It’s a back-to-back between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Columbus Blue Jackets. Game 1 was a close one on Feb. 10. The game sat at a 1-0 score for the majority after the Maple Leafs got ahead early in the first period. Columbus stopped the bleeding until things fell apart when they allowed two quick goals in the middle of the final stanza.
Let’s face it, the Blue Jackets are the worst team in the NHL. The Leafs would be challenging for a division title if they were in any other division than the Atlantic. All things considered, a 3-0 loss isn’t the end of the world. Friday’s game was just the beginning as they head to Toronto Saturday to finish a back-to-back. There are some things that the Blue Jackets will need to improve on to beat the Maple Leafs in Game 2. Let’s look at three of those improvements.
Blue Jackets Need to Capitalize on Power Play
The main downfall for Columbus was not being able to squeak a goal past Ilya Samsonov. It wasn’t from a lack of trying as there were 30 shots on goal for the Jackets. The problem is that Columbus didn’t press extra hard on the opportunities that they were given to have a greater chance of scoring, namely the power play.
They were gifted a four-minute power play because of a stacking double minor against Timothy Liljegren. Throughout that entire man advantage, they had only two shots on goal. That’s one shot every two minutes and neither of those shots were anything to write home about. With the game only one goal away at that point, the Blue Jackets needed to get anything and everything on goal. Part of the deficiency was their offensive system not being able to get set up in the Maple Leafs’ zone. Break-in passes were stunted, cross-seam passes were sloppy, and really the Blue Jackets ultimately resorted to a guerilla style offense on the man advantage. That really doesn’t work at the NHL level. The best power plays are organized with surgical precision.
Their power play as a whole, which sits at a dismal 16.1 percent after Friday’s game, needs to be better. Through six minutes on the power play in this game they only had three shots. That has to change. With Johnny Gaudreau and Patrik Laine on the top unit, there is no reason that it should see such poor results. There has been some promise from young rearguards like Nick Blankenburg and Adam Boqvist to quarterback the special team, and it will certainly improve with the return of Zach Werenski next season. Time should heal this wound entirely, but there does need to be more discipline now.
Part of that discipline is knowing when to shoot and part is knowing when to make that next pass. A lot of the Blue Jackets’ power play looked like they were passing when they should shoot and shooting when they should pass. That comes with time and experience, which there is not a lot of on this young team.
Patrik Laine Needs to Shoot More
I’m sure there’s some fable of a person given an incredible, natural talent who didn’t really use it because they wanted their talent to be in something else. Then they realize after too long not to fight their natural talent and eventually decide to do what they were born to. Whatever fable that is should be told to Laine.
Ever since Laine broke into the NHL in 2016-17, it was clear: This kid is a natural goal scorer. He’s been gifted with a release on his shot that really is only exceeded by the Great 8, Alexander Ovechkin. Laine gets set up in “Ovechkin’s Office” and is just as dangerous. There is no understating how good of a shot he has.
Then things started to change for Laine as he got more acclimatized to the NHL. After his third season his assist totals finally eclipsed his goal totals. I would posit, and I have no primary evidence to support this theory, that Laine takes just as much, if not a little more, pride in also being able to make plays as much as score goals. Simply because it’s been more of an earned skill as opposed to his natural scoring ability. It seems like lately he’s trying harder to make the right pass than take the right shot.
Related: Jets’ Laine Has Become “Patrik the Playmaker”
Through this season, there have only been three games in which Laine hasn’t recorded a shot on goal. All three of those came in the month of January. On top of that, three of the six games he’s been held to one shot have come after the calendar turned to 2023. The game against the Maple Leafs was one of those games and it took him just under 54 minutes to get that lone shot on goal. Ridiculous.
Moving forward, while playing with elite playmakers in Johnny Gaudreau and Kent Johnson, Laine needs to play to his strength. His natural talent is shooting. He is at his best when he is shooting and scoring goals. That is what the Blue Jackets are paying him $8.7 million a year to do. It’s time for him to leave the playmaking to someone else and shoot more often.
Keep the Leafs to the Outside of Their Zone
Yes, Toronto does have a few guys who know how to sling the puck well. But with Auston Matthews out, there aren’t many who have laser precision from the outer edges of the offensive zone. That’s why Columbus needs to do their best to keep the Maple Leafs to the outside when they’re in the Blue Jackets’ zone.
The Leafs’ two even-strength goals came from in the slot, right in front of Joonas Korpisalo. Pierre Engvall evaded his man and snuck into the slot receiving a quick pass to sneak it past the goal line. The second from John Tavares was another sneaky play by on a break-in, receiving a pass through a mess of Blue Jackets, and wristing it past Korpisalo.
If any team lets their lethal forwards get the puck in front of the net with any space, Toronto is going to beat them every single time. Their offense is not what’s kept them forever stalled in the first round, it’s their defense. The Maple Leafs’ offense could go toe-to-toe with any across the NHL. It’s time the Blue Jackets stopped letting them have their way, trying to keep them to the outside on break-ins, preventing them from scoring goals where they do best.
Now it’s time for the Blue Jackets to get prepared to head into the Maple Leafs’ turf at Scotiabank Arena and try to get any points in the standings. It will not be an easy one for the Jackets, but if they can make these three improvements, they will have a better shot at crawling out of last place.
