The Columbus Blue Jackets suffer their first home loss of the year and first shutout of the year.
Tampa Bay has handed the Columbus Blue Jackets their first loss on home ice of the season. Andrei Vasilevskly came up huge for the Bolts stopping all 43 of the Jackets shots. Yes, 43 save shutout.
That is an absurd number at any level. The Jackets didn’t have 43 incredible shots on net but you would expect at least one or two of those to find a home. Tampa had an unconscious goalie in net though and thats all you need to win sometimes.
The lack of scoring isn’t entirely concerning though. Sometimes you run into brick walls. The Jackets manufactured enough good offensive opportunities in the second and third periods that would produce goals on 98% of nights.
Columbus Blue Jackets
What is concerning is that the CBJ came out unbelievably flat in the first period. They were run up and down the ice by the Lightning who imposed their will for the first 20 minutes. Sergei Bobrovsky came up big time in the first and the Jackets were lucky to hit the first intermission only down one goal.
The slow start to the game is something that we have seen recently but it hasn’t mattered since the Jackets end up winning. Against an elite team like Tampa, slow starts are not acceptable. It’s next to impossible to start an NHL game in the second period like the Jackets virtually did.
Power Play is Still Bad
The Columbus Blue Jackets went 0-3 on the power play against Tampa. That drives the power play to 0-18 since the Zach Werenski goal in the first man advantage situation.
This is bad folks. This will not get the job done in any scenario. Last night was the exact situation where a team needed a power play goal. The team was in desperate need of just one goal to have a chance to pull the goalie. But the power play looked lost and the comeback was not to be.
The power play will get better. It has to. It is harder for a power play to be this bad for a long time then for the CBJ to get lucky once in a while and have a shot go in the net. But there have been no signs of improvement.
Related Story: Power Play Problems Continue
I’m not hitting the panic button yet, but the button is out on my desk and my hand is ready to hit it.
Overall a tough game against the best team in the NHL thus far and a goalie who stood on his head. On to Los Angeles.