COLUMBUS, Ohio – The score tells the story. The 0-3 Columbus Blue Jackets suffered a devastating loss to the 2-1 Ottawa Senators, 7-3. For about a period and a half, the Jackets looked like the team fans had been waiting for since last year, matching the Sens goal for goal. It all fell apart by the time the third period started. The Jackets gave up five unanswered goals starting at 9:32 of the second period. Instead of “Carrying The Flag”, it was if the Jackets had raised the white one and started waving it.
“We changed the way that we played,” said Coach Todd Richards said. “Something happened after the first period. We went out and tried to become a different team, and it leads to turnovers, breakdowns and easy goals for the opposition.”
The Jackets drew first blood with a power play goal at 12:16 by Brandon Saad, with assists going to Nick Foligno and Brian Johansen. The Senators tied the game with a sniper type shot from the point by Marc Methot, assisted by Mika Zibanejad and Eric Karlsson.
At 18:58 Boone Jenner put the Jackets back in the lead 2-1.
The first part of the second period looked like a continued arm wrestling mach from the First Period, where you had two guys going back and forth with no one going over the top.
Ottawa’s Milan Michalek tied the game at 1:44. The Jacket’s would strike back with Brandon Dubinsky finding the back of the net at 4:34 making it 3-2.
Then the flood gates opened. At 9:32 Kyle Turris tied the game 3-3 with the assist going to Mark Stone. Mika Zibanejad would score at 17:21 getting his second point of the night and giving the Senators the lead going into the Third Period.
The third period was really strange. The Jacket’s defense was nowhere to be seen, and there was a severe lack of hitting, or any kind of effort. Ottawa’s Jean-Gabriel Pageau lit the lamp at 1:45 making it 5-3. Mike Hoffman would further Ottawa’s lead at 9:12 making it 6-3 Ottawa. The next goal looked weird. At 15:55 Bobby Ryan would score an empty net goal making the final score 7-3. There was less than five minutes left in the game and the score wasn’t even close. What was Sergei Bobrovsky doing on the bench?
In retrospect, it seems that the team is going through changes and an identity crisis.
“We’ve obviously lost (our identity) somewhere along the way,” captain Nick Foligno said.
The Jacket’s have many problems to fix and it’s only the beginning of the year. How does Coach Richards find a solution to an 0-4 start?
“It’s trying to find solutions, and it’s not just one thing,” Richards said. “Based on the way we played the first period, it’s there. There are segments where it’s there, but we just can’t stay with it. We’re trying to find the identity, because right now, we don’t have any idea what we need to be.”
Only time will tell what that identity is.
You must be logged in to post a comment.