Columbus Blue Jackets Power Play Woes Continue Despite Changes
It’s no secret that the power play for the Columbus Blue Jackets has been weak sauce lately. They’ve been trying out some new lines and I’m here to break them down.
At a practice on April 3, the Columbus Blue Jackets rolled out two different lines on the power play. They continued with those lines into Tuesday’s game against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Though unsuccessful, they only had one attempt.
The first line consisted of Seth Jones, Alexander Wennberg, Cam Atkinson, Oliver Bjorkstrand, and Nick Foligno.
The second ran with Markus Nutivaara, Sam Gagner, Brandon Dubinsky, Brandon Saad, and Boone Jenner.
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Upsides
There are certainly some bright spots to these combinations. Seth Jones for starters, is great on the blue line offensively. The rest of the first line makes pretty good sense. It’s definitely a tough hole to fill, missing Zach Werenski but I like Wennberg. Our buddy Lansing Murphy told me he thought Nutivaara belonged on the first unit but I like the composition.
Boone Jenner is an interesting choice for that second unit but he does have one huge redeeming quality. He ranks second on the Blue Jackets in shots with 203. He’s one of two players with over 200 shots and trails only leading point-getter, Cam Atkinson. Whenever you’re in a slump as a team or individual, the advice usually reads something like this, “Shoot, shoot, shoot.” The Jackets did not end up using Jenner on the power play against the Penguins, but instead opted for veteran Scott Hartnell. He is ninth on the team in scoring and brings some solid grit to an otherwise squishy second line.
Try Something New
My biggest problem with these line combinations is that the coaching staff went down the line of best scorers and threw those guys on. There hasn’t been much success in a while on the power play and I think they should do two things: Look for chemistry, and try new things.
Personally I would’ve liked to see Sonny Milano get a shot last night. He had two shots in just under twelve minutes of ice time, but was a solid scorer for the Cleveland Monsters. I also think Jack Johnson would’ve been a good pick for that second unit instead of Dubinsky or even Saad.
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Ticking Clock
The Columbus Blue Jackets have three more games before the postseason and the offense as a whole has been in a major slump. There’s no better way to get out of some slump and gain confidence than scoring goals. The power play could definitely be the catalyst that Columbus needs to spark that offensive bounce back. But they’re going to have to find a way to get something going.