Coming off a 2-0 win over the New York Islanders, the Columbus Blue Jackets were feeling pretty good about themselves. At 5-3-1 in their first nine games, the team was over .500 and showing drastic improvement in key areas.
But as usual, hockey continues to be the ultimate source of humility. The Blue Jackets lost consecutive games to two of the best teams in the NHL in the Winnipeg Jets and Washington Capitals.
Still, being 5-5-1 heading to California had them in the mix in the standings. They were looking forward to seeing how they would continue to improve while trying to find wins.
At the halfway mark of their California/Seattle road trip, the Blue Jackets haven’t won a game. While they gained a point in San Jose, they couldn’t find anything Saturday night in Los Angeles.
The reason the Blue Jackets haven’t been able to find success of late is simple and something within their control. Not only too many turnovers, but big turnovers that turn into goals against. There’s enough of a pattern in these turnovers that makes this a top priority to fix in their upcoming games.
Big Mistakes
As head coach Dean Evason has said multiple times, teams will make mistakes. Given the way the Blue Jackets are trying to play, an aggressive and up-tempo style, mistakes will happen.
It’s when the mistakes turn into big mistakes and goals against where it becomes a problem. It’s when it starts costing the Blue Jackets games where it needs to be addressed with urgency.
Here’s what Evason told reporters on Saturday night after their 5-2 loss to the Kings.
“It’s key moments in the hockey game where we gave opportunities. (I’m) not saying we gave goals because (the Kings) took advantage of some stuff. The first goal, we turn it over. The second goal, we make a huge mistake. Third goal, we turn it over. That’s three goals. We got a 1-0 lead. In key areas on the ice, we have to make the right reads or clearly not turn the puck over in key areas of the ice in order to give teams momentum to come back after us and we did that here tonight.”
“We’re not disappointed in our overall game. It’s just we’ve got to clean up these key mistakes in areas of the ice that we can simplify and again, just not give teams momentum to start coming back or feeling good about themselves instead of just staying with the plan, staying with the systems, staying with the discipline and make them take it. Don’t give them those opportunities.”
Simply put, Saturday night’s game flipped in the Kings’ favor thanks to big turnovers. Up 1-0 early in the second period, the Blue Jackets had possession of the puck and a 4-on-2 advantage in the neutral zone. That usually doesn’t lead to a goal against 10 seconds later.
However Jake Christiansen’s pass couldn’t be handled and was deflected ahead. The Kings won the race to the puck. It ends up on the stick of Vladislav Gavrikov. His shot through a screen tied the game.
This became the Kings’ catalyst for momentum that lasted the rest of the game.
Not even two minutes later, the Blue Jackets were down 2-1. Evason called this goal “a huge mistake.”
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The Blue Jackets held possession in their own zone. David Jiricek found Jack Johnson. Johnson’s pass found Sean Kuraly. However, Kuraly got tied up with the linesman. The puck still got to the Kings’ blue line. This again shouldn’t lead to a goal against in the next 10 seconds.
Jiricek pinched and got himself out of position. This created a 2-on-1 rush in which Akil Thomas found Warren Foegele for the 2-1 goal. The Kings never looked back.
The Blue Jackets had a chance to tie the game early in the third period with the power play on a fresh sheet of ice. Instead, Trevor Moore scored shorthanded thanks to another turnover. Cole Sillinger fanned on a pass from the point. The puck got deflected to center where Moore won the race and scored. It turned into the game-winning goal.
Tuesday night in San Jose, Alex Wennberg’s overtime winner came on a good individual effort by him. He split Sillinger and Sean Monahan. Then Zach Werenski couldn’t get the puck from Wennberg. He cut inside and beat Elvis Merzlikins high. While not a turnover, it was a mistake in coverage allowing him the space needed to create the winning goal.
Final Thoughts
While these kinds of mistakes are correctable, they need to be more limited. The Blue Jackets are at their best when they’re within their structure and making the correct reads.
The start of this road trip showed what happens when they slip away from that structure and make key mistakes. Holding a team to just 22 shots on goal for the night like the Blue Jackets did to the Kings will usually lead to success. But mistakes and turnovers will take any success and throw them down the drain.
The Blue Jackets also won’t use the excuse that they’re a young team. While it’s true they are among the youngest in the NHL, that doesn’t excuse the kind of mistakes they’ve made in recent games.
The Blue Jackets do get two more chances on the road trip to try to make it a successful one. If they hope to win in Anaheim and in Seattle, they cannot repeat the ending in San Jose and how the second period on went in Los Angeles.
The Blue Jackets aren’t playing awful. But they’re also not playing well enough to win. If they start to limit the big mistakes, good results will follow.