Columbus Blue Jackets Staring Down the Barrel: Shark Bait?

The Columbus Blue Jackets start their California swing with a swim in San Jose.

Nothing like a 2,095 mile flight to get a 5-3 loss to the worst team in hockey out of your head. Or at least that’s what the Columbus Blue Jackets hope the flight to San Jose will help them do.

They better get that game out of their heads because if they don’t reset and focus, the talented San Jose Sharks are going to run them out of the building.

Ahead of the San Jose matchup I sat down with Steve Fishman from BladesofTeal.com covering the Sharks. Steve and his team do a great job covering the Sharks so be sure to read up on the Sharks over on BladesofTeal.com.

Now, onto the questions.

Lansing Murphy (LM): How have the Sharks looked this season? How was October for the team?

Columbus Blue Jackets

Steve Fishman (SF): The Sharks have LOOKED great this season, save for maybe two or three games, including two nights ago at home against a pesky New York Rangers squad. The Sharks are among the league leaders in a lot of the important fancy stat categories. According to Natural Stat Trick, they’re top three in Corsi For% and second in the league in high danger scoring opportunities. Just by watching them, you can tell that they look great and are going to be a really good team this season.

However, looks can be deceiving. The Sharks have lost some games they had no business losing this year. Both losses to the New York Rangers came in OT and a shootout. They dropped one in New Jersey in which they outplayed the Devils for 60 minutes as well. The Sharks are the type of team which sometimes plays to the level of their competition. This has been a thing with them for a while now.

October was…weird for the San Jose Sharks. Lots of moving parts with this team, they had issues with their power play at first but that is just now getting settled, and they’re still figuring out what to do with Erik Karlsson.

LM: Speaking of Karlsson, how is he settling in the lineup?

SF: How is Erik Karlsson settling in the lineup? You know Lansing, this is a very loaded question!

There has been some controversy surrounding Karlsson of late. Some articles were written about Karlsson under performing which sent Sharks Twitter and the blogosphere ablaze. On the surface, it he hasn’t looked great. He has seven points, none of them goals, and he’s had some games where he’s just disappeared.

But when you delve deeper, Karlsson has been really good, he’s probably the best driver of possession this team has. He’s has 52 Neutral Zone Starts, and 35 Offensive Zone Starts (Natural Stat Trick), and is constantly involved in scoring plays for the Sharks. He just hasn’t lit the lamp just yet. And the coaching staff has him moving from pair to pair.

When Karlsson is paired with Marc-Edouard Vlasic, they’re possibly the best pairing in all of hockey. Their fancy numbers are off the charts.

But now the coaching staff has EK65 paired with Brendan Dillon, I think as an attempt to get Karlsson going, as Dillon isn’t exactly an offensive juggernaut. And he’s been struggling to find his role on the power play too, with Burns on the same unit, but they are finally starting to figure it out.

There are differing opinions on Karlsson from some bigger name bloggers/writers. Some say he’ll figure it out, some say he’ll never be the same due to his ankle injury. I’m in the “he’ll figure it out” camp. You can just tell he will. He’s too good not to.

LM: Where does this Sharks team match up best agains the Columbus Blue Jackets?

SF: I’d say this Sharks team and the Blue Jackets are pretty similar. With their best players probably being their defensemen.

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I think, when healthy, Seth Jones and Zach Werenski are one of the premier defensive pairs in the NHL. That’s a hot take, but I think that much of Seth Jones.

That guy Artemi Panarin, he ain’t too bad either.

But where the Sharks matchup best with Columbus is their depth. San Jose is much deeper than Columbus is, and the Blue Jackets are going to have a hard time with the Shark’s bottom six.

LM: What scares you most about this Columbus Blue Jackets team?

SF: Artemi Panarin, and oh, what’s his name, Poplinski?

LM: How does tonight’s game play out?

SF: The Sharks have a little bit of revenge on their minds, considering they played so poorly against the Rangers. Timo Meier has been absolutely ON FIRE. He’s had six goals in his last five games, and is on a nine game point streak. Look for more of that tonight against CBJ. I think the Sharks win it 4-2 at the ‘Tank.

Next. 3 Stars of the Month for October. dark

Thanks again to the hilarious Steven Fishman. Not only is he a fun writer, he makes knee slapping predictions too!

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