Thursday’s Blue Jackets game – a 2-1 overtime loss to Washington in Nationwide Arena – was a test of whether you’re an optimist or a pessimist in some ways.
The optimist would say Jet Greaves had an outstanding season debut in net, the Blue Jackets worked their way into a 5-1 advantage in power plays, and Columbus was able to get a point against one of the NHL’s best teams, one that has won 10 straight games on the road.
The pessimist, though, would point to the final result, plus the fact the Blue Jackets lost when leading after two periods for the second time this season. Then there was the overall game, as Columbus didn’t have the energy and wasn’t as sharp as it has been for much of this season.
After the game, head coach Dean Evason was left weighing both sides of the equation.
“Yeah, that’s fair,” Evason said when asked if the Blue Jackets were in a little bit of a lull, as the loss moved the team to 1-4-1 in the last six. “We’re struggling a little bit with that, too. Maybe it happens, right? We’re fortunate to get a point, so we’re going to take that. The negative is we didn’t get two, but the positive is we did get one.
“We know our game is in there. It’s just gotta be brought out, and it’s our job as coaches to get it out of them.”
The energy and execution were markedly better from Tuesday’s sleepy 5-3 loss to Philadelphia, but in Evason’s eyes, they still weren’t quite where the staff or the players want them to be. Defenseman Damon Severson saw it the same way even though the Blue Jackets never trailed until the final score was set.
“We had a little more jump from the start, but just throughout the game, we didn’t have our normal jump,” Severson said. “We still have more juice in the tank, and we just didn’t quite have that in the past few. We started pretty well. It was an even game overall; not a lot happening for both teams really except for the power plays, but we just stuck with it. It was a tie game going into overtime, and unfortunately they got the extra one.”
Perhaps most frustrating is that the Blue Jackets ended a five-game road trip to Chicago and Western Canada with an emphatic win Sunday at Winnipeg, which entered that game as one of the top teams in the NHL and boasting an impressive run of success against the Jackets in recent years.
Instead of building off of that momentum with a three-game homestand, Columbus has lost the first two games, putting an onus on getting a victory tonight.
“You try to be as consistent as much as you can, but we’re unfortunately in a bit of a downswing right now,” Severson said. “We had a decent road trip – obviously would have liked to get one more out of those five games, but we got two. Now a couple of losses here to start our homestand. We have one more before we hit the road again, so we have to get two points on Saturday before we hit the road for a couple more.”
Know The Foe: Anaheim Ducks
Head coach: Greg Cronin (Second season)
Team stats: Goals per game: 2.36 (31st) | Scoring defense: 3.07 (16th) | PP: 15.9 percent (29th) | PK: 73.1 percent (26th)
The narrative: The Ducks have a proud history that includes the 2007 Stanley Cup and six consecutive playoff appearances from 2013-18, but the franchise has endured six straight seasons since then without playoff hockey. This year hasn’t looked that much more promising yet with Anaheim last in the Pacific Division, but the hope is a young core that includes such players as Mason McTavish, Leo Carlsson, Trevor Zegras, Cutter Gauthier, Olen Zellweger and Pavel Mintyukov – all on the current roster and 23 and under – will propel the team back into contention.
Team leaders: Troy Terry has turned from a fresh-faced youngster into a veteran leader at this point, and the 27-year-old wing leads the Ducks in both goals (eight) and points (22) on the year. Veterans Frank Vatrano (7-7-14) and Ryan Strome (5-9-14) are next in scoring, while Gauthier has four goals and 12 points in his first full NHL season. Both Carlsson (6-5-11) and McTavish (2-9-11) have 11 points on the season.
In net, 24-year-old Czech Lukas Dostal leads the way with a 6-8-3 record, 2.69 GAA and .920 save percentage, while longtime Ducks goalie John Gibson is 4-4-1 in nine games with a 3.01 GAA and .903 save percentage since making his season debut Nov. 10 vs. the Blue Jackets.
What's new: The Ducks didn’t make a ton of changes in the offseason as the young core is the focus for the squad, but they did add some veterans up front in Robby Fabbri and Ohio native Jansen Harkins as well as defensively in Brian Dumoulin. Anaheim comes into the game on a five-game losing skid (0-4-1) in which the team has been outscored 19-7, while Zegras is out with a knee injury.
Trending: Columbus took three of four points a season ago, but Anaheim won the first matchup with the Blue Jackets by a 4-2 score at the Honda Center just over a month ago. The Blue Jackets are 0-2-3 in the last five vs. Anaheim at Nationwide Arena and haven’t beaten the Ducks at home since Dec. 1, 2017.
Former CBJ: None
