As the 0-6-0 Blue Jackets prepare to face the 3-1-1 New York Islanders tonight, perhaps Jack Johnson summed up best where the team is at.
“I think it’s a matter of trying not think at this point,” Johnson said. “There have been pretty of things said, plenty of things written, at some point you just have to try to block all that out and try and play hockey.”
That is the same thing that head coach Todd Richards hopes the team can do to. Speaking to the assembled media after the morning skate, Richards reiterated the challenge to return to basics, trust the system and play as a “group of five.”
Richards said he has made slight systematic changes as part of what the coaching team is trying to do – figure out what the team needs. And that figuring is constant – Richards said in good and bad situations his brain “rarely shuts off” but while he’s churning away on hockey thinking, what he’s not focused on are the rumors of movement regarding potential change to the roster or coaching team.
“I know it’s there, I just don’t pay attention to it,” Richards said. “It’s going to happen, it’s part of what we do…it’s part of the profession…it’s just about us getting better.”
Other changes that revealed themselves in the morning skate were within the forward lineup. Brandon Dubinsky was back after missing yesterday’s practice due to illness. Rene Bourque also returns to the ice, as does Alexander Wennberg who had not played since the season opener Oct. 9 when he took a hit to the head from New York’s Chris Kreider.
Cam Atkinson, Jared Boll and Kerby Rychel were announced as the healthy scratches, and to honor the NHL roster limit, Rychel has been assigned back to the Lake Erie Monsters. That I-71 corridor is already coming in handy.
Curtis McElhinney will start in net for his second straight game. Richards said he “earned another opportunity to play.”
At this point, the Jackets just need to find a way to get that first win. It will come, but while the guys like Boone Jenner will attest to still having confidence in their group, the toll of not winning is now another obstacle to overcome.
“The guys in there they care, they know where they’re at they know the hole that we’re in and it bothers them,” Richards said. “And you can see it. It bothers them to a point that it has a negative effect. What I mean by that the pressure and the feeling drains their energy and that’s another thing you’re combatting. And the best thing to do is, again, play as a group of 5, execute the systems and play it hard.”
QUICKLY:
- Today is Richards’ birthday. Said it would be “pretty nice” to get a win as a gift
- Tonight is Hockey Fights Cancer night – players will wear commemorative purple jerseys for warm-ups that will later be auctioned off
- Watch for introductions of this year’s pediatric cancer heroes throughout tonight’s game
- The Blue Jackets participated in their annual visit to Nationwide Children’s Hospital yesterday. Boone Jenner said a little inspiration from that visit will carry into tonight’s game: “It was touching for sure, seeing (the heroes) will be a boost tonight.”
LINEUP
Jenner – Johansen – Foligno
Hartnell – Wennberg – Saad
Calvert – Dubinsky – Clarkson
Karlsson – Campbell – Bourque
Johnson – Savard
Murray – Goloubef
Tyutin – Prout
McElhinney
Scratches: Atkinson, Boll, Connauton
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