The difference between winning and losing in the NHL can come down to the smallest of margins.
It’s a 60-minute game, and against the best players in the world, you have to be on your toes for all of them. One missed coverage, puck misplay or penalty can be all the other teams need to take advantage.
For the Blue Jackets, getting to that point so far this year has been a process. There have been games when they’ve done it and games where they’ve had to learn the hard lessons, which is how you end up at .500 through 27 games.
In losses at Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver on the recently completed road trip, the Blue Jackets made the critical mistakes at crucial times and left all three Western Canadian cities with zero points. But Sunday in Winnipeg, the Blue Jackets never wavered from their game and picked up a 4-1 win over one of the NHL’s best teams to cap the trip.
“We know what kind of season those guys are having over there,” forward James van Riemsdyk said. “It was one of those games, I felt like we stuck with it the whole 60. I thought we played fairly consistently, no lapses in our game and did the little things, took care of the details to win a game.”
Bouncing back from losses and learning from their missteps is a skill the Blue Jackets have picked up as the season has gone by. In mid-November, Columbus had one of its worst third periods of the year in Montreal, then came back and pulled away in the final frame at Boston a night later. After faltering in a tie game going into the third Friday in Vancouver, the Blue Jackets bounced back in Winnipeg and won the final frame to earn the victory.
It all goes back to sticking to the simple, predictable, winning style of hockey that head coach Dean Evason preaches.
“What we did after we got the lead, or even before we had the lead, when it’s tight is that we made them continue to really go back and get some pucks,” Evason said of Sunday’s performance. “We didn’t turn it over. We didn’t feed into their transition game where they could get going and get their offense going. We got pucks out. We didn’t let them have sustained pressure. Our guys were committed to doing the right things defensively, and obviously it translated into some offense.”
With a tough, five-games-in-eight-days road trip halfway across the continent now in the books with two wins and three losses, Columbus now gets to come back to the much friendlier confines of Nationwide Arena. The Blue Jackets have been one of the league’s top teams at home this year, compiling an 8-3-1 record, including a 7-1-1 mark in the last nine games.
They’ll return to the home fans with some momentum after Sunday’s victory.
“It’s definitely a good win,” goalie Elvis Merzlikins said. “We all remember how our (winless) trip in California was, right? It was going on the same road here, and I’m happy that we managed to handle it well, end on the right note, finish this road trip, and yeah, it’s great. Now we have to go home, rest and get ready for the next one.”
Know The Foe: Philadelphia Flyers
Head coach: John Tortorella (Third season)
Team stats: Goals per game: 2.86 (21st) | Scoring defense: 3.43 (27th) | PP: 16.9 percent (26th) | PK: 80.5 percent (11th)
The narrative: It’s year three of the Tortorella era, and the fiery former Blue Jackets coach seems to have the Flyers on the right track. It hasn’t yet ended with a playoff berth – the team came agonizingly close a season ago but faltered late to miss the postseason for the fourth straight year – but Tortorella has the team back in the mix this season after a slow start. The Flyers are depending largely on young players, but they’re a tough out.
Team leaders: Travis Konecny has blossomed into one of the league’s most consistent goal scorers, posting 30-plus tallies each of the past two years and staying on pace to do it again this year with team-best totals of 13 goals and 32 points. The Team Canada wing is also a CBJ killer, posting 15 goals in 26 career games against the Blue Jackets. Then there’s rookie sensation Matvei Michkov, who is firmly in the Calder Trophy mix with an 11-14-25 line that places him atop all NHL first-year players in goals and points. Defenseman Travis Sanheim (5-12-17) will join Konecny on Canada’s roster at the 4 Nations Face-Off.
It's been a scramble in net at times, with Samuel Ersson starting 11 games, Ivan Fedotov getting 10 starts and Aleksei Kolosov getting the nod seven times. Ersson has the best numbers on the squad with a 2.83 GAA and .897 save percentage despite missing nearly a month with a lower body injury; he returned Sunday vs. Utah.
What's new: Philadelphia was 1-5-1 to start the season but righted the ship, and the team enters with points in 11 of the last 15 games (8-4-3) to get back into playoff contention. The addition of Michkov, the No. 8 overall selection in the 2023 draft, has brought in a much-needed impact player up front, and the Flyers are also skating such youngsters as forwards Bobby Brink (age 23), Joel Farabee (24) and Tyson Foerster (22) as well as 22-year-old defensemen Emil Andrae, Jamie Drysdale and Helge Grans.
Trending: The teams split last year’s four-game series, with the Blue Jackets capturing the final two meetings including a 6-2 win April 6 in Nationwide Arena that featured six goals from CBJ defensemen.
Former CBJ: There are no former CBJ players on the roster, but Tortorella and assistant Brad Shaw spent six seasons with the Blue Jackets and led the team to four playoff berths.
