Three Stars and Game in One Picture: CBJ @ PHI

*Sigh*

The Blue Jackets arrived in Philadelphia with freshly activated forwards Boone Jenner, Matt Calvert and Jack Skille and a teaspoon of momentum carrying them after succumbing to the Boston Bruins in an extended round shootout the night before. The Philadelphia Flyers had come in losing their last 4 in a row. Both teams, naturally, desperately needed the pick-me-up of a win against a divisional rival…and the Flyers managed to get it without much fight from the CBJ.

3^rd Star: Jakub Voracek

Jake continues the blistering pace of scoring this season, putting in nothing spectacular yet showing the beauty of what can happen when you put pucks on net. That’s the kind of play that seems to have escaped the Jackets these last few games: the puck luck (or positioning consistency) that lead to weird deflections and juicy rebounds and tip-ins.

2^nd Star: Claude Giroux

Giroux gets a spot above his buddy Jake for his domination of the faceoff dot. The box score says 23/28 went his way and we’re left with another thing the Jackets have let slip. The Jackets lost 85% of their face-offs in the offensive zone, which is laughable compared to Philly’s percentage clocked at 59…59 percent!

1^st Star: Braydon Coburn

Coburn’s late 3^rd period goal was a lawn mower taken to the Blue Jackets’ sprouting rally. It was a brilliant rip from the middle of the slot and how anyone in a white jersey let him get that open speaks to the “casual” nature of game Todd Richards remarked about.

Game in One Picture

Stud: The Cavalry

Man, it’s good to see them again, isn’t it? Jenner’s goal was a clutch tally on the powerplay and Skille and Calvert’s rush down the ice early in the third was a thing of absolute splendor. It’s hard to see the returning names and faces producing like that in their first few games back and seriously say to yourself that the Blue Jackets don’t have a chance to turn it around and salvage the season.

Dud: Faceoffs

The Jackets didn’t have over a 45% tilt at any end of the ice in the faceoff category last night, winning a paltry 15% in the Flyers end and a troubling 43% in their own. (In fact, Philly’s first goal came almost immediately off of the draw.) It’s something I’ve seen breaking down lately and if you can’t win control of the puck you’re not going to give yourself appropriate chances to score. If there’s one thing that I’d like to see immediately change in their game against the Jets on Tuesday it’s the quality of their faceoffs.

We’re reaching a critical point in the Blue Jackets’ 2014-2015 season. We’re in a twilight of sorts here: the Jackets have enough people back that they should be winning games and looking like the Jackets of last year that played solid more nights than not and managed to comfortably punch their ticket to the Stanley Cup Playoffs. However, are the Jackets too far gone? I’d like to think not. Rather, I think the Jackets have a chance to really turn themselves around, starting Tuesday. To me, the outcome of these next 10 games will determine what route I see the rest of the campaign taking: win at a .500 or better clip and I think they’ll be able to regain a foothold.

Or else.

Carry the Flag!