Blue Jackets Need Better Road Play in Second Half

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Welcome to the unofficial start of the second half of the 2024-25 NHL season. We hope you and yours enjoyed the time no matter how you celebrated.

For the Columbus Blue Jackets, they entered the holiday break just four points out of a playoff spot. They’re also in the middle of their division which seems to exceed most every expectation thrown at them this season.

This is as good a time as any to look at some important trends both good and bad around the Blue Jackets. How these trends go will dictate how the rest of their season will play out.

Today in Part 1 of our mini-series, we’re going to look at the difference between home and road for the Blue Jackets. This is really staggering even at a quick glance. The bottom line is this. If the Blue Jackets were a .500 road team on top of what they’re doing at home, they’d not only be comfortably in the playoffs, they’d be challenging for the top-3 in the Metropolitan Division.

So what gives on the road?

Road Woes

To say the Blue Jackets have been bad on the road doesn’t give it justice. The reason they’re under hockey .500 going into Friday night’s game against the Boston Bruins is because of their road performance.

Take a look at these splits.

  • Home record: 10-4-3, 23 points (11th in NHL in home points.)
  • Road record: 4-11-3, 11 points (30th in NHL in road points.)

A win on Friday night on home ice would make the records the exact opposite of each other home vs. road (11-4-3 and 4-11-3.) But why though? Why do the Blue Jackets struggle so much on the road?

Recently, head coach Dean Evason said that their road play is an area of focus. Even they are at a little bit of a loss for why things are like that.

Evason is right about one thing. There’s no reason the road record should be like this. But it is clear some things are happening that they need to correct.

In watching the tape both home and road, a couple of things stand out in my mind as to why this is happening. If the Blue Jackets are able to stabilize this, they could remain in the playoff race come March.

The first thing that jumps out is the opposition being able to match up to the Blue Jackets. The concept of last change can play a major role in how a team performs.

With last change, the opposition can matchup to what the Blue Jackets are trying to do. They thrive on the rush when their offensive game is on point. Teams have been able to limit their rush chances away from Nationwide Arena. This forces the Blue Jackets to try to have to find other ways to win.

So far, they haven’t been able to do that consistently. It’s not that the Blue Jackets can’t win on the road. They have a 5-1 win in Boston and a 4-1 win in Winnipeg on their record. They can’t do it consistently.

Check this stat out in terms of offense home and road. The Blue Jackets have scored 67 goals at home in 17 games coming into Friday night. That’s tied for the best in the NHL for total home goals scored along with Vegas and Carolina. That’s also just under 4.00 goals per game.

But on the road, it’s a much different story. The Blue Jackets have allowed 72 goals in 18 games which is exactly 4.00 goals against per game. They’ve only scored 49 goals in that span.

The other stat that jumps out is power-play efficiency. The Blue Jackets are 25.5% at home and just 12.8% on the road. While it’s reasonable to expect performance being better at home, to have this much separation is staggering.

Columbus Blue Jackets, Training Camp
The Blue Jackets must figure out their game on the road in the second half. (Photo credit: Mark Scheig, the Hockey Writers)

This points to the second thing that stands out. For the purposes of this article, we’ll combine the defense and goaltending into one although both have had their share of issues separately.

The Blue Jackets can’t keep the puck out of their net no matter where they play but especially so on the road. They haven’t been able to get a key save when it’s needed. They’ve allowed opponents to dictate the pace with their home crowd behind them. The game in Philadelphia stands out here.

With the score 4-3 Blue Jackets late, the Flyers pulled goalie Samuel Ersson. The Flyers gained possession and weren’t challenged nearly enough. They allowed Travis Konecny time and space to pick his spot. The puck deflected on the way in. Game tied. The defense stood back and the goaltending couldn’t bail them out.

That game was 2-0 Blue Jackets going to the third period. The Flyers were able to score four to get to overtime and then won it in the extra session when they gained possession.

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The defense is very much a work in progress. They’ve had some good nights but the bad nights outweigh the good ones. Consistency has been fleeting.

The last trend that goes along with the first two is momentum. Once the Blue Jackets lose a lead or are behind, they haven’t done a good enough job of stopping the bleeding. They must find a way to manage momentum better within games.

Every game is different with a different set of circumstances. At least so far in 2024-25, the Blue Jackets have been on the short end on the road. They get their first crack at the road post holiday break on Saturday in Boston. We’ll see then if they’ve learned anything from their first 18 games. We’ll also see if some different patterns emerge should their struggles continue.