 save percentage. Tonight's goalie will likely be either Joseph Woll making his season debut after missing the start of the season with injury or rookie Dennis Hildeby, who made 21 saves on 23 shots to get the win in his only start thus far.
What's new: After last night’s 5-2 win vs. the Lightning, the Leafs are off to a 3-2-0 start. The big offseason changes to the squad came on defense, where veterans Chris Tanev and Oliver Ekman-Larsson were added to bring some defensive prowess to the squad. Longtime NHLer Max Pacioretty and Steven Lorentz were also signed to bring depth up front, while Stolarz has been a big pickup in net.
Trending: Columbus won two of the three matchups a season ago, posting matching 6-5 OT victories on Dec. 14 in Toronto and Dec. 29 in Columbus.
Former CBJ: The well-traveled Domi is on his seventh NHL team but seems to have found a home in Toronto, where his dad is a Leafs legend, as he four-year deal with the squad in the offseason.
