Blue Jackets Gameday Notes: Coyle, Del Bel Belluz, Rangers & More

The Columbus Blue Jackets finally have a much-needed gameday. They host the New York Rangers on Saturday night.

Coming off a brutal 7-3 loss to the Florida Panthers, the Blue Jackets had to sit on that loss for three days. Head coach Rick Bowness spent Friday revealing why he was so mad. He was mad at himself for all of the goals against in the first five games.

The team simply needs to get into the flow of the season. If you count the first day of the NHL season, the Blue Jackets are playing just their sixth game in 19 days. Meanwhile, some teams will play their 10th game this weekend.

The Blue Jackets’ room knows the work that’s ahead of them. That’s were we begin our gameday notebook.

Coyle Speaks on Controlling Aggression

Bowness said Friday that the Blue Jackets were like him in that they’re mad at the situation. A big key to Saturday night’s game is being able to both control their emotions and aggression but also be fully engaged in the game.

How do they hope to do that? Here’s Charlie Coyle on that approach.

“Everything’s controlled,” Coyle said. “It depends what you’re talking about specifically, but whether it’s controlled aggression (or anything else), you can be aggressive, but it has to be controlled aggression – controlled everywhere. When you lose your head, you can’t think straight, you’re going to do something and get out of sorts. Take a deep breath.”

“Some guys are better at it than others. But as a team, you can do it too. It starts with a lot of talking and going over stuff when they just scored a goal. Maybe they had a couple of good shifts and things aren’t going our way. We take a timeout or something like that. Take a deep breath here. Let’s reset. Let’s go play the way we know how. It’s all good. We don’t have to win it this next shift, but let’s turn it over.”

When things have unraveled for the Blue Jackets early on, they haven’t been able to recover. One or two bad plays have been enough to make things spiral out of control.

Coyle’s message is a simple one. When the bad happens on a play, there’s plenty of game left to play.

“When something bad happens, it’s all good,” Coyle said. “We’re good. The game’s not over. There’s plenty of time left. Let’s go play. Let’s make that next play or have a good shift. You string those together and you’re better off and they build. Having that control – everything’s controlled – but it takes everyone and talk. We’ll be good when we do that. Help each other out.”

Del Bel Belluz Makes His Season Debut

The Blue Jackets’ morning skate was a well-attended optional with most of the players present at different points. As for who is playing in the game, there are some game-time decisions according to Bowness.

The one thing we do know is that Luca Del Bel Belluz will make his season debut on Saturday night regardless of who the game-time decisions are. It remains to be seen where in the lineup he will play. It’s worth noting that he filled in as the second-line center when Conor Garland was ill.

Del Bel Belluz spoke on Tuesday as he was game-time decision that night.

“It’s been a long time coming,” Del Bel Belluz said. “This is where I want to play hockey, so just got to do what I was told to do and bring what I can tonight.”

Del Bel Belluz needs waivers to be assigned to the AHL so he was caught in a waiting game until it was his turn. He says he’s ready.

“It’s not the easiest (waiting),” Del Bel Belluz said. “It’s all part of it. I want to be here. If that’s what it takes to wait around a little bit then that’s what it takes.”

Side Dishes

• Bowness was in a better mood on Saturday morning. Here is what he said about controlling anger and emotions: “We got to watch that. I told you yesterday, the first one I’m most mad at is me, right? I’m mad at me. If you go back over the week, we had a great practice on Wednesday … Had a good practice yesterday so the guys are in the right frame of mind. I was just more mad at me yesterday than anybody without a doubt. So I’m not worried about that. The guys are. They’re upset at where they are. Of course they are, right? We’re not playing as well as we can. But we’re also very confident in ourselves. We’ll get this going.”
• For the Rangers, Mike Sullivan said Dylan Garand will start against the Blue Jackets. Taylor Raddysh will enter the lineup and play. Matt Rempe is expected to be scratched per Peter Baugh of the Athletic.
• Sullivan was asked about the Blue Jackets and if he expected “desperation.” The coach had an interesting answer and preferred to use another word. “Listen, I know that word gets thrown around a lot in sports. For me that word insinuates hopelessness. So I’d rather use urgency. I think it’s more descriptive of the circumstance … I would expect that Columbus is going to be real competitive tonight and I would expect us to be the same.”
• A pair of former Blue Jackets return to Nationwide Arena Saturday. Oliver Bjorkstrand and Vladislav Gavrikov. The Hockey Writers caught up with Gavrikov after the Rangers’ morning skate.
• On his memories of the Blue Jackets: “Well, it was a good time. Obviously got drafted here. So a lot of memories, a lot of friends. One of my kids was born here. Definitely good memories.”
• Gavrikov on keys to the Rangers’ hot start: “Probably commitment to just play the way the coach has been asking us to do. And then great effort from every single player. The forwards helping us to play D. Blocked shots (have) been improved. Special team’s been good especially the kill. Our goalies were great so kind of a little bit of everything but that’s basically how you build success.”