Playoff Takeaways for the Columbus Blue Jackets
Mar 28, 2015; Boston, MA, USA; New York Rangers left wing Rick Nash (61) skates in the offensive zone during the first period against the Boston Bruins at TD Banknorth Garden. Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports
Montreal Canadians vs Ottawa Senators
The Canadians may have won this series but they’re not going to continue if they play like they did. In the final game Carey Price faced 43 shots!! and STOPPED THEM ALL! so the Canadians could walk away with a 2-0 win (essentially a 1-0 win with an empty netter coming with one second left in the game). The Senators and Canadians actually tied for goals scored in the series at 12 a piece. A big part of that was a 5-1 Senators win where the Canadians had 20 penalty minutes! Price was only able to stop 20 of the 25 shots.
The Canadians need to help out Price and not have their playoff hopes rely on him stopping every shot he takes. They need to make sure they’re giving him goal support, staying out of the box and playing solid D so he’s not taking an overwhelming amount of shots, an average of 33 shots per game (a number that has them 2nd worst in the post-season and would have put them 5th worst in the regular season).
For this series I’d like to reflect on the Jackets’ Penalty Minutes woes from this prior season. The Jackets’ averaged about 12 penalty minutes per game this past season, good enough for 3rd worst in the NHL. As a result they gave up 60 Power Play goals (good enough for 4th worst in the NHL). The team can’t put themselves in a hole like this and expect to win. Every game is a dog fight when you’re at even strength, putting yourself at a disadvantage with a man down is just asking to be sent home. A lot of the penalties come from being out of position due to below average awareness or just using it as a way to even out the dis-balance of talent…other times its just straight dumb plays.
The Blue Jackets’ need to fix this. Obviously the Jackets’ played down for most of the season with injuries ravaging their team but they need to play smarter and not put themselves in a hole to dig out of. If the Jackets want to make a serious playoff push they need to simmer down now on the penalties and start playing smarter. In a game where every small advantage matters, the Blue Jackets need to play smart to not put themselves in a SERIOUS disadvantage.
Tampa Bay Lightning vs Detroit Red Wings
The Lightning won this series in 7 games but they could have done it sooner (more rest) if they would have just capitalized on their power plays. In game 2 they went 2-4 on the Power Play on their way to their biggest win of the series, a 5-1 win. Outside of that game…..0-26. EEEKKK! 2-30 for the series is a paltry 6%. Tampa finished the season 14th best with 18.8% and Detroit wasn’t exactly a powerhouse Penalty Kill unit with a 80.9% for the season, middle of the pack at 17th in the season. Sometimes in the playoffs you’re trying to overdo everything, trying to be perfect, you sometimes lose sight of the things you excelled at during the season. Stay true to yourself and press on.
This is where the Blue Jackets had much success this season. They finished 5th in the league with a 21.7% on their power plays. The Blue Jackets need to continue this success if they’re serious about making a playoff push. In their playoff appearance in the 2014 playoffs the Jackets’ jumped their Power Play percent from a 19.3% up to 25.9% during the post season. The drawback, they allowed 2 short handed goals during those 6 games though. They only gave up 8 in 82 games during that regular season. 3 times the amount! This season they dropped that number down to 5. They need to continue this trend in the playoffs and make a conscientious effort to continue the strong power play and NOT over do it to the point they’re giving up back breaking short handed goals when it matters most.
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Stars and Sticks
The New York Rangers vs the Pittsburgh Penguins
It’s hard to look at the Rangers and wonder if that could have been us. Their top two in points were/are Rick Nash and Derick Brassard. Nash scored 42 goals this season and Brassard had 41 assists. How does that happen? How does your face of your team and his running partner go to a different team, in separate trades? There’s lots of build up to what actually happened but in the end it was poor management and a poor understanding of where your team is.
The Jackets need to do a better job of keeping their laundry from blowing in the wind with this new batch and an even better job of striking at the right time. The front office seemed to be at a loss evaluating these trades. Would it be a good fit? Am I bringing the right player in at the right time? The Brassard trade has to be considered a huge step back for the franchise. They turned a young talented player in his 20s for a great early 30s player, Marián Gáborík, to help take the Jackets to the next level. Unfortunately it wasn’t the right time or fit. The Jackets would go on to trade Gaborik to the Kings (less than a year after acquiring him) before making their own playoff appearance. That post season Gaborik scored 14 goals along with 8 assists to help the Kings capture the Cup, meanwhile the Jackets were eliminated in the 1st round.
The Jackets received Luke Adam (that started as Matt Frattin into Jerry D’Amigo), the 34th pick in this upcoming draft, a conditional 7th round pick this draft, Elvis Merzlikins (last year’s 76th pick), and was somewhat responsible for (Rene Bourque, William Karlsson and Ducks’ 2nd round pick this season) along with James Wisniewski. Adam hasn’t done much, spending much of last season with the Rochester Americans, neither has Merzlikins as he spent all of last year playing for HC Lugano in the National League A. So far the return hasn’t looked great but much is still out there to be considered with Karlsson expected to make an impact this season and we’ll see what the Jackets do with the 34th pick.
Either way, to see the Rangers as the heavy favorite to win it all spearheaded by the team you built and always imagined as your own future fulfilling that destiny elsewhere stings both to the organization and as a fan base. The Jackets’ organization needs to play this hand better than how they’ve handled their past business if they don’t want to turn into the laughing stock of the league…or worse…the Montreal Expos of the NHL.
Washington Capitals vs New York Islanders
The Capitals are an extremely talented bunch lead by one of the best goal scorers to ever play the game, Alex Ovechkin. Ovechkin averages 47.5 goals per season as is well on his way to ending up on the career goals scored list. While he still made his mark in the series, 5 points (Only 2 goals, 3 assists) in 7 games, the Islanders held him mostly in check, leaving him with a -3 line. The rest of the team really stepped up. This group is extremely versatile, talented and DEEP.
Where they really stood out to me? The Penalty Killing until didn’t allow a single goal in 7 games!!!! 0-14. Most impressive about this? This team wasn’t that great at it during the regular season, mostly average at 81.2% good enough for 14th best. Their defense really stepped up to get them where they need to be, the 2nd round of the playoffs. This is a perfect example of adapting when a team neutralizes your strengths, which is GOING to happen during the playoffs.
The Blue Jackets’ were 7th worst in the NHL for penalty killing with a 80.2% but more than that, they were 2nd in the NHL for the amount of times shorthanded (30h3! times) compiling on top of the fact that they gave up the 4th most amount of shots against per game. The Jackets need to improve on this if they want to be serious Cup contenders. This of course points at the blueline scarcity. It’s not a mystery from Lost that the Jackets are weak there but it really starts to shine bright when you see how great the rest of the team is.
The Jackets are in a opportunistic position offensively and in the net to stack up against any team right now but they need to be able to rely on the defense. You can’t hope Bob is going to stop every shot when he’s taking the 4th most in the NHL, it’s also not especially fair or smart to put all your eggs on one guy. You can’t always rely on your offense to bail you out, as you can see from some of the best being neutralized. You need to be able to adapt and be versatile to handle what the other team is doing to you and respond back in a successful manner. The Jackets’ need to improve the talent and toughness of their blueline, they need to understand that the defensive zone is your home and you need to protect it. If the Blue Jackets can improve here this team will be a real force to reckon with.
Save the blueline, save the world.
Next: A View Beyond the Ice: Why Do We Care About this Nonsense?