The Blue Jackets face off against Toronto tonight, and David Clarkson is drawing into his first game as a Jacket this season. While Clarkson is going to face his former team, the Jackets, in some ways, are looking to get back to the team they were last season – the one that won 12 of their final 14 games.
“That’s why (our start) is disappointing and that’s why it needs to nipped in the bud here,” Foligno said. “Because we know what we have here but if you let it slip away too long, and you don’t address the issues that are going on, this can drag into a lot longer of a streak and we want to find a way to be the team we envision being.”
For this group, the keys to victory lie in returning to the team executing their systems and not diverging. There’s also a call to return to simple hockey. All lessons that defenseman Dalton Prout says the team has taken from their first four games.
“No matter how much skill you have in the dressing room you still have to execute a game plan and play as a team or else it’s irrelevant,” Prout said.
There were a few small lineup tweaks, mostly on the defensive side of the ice that look a lot like last year.
Prout returns to a pairing with Fedor Tyutin, while Jack Johnson will line up with David Savard. Ryan Murray, who did not have a regular partner last season due to injury, will suit up with Cody Goloubef who will see his first game action of the season.
There is comfort in a lot of those pairings and that familiarity is something head coach Todd Richards is looking for, as are the players.
“(Tyutin) an easy player to play with,” Prout said. “He calls me “Pruuti” (sic) like nobody else. I can recognize his accent over top of anybody else so that makes it that much easier (to feel comfortable on the ice).”
So the challenge is on. The lineup is ready, and Richards wants to see his team play soundly “within the hashmarks” especially considering the style of play head coach Mike Babcock has brought to the Maple Leafs.
“Mike wants to play with the defensemen tight on top in the offensive zone,” Richards said. “We’re going to find times we are stuck in our zone and they are going to be right on top of us and we need to have a little patience and understanding and composure and poise playing with the puck in those situations.”
Puck support is on the mind of the Jackets. Foligno mentioned the importance of getting back hard to support the defense and Prout said the defensive corps is taking it personally to be better saying that it’s not just on the forwards to get back, it’s on the defensemen to “put the puck on their tape.”
The team said they took their lessons from Wednesday’s loss to Ottawa and there was an air of determination after what Richards called “good” morning skate and practice yesterday.
“This is the next ‘most important game’ and we have to understand that there’s no room for error and there’s an urgency tonight,” Foligno said.
Quickly:
- One more team (there are seven currently) will fall from the “winless” list in the NHL tonight – both Toronto and Columbus are seeking their first two point game.
- Richards is not worried about Bobrovsky who has a save percentage of .830 and draws in for his fifth consecutive start. “For two years – I was a bad coach and he made me a good coach just through his play… He’s like a quarterback in football or an ace in baseball that can control the game.”
- Clarkson admitted to not being much of a talker on the ice. The Jackets are hoping to see a return to form of that “rugged, heavy, go to the net style” as Richards described.
- Alexander Wennberg was placed on injured reserve retroactive to Oct 9 (concussion). William “Wild Bill” Karlsson has drawn in his spot on the third line.
- Brandon Dubinsky did not skate with the team but is expected to play tonight. Richards said Dubinsky came to the rink but wasn’t feeling well this morning.
- Kerby Rychel came to Columbus last night, practiced with the team but was returned to Lake Erie afterwards and will draw into the Monsters lineup for their home opener. The luxury of an AHL affiliate two hours away is already paying dividends.
LINEUP
Saad – Johansen – Foligno
Jenner – Dubinsky – Atkinson
Hartnell – Karlsson – Bourque
Calvert – Campbell – Clarkson
Johnson – Savard
Tyutin – Prout
Murray – Goloubef
Bobrovsky
Scratches: Boll, Connauton
Injured: Wennberg, Zaar
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