The Jackets closed out the pre-season with yet another victory, this time with a 3-2 result over a dominant Nashville side. Their pre-season record finishes at a sparkling 7-1 – which may hide some underlying concerns. I’m not going to bother posting highlights for this because, quite frankly, I don’t want to relive this experience any more than I have to.
Yes, the Columbus Blue Jackets won the game 3-2. That’s very good! But it’s how they did it that really has me questioning what the regular season may look like. The team dressed almost a full opening night line-up. Granted, they were missing three top nine forwards. You know, the RFA and the Wonkys, Back and Hand. Depending on who you ask and how #dire they want things to sound, those three forwards may even be the team’s first line! And the team did get good performances from a couple of players, including a couple rookies on the bubble, and a two-goal burst from Nick Foligno. But while the result was satisfactory, the process is lacking.
For much of the game, Columbus was on it’s heels, chasing the puck and allowing Nashville to dictate play. It didn’t help that the Jackets took seven minor penalties – many needless – to the Preds’ four. The third period was, to put it bluntly, an atrocity. Through the second period, shot attempts were 29-22 in favour of Nashville. In the third period? 20-9 for Nashville. Yes, score effects may have played a part – it was 2-1 and 3-1 for parts of the period – but while it’s “only pre-season”, the game was reflective of almost every game Columbus has played throughout the pre-season, and even into last season. Once the team gets a lead, it collapses. Trap mode, defensive shell, prevent defense, whatever you want to call it – it is NOT something that becomes the team. After the game, head coach Todd Richards mentioned that he was “a little concerned” with the play. Getting your asses handed to you for nearly an entire game, and especially getting handily beat down as the Jackets were in the third, is something that he damn well better be concerned about.
It wasn’t just a couple of bad performances, although there were some of those. It was a team-wide, systematic failure to generate any sort of pressure and avoid being hemmed into their own zone. I’d commented on twitter about Jack Johnson and David Savard, who were having a solid game, besides an awful Savard powerplay gaffe which lead to an Eric Nystrom shorthanded goal. The numbers backed it up, as the pairing had a 75% Corsi For [+9 For/-3 Against] after two periods. In the third period? 15.3% [+2/-11]. That’s nightmare fuel. The pairing of James Wisniewski and Tim Erixon were generally dogshit in this game as well, getting trounced to the tune of 26.1% and 33% CF, respectively.
Missing key forwards is going to wreak havoc on systems and depth. I understand this. But this is not a depth concern. This is a tactical failure which needs to be addressed. I will touch more upon this in the Pre-Season Corsi Report piece that I’m working on, which should be out in the next day or so.
Let’s not focus entirely on the negative, though. The Jackets had moments of jump in the game, particularly the line of Nick Foligno, Mark Letestu and Alexander Wennberg. Foligno potted two goals, both on sweet wristshots, while Wennberg lead the team in Corsi For %, with a 72.7% [+8/-3].
Let’s discuss Wennberg a bit more. He wasn’t exactly counted on in his own zone, as he only had two defensive zone starts out of his ten face-off shifts, but he certainly played his part in the offensive zone. He was one of the bright spots in the aforementioned horse poopy third period, as he had but two 5v5 shifts and was +5/-0 on the shot attempt scale. Keep in mind that the team AS A WHOLE only had nine shot attempts in the third. Foligno and Letestu without Wennberg were +0/-7 and +0/-5, respectively. Both of Wennberg’s shifts started in the neutral zone, as well, so he wasn’t getting rosy zone starts. Play was moving the right way when Wennberg was on the ice.
Marko Dano also continued his strong pre-season with a couple of really nice shifts. I worry that he tries to do too much in the offensive zone and neutral zone, which results in some dumb turnovers and giveaways, but he’s certainly got the skill to take on opposing defenders. He finished +7/-13, including a +0/-4 line in the third, but had enough impact offensively that I’ll put him in the “plus” category.
As usual, Matt Calvert had a solid game. He was second on the team in CF% with 55.5% [+10/-8] and, although he took a penalty, had a massive shift out of the box – stealing the puck from Shea Weber and leading a rush which lead to a minute long offensive outburst for Columbus. Calvert did miss some time with an undisclosed injury towards the end of the period, but was back out for the third period. He wasn’t immune to the dogshit-o-meter in the third, however, going +1/-5 there.
The star of the game was Sergei Bobrovsky. He made 45 saves, faced 74 shot attempts, and truly showed that he is ready to start the season. Without Bobrovsky’s massive saves, the Jackets easily get trounced in this game.
I hope we don’t have to type that previous sentence too often in the regular season, but if the team continues to play as defensively lax as they have in the pre-season, I worry that I may.
See you on Thursday for REAL NHL GAMES THAT COUNT AND EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!
– Jeremy
Follow me on twitter. I’ll probably livetweet Thursday’s game whilst being drunk. @307x
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