Columbus Blue Jackets Offense Continues to Struggle in Loss to Blackhawks
The Columbus Blue Jackets lost their final game of March to the Chicago Blackhawks Friday night. A 3-1 defeat at the hands of the top team in the Western Conference gave the CBJ a 10-4-2 record for the month.
Going into Friday’s game, there were worries that the Columbus Blue Jackets would be in over their heads against the top Western Conference team in the Chicago Blackhawks. In addition to the Hawks’ stellar home ice record, the Blue Jackets were having problems internally.
The biggest issue the the team has faced is their ineptitude on the power play. The CBJ has not just gone cold on the power play; they have lost all knowledge of how to even play on an advantage. Before Friday, Columbus had went eight games without a power play goal despite having 17 opportunities.
After Friday, we can make that nine games without a PP goal. The Jackets had four power play opportunities but could not find the net. The Blue Jackets mostly passed around the puck to one another or chasing the puck into their own end for two minutes against the Blackhawks’ PK unit.
Related Story: CBJ Power Play Limping into Playoffs
What Happened
The game did not start well for the Blue Jackets with Brandon Dubinsky almost immediately sent to the box for Cross Checking. Right off the ensuing faceoff, the puck squirted out to a wide-open Artemi Panarin. Panarin took no time to fire the puck over Sergei Bobrovsky’s shoulder for the game’s opening goal.
In a four-on-four situation near the end of the first period, the CBJ captain Nick Foligno evened the score. Off a Chicago turnover, Sam Gagner dished it to Foligno, who stood in front of the goal. Foligno then flicked the puck through Corey Crawford’s legs to tie up the game.
The Hawks didn’t like that very much and came back with a goal of their own just 22 seconds later. Marian Hossa scored after he and Patrick Kane raced down the ice against Zach Werenski and a chasing Seth Jones. Kane, with the puck, passed to Hossa right before reaching the crease. Hossa held faked out Bobrovsky and netted Chicago’s second goal of the night.
The second period and most of the third was scoreless thanks to the superb play of Sergei Bobrovsky and Corey Crawford. Even in a loss, Bobrovsky made several incredible saves. Those saves would give his team the chance to tie the game again in the third.
With all of their might, the Columbus Blue Jackets fired the puck again and again at Corey Crawford but the Montreal-native held strong to keep everything out of his net. With a minute left, Crawford survived yet another barrage of shots. One particular shot ricocheted off of his pads and bounced to the stick of Patrick Kane. Kane skated up the ice with the puck and threw it to Panarin, who found the empty net for the final goal of the game.
Columbus Blue Jackets
Why It Happened
The power play stinks. Blue Jackets fans sound like a broken record right now when talking about the team, but it’s so true. Now nine games without a power play goal and 0/21 in that time, the team doesn’t even look like they’re improving on the unit. The Blackhawks showed that they can score on the power play, doing it within ten seconds on their first advantage.
Bobrovsky can’t do it all. Although he is the best goalie in the world, he can’t really do anything without goal support and better defense. The defense has been very good for the most part this year but last night wasn’t the greatest showing. Bob only let up two goals but that’s because he was making some great saves against open Blackhawks forwards. Chicago didn’t have many opportunities, but the ones they had, were very clean looks.
Who Is Next
The Columbus Blue Jackets’ next opponent is the NHL-leading Washington Capitals. The two juggernauts will square off at Nationwide Arena in downtown Columbus Sunday evening at 6 p.m. EDT. Both teams will be entering the game off of regulation losses with the Caps also losing Friday night. They fell to the lowly Arizona Coyotes by a score of 6-3. The Coyotes jumped out a 3-0 lead early and kept it on despite Braden Holtby in net for Washington.
Washington and Columbus last met recently with the Caps taking the shootout victory in D.C. on March 23. Bobrovsky stopped 44 shots, only allowing one regulation and one shootout goal the entire night. The Jackets’ offense was unable to get shots on Holtby though, only registering 30 shots.
Where We Stand
In the final meeting between the teams, the Blue Jackets desperately need a regulation win over the Caps. Washington has 110 points, four more than Columbus and five more than the Pittsburgh Penguins. A regulation win for the Jackets would mean staying ahead of Pittsburgh while also being just two points back from first. The Blue Jackets would still need Washington to lose at least one of their four remaining games to have a chance at stealing first. The likelihood of that happening is good with the Caps scheduled to take on Toronto, the Rangers, and Boston in the coming week.
The Blue Jackets will still need to keep pace though in their final four games. Pittsburgh, Winnipeg, Philadelphia, and Toronto are the remaining games for Columbus. All of those may become must-win scenarios depending on what the Capitals do to round out the regular season.
Either way, we just all need to hope that Washington and Pittsburgh loses the rest of their games while the Jackets win the rest of theirs so we don’t have to worry about playing in Toronto in the last game.