Out of the mouths of babes.
Seven-year-old Ellie Maetzold (daughter of FoxSports Ohio rinkside reporter, Dave Maetzold) attended today’s morning skate. After being noticed by head coach John Tortorella in his presser, it took Ellie – who was proudly wearing a number 47 jersey – all of two seconds to ask why defenseman Dalton Prout wasn’t playing tonight.
After a hearty peal of laughter from the assembled media, Tortorella answered the question on the defenseman who was benched for the second half of Wednesday’s game and will not play when the Jackets face Pittsburgh this evening.
“He’s had a little bit of struggle within the game,” Tortorella said. “He’s taken some bad penalties. I’ll tell you Ellie, he’s an easy guy to pull for. Because he works hard, he’s a great kid. He’s just had some struggles in the game so he’s going to sit and watch for a little bit and hopefully we can get him back in and he’ll step right in and play well.”
Replacing Prout is the recently recalled Justin Falk. Falk played five games (1-1-2) with Columbus last season after being acquired in a trade that sent defenseman Jordan Leopold back to his hometown Minnesota Wild.
Falk had played 15 games this season in Lake Erie with the Jackets’ AHL affiliate earning two goals and two assists along with 24 penalty minutes.
Falk joins a pairing with another recently recalled defenseman, Andrew Bodnarchuk who has played the last two games with Columbus after being out of the NHL since playing five games with the Bruins during the 2009-10 season.
While there has been a coaching change with Columbus, both defensemen have seen that the intentional similarities between the NHL and AHL club still exist and have eased their transition.
“We’re keeping a lot of the same neutral zone stuff in tact,” Bodnarchuk said. “(The) defensive zone is slightly different so that’s not a huge adjustment. I feel like the transition as far as systems has been pretty smooth.
There hasn’t been a lot of study otherwise for either player. And that is by design.
“(Assistant coaches, Craig Hartsburg and Brad Larsen) show them the foundation of the team concept,” Tortorella said. It’s such a tough position you just need to allow them to play and understand our foundation.”
In addition to the defensive changes, there was one swap on the forward lines. Brandon Saad and Nick Foligno have changed lines in a move that Tortorella hopes sparks offensive production from multiple lines.
On Wednesday versus New Jersey, no points came from the top line of Boone Jenner, Ryan Johansen and Brandon Saad. The line of Cam Atkinson, Brandon Dubinsky and Matt Calvert generated two points, while two of the four assists awarded came from defensemen.
“It’s getting another line playing instead of Dubi’s line because they didn’t play the last game, I couldn’t find them,” Tortorella said. “Dubi’s line was the line that did most of the forechecking and created the offense that we got. So we’re trying to see if we can ignite something.”
The other thing that Tortorella hopes to see with Pittsburgh in town is a return to form mentally as far as how the Jackets played against the Penguins when they last met Nov 13 in a game Columbus won 2-1.
There was more explanation of Tortorella’s sloppiness comments that were made Wednesday after the Jackets beat the Devils 2-1 in a game that included a lackluster second period that, as Tortorella described the last minute and twenty seconds : “(we got a couple of shifts…we score a goal and we don’t have a clue in the last minute twenty. We gave up five scoring chances in the last minute 20 of that second period.
Tortorella’s thoughts on the root cause?
“I’ll put it into a general term we don’t have a clue how to handle momentum, when it’s on our side, when it’s against us, how you get it back when it’s going the wrong way,” Totorella said. “I’m not talking x’s and o’s I’m just talking about preparing and concentrating and understanding what’s going on around you in your environment as far as the momentum of the game.”
Totorella did point to progress in goaltending, better play away from the puck, and, at times, team hardness – but doing it period in and period out is what remains to be established.
“I think in a number of situations we’re playing well but we’re not consistent enough,” Tortorella said. “It is not a habit, it is not an instinct. And that’s what we’re working on: to say ‘yeah that’s us.”
QUICKLY
- Ellie Maetzold seemed satisfied with Tortorella’s answer – she said “ok” when he checked with her after he gave his answer to her question.
- Speaking on the team’s faceoffs, Tortorella pointed to key faceoffs that Ryan Johansen took on the penalty kill as an example of some the tweaks the coaching staff is making.
- Bodnarchuk on Pittsburgh: “no secret that they’ve got a lot of weapons on their team so we’re going to have to be really tight defensively and take care of the puck.”
- Cam Atkinson, who hobbled off the ice last in Wednesday’s game after blocking a shot, participated in a full practice today and seemed no worse for wear.
LINEUP
Jenner – Johansen – Foligno
Calvert – Dubinsky – Atkinson
Hartnell – Wennberg – Saad
Campbell – Wennberg – Rychel
Johnson – Savard
Murray – Connauton
Bodnarchuk – Falk
Bobrovsky
Healthy Scratch: Prout
Injured: Boll, Bourque, Clarkson, Goloubef, Tyutin
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
