Three Things That Could Help Turn the Blue Jacket Season Around

They have been good in stretches, but as soon as the momentum turns against them, they’re fighting it big time.

How many times this season have we seen this team blow a lead? Well, in the last 12 games, they’ve held the lead and wound up losing the game 9 times. They have been crushed by momentum swings, often getting pinned into their defensive zone for long stretches of time, only to concede high quality scoring chances, one after another. Again, you cannot pin many goals on their goalies this year. They have been really good, all things considered.

But, this team has played like a fragile group. Once they lose any gained momentum, nobody wants the puck on their stick. This has led to shifts of over 2 minutes on more occasions than I can count, and I would venture to guess that if they could just play simple hockey with the lead, not try to do too much, they could alleviate a lot of their issues here.

Part of that problem is youth. Another part of that problem could be roster construction. This would explain why the Voronkov-Fantilli-Marchenko line is having so much success. They play fast, simple hockey. They’ll get the puck in deep and then go to work – the key here is, they are not trying to force offense when it’s not there.

If you think about it from that perspective: of course Johnny Gaudreau and Patrik Laine are struggling. They’re rush players, ready to counter and get a quick strike goal. This would also explain why Boone Jenner has had success this season, even though he’s been on a line with one or both of these guys most nights. He likes to get in on the forecheck and create havoc down low. Johnny and Patty, well, they do not.

Momentum is incredibly valuable in a fast moving sport like hockey. And, keeping that momentum, sometimes means not trying to tack on a quick goal, or make the home-run pass out of your own end. Sometimes, that means just spending a shift in the other team’s end of the ice, to do nothing but kill minutes off the clock and wear their players out.

I can’t recall a single instance of this team doing that yet this season. And that’s a big problem. We saw this team killed by momentum just last night. They held an 18-9 shot advantage after the first period, then took a lead in the second. After Damon Severson’s first goal of the night, Arizona then had 7 of the next 10 shots, and tied the game up. We see nearly every other team gain momentum off of a goal. So, why does this team lose it? I think I know…

There’s no other way to put it. This team’s defensive zone structure is utterly ridiculous.

Yeah, I said it. It’s the worst defensive zone structure I’ve seen in years. Either the players are not executing it right, or the coaches haven’t seen what’s going on and made an adjustment. But, I can see from a mile away that this team’s own-zone play allows the opposition to possess the puck at their discretion, wearing out Blue Jacket skaters, right up to the point where they can generate the kind of high danger scoring chances that this system is supposed to be built to prevent. It’s too passive.

Come on guys, figure this thing out. In the video above, the first Arizona goal last night, you can see this in full effect. All five Jacket skaters are collapsed in a “home base” defense, leaving the entire outside of the zone wide open. Adam Fantilli fans on a clearing attempt because, well, his only option is to shoot it up the boards … because there’s no support, everyone is collapsed into the front of the net. I can see that. You can see that. The Arizona Coyotes can surely see that.

It’s an easy play to step up and pressure Fantilli, who inevitably turns the puck over. Which is survivable if he has any kind of support up the boards, but he does not. Everyone is in front of the net, and by the time the puck gets there, they’re all tired, get bodied out, and it’s an easy Coyotes goal.

The Jackets have given up 61 goals on the season, and without going back and rolling through tapes, I would venture to guess that somewhere around 40 of them have been on plays almost identical to this one. Turnover. Shot. Lose the battle in front, easy goal.

The worst part about this: it’s not that hard of an adjustment to make. The Boston Bruins have given up the fewest goals in the league (30). They play a very similar style, believe it or not. The traditional “box plus one”; where four guys build a box in front of the net to not allow any cross-ice passing, and one guy pressures the puck. They then release a player from the box as soon as the puck is pressured, to cut off the only passing option; while simultaneously giving them a breakout option.

So why, then, can’t our coaching staff figure out that the defensive zone coverage is the biggest thing killing this team’s momentum? They get pinned into the D-zone way too often, and their entire ability to create rush offense is gone, because there is no breakout option should they actually pressure the puck and get a turnover to go the other way. This is what is leading to this team’s inability to hold onto the lead. It’s unacceptable that they haven’t figured it out yet.

Fixing the defensive zone leads to easier breakouts. Which leads to less momentum against – and, probably, more rush offense. Which probably leads to production from rush savvy players like Johnny Gaudreau, Patrik Laine, (currently demoted) Kent Johnson, Zach Werenski, and Yegor Chinakhov.

Regardless, this team needs to find itself, and really soon. We’re nearing the quarter mark of the season, and they sit 30th in the overall standings (based on points percentage) – with the third-worst goal differential in the league as well. Not good enough.