Columbus Blue Jackets Power Play Limping into Playoffs
The Columbus Blue Jackets have become one of the top teams in the National Hockey League this season yet their power play absolutely stinks. Since the turn of the new year, the Jackets’ man-advantage unit has been near the bottom of the league.
Once upon a time, the Columbus Blue Jackets sported a 28% power play conversion rate. Well, that time is long gone. Now the Jackets are struggling to even get shots on their power plays, let alone goals.
After being blown out by the Washington Capitals to end their historic win streak on Jan. 5, the Jackets have been one of the most miserable power play teams in the NHL. Even in the loss to the Caps, the power play woes were very evident. In five power play opportunities, the Blue Jackets converted on zero.
Before that fateful game in the nation’s capital, the Columbus Blue Jackets comfortably held the first spot in the NHL in power play percentage at 27%. The next closest to the then 27-5-4 CBJ was the Tampa Bay Lightning with 23.8%.
Columbus Blue Jackets
Since Jan. 5, the Jackets are at second-to-last in the league in PP percentage, only ahead of the Anaheim Ducks. With a 11.8% conversion rate, there have only been 11 power play goals in 93 chances. Thankfully, the CBJ penalty kill is pretty darn good and has recorded a 84% PK percentage in the time period. By only allowing 16 goals on the PK since the streak ended has helped with not losing a bunch of games.
The Blue Jackets have gone seven games without a single power play goal and have only had four in the entire month of March. Despite the power play being the worst thing ever, the Blue Jackets are 10-3-1 this month. We can thank star goaltender and perfect human being Sergei Bobrovsky for that. Bob is doing everything right and on his way to his second career Vezina Trophy. In March, the Russian is 9-0-1, only allowing 10 goals. That’s a 1.00 goals against average. That’s absurd.
Luckily for the Columbus Blue Jackets, their poor power play hasn’t mattered much since their goal scoring and their goaltending has been top notch. But it might matter in the playoffs. The CBJ’s horrible special team unit may be costly if Bob or the scoring slows down.
Coach John Tortorella has been trying some new things by taking Zach Werenski off the unit to start Tuesday’s game against the Buffalo Sabres. He even put on the fourth line in frustration during a particularly poor advantage.
The Blue Jackets have seven games to figure out their problems while playing on the advantage before the Stanley Cup Playoffs or teams like Washington, Pittsburgh, or Toronto will make them pay for it.