Bethany's Hockey Rants

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Comfy in Sixth

by Bethany on 03/25/09 at 12:57 AM ET
Comments (2)

The Jackets are leaving Florida with three out of four points and have a firm grip on sixth place in the Western Conference.

But, let’s talk about the game tonight.

The Jackets looked they were ready to get back to Columbus. They didn’t seem like they cared to be at the game, and really it was a tough game to watch.

And, apparently they had that same feeling at morning skate today.

About 20 minutes into the morning skate in St. Pete Times Forum, Blue Jackets coach Ken Hitchcock brought practice to a screeching halt with the blow of his whistle, summoning all the players to center ice.

What followed was a expletive-filled tirade that could not be printed in a family newspaper, much less a family newspaper’s blog.

Hitchcock did not like the approach to practice, the soft, off-the-mark passes and half-hearted shots on goal. That’s how the coach saw it, anyway. One could surmise that, after giving the Blue Jackets an entire day off on Sunday, the coach was just waiting for a reason—maybe even looking for it—to grab the players attention.

Maybe he didn’t yell enough? I don’t know, I can imagine what was said.

The game was scoreless until the third period when Jan Hejda scored one of the ugliest goals of the season. Then the Lightning were able to score on the power play to tie the game. You could feel from then on that the game was doomed to go into overtime.

Which it did. And, it appeared that St. Louis had scored but it was ruled a high stick so it didn’t count. Then, he ended the game. St. Louis is one of the good guys in the NHL. He is always fun to watch and even though the Jackets didn’t win.

Mike McKenna looked really good tonight. He had some good saves and was able to stop 33 of 34 shots...keep in mind they weren’t all quality shots.

“There’s no such thing as a bad point right now. Not when you’re in a playoff race. We took three out of four points this trip. Yeah, we had a chance to get a fourth point – we could have easily won this game tonight – but it’s a pretty good trip.”

I guess Rick Nash doesn’t mind losing that extra point, so I will try not to dwell on it, but with the way today has gone with their morning skate and then the game tonight. Something has got to give.

Also of note, the Predators and Ducks went into OT today and the Preds lost, pushing the Ducks into a playoff spot, and the Preds out.

The Canucks beat the Stars tonight and are now four points ahead of the Blue Jackets and tied with the Blackhawks.

Filed in: Columbus Blue Jackets, Ken Hitchcock, Rick Nash | Bethanys Hockey Rants | Permalink
Tags: Columbus+Blue+Jackets, Steve+Mason, Tampa+Bay+Lightning,

Comments

I agree. They gave this game away through sheer carelessness. The score could easily have been 5-0 but for their lackadaisical and sometime boneheaded effort. Huselius was positively brutal - he grabs an errant pass and is all alone in the slot...and he skates away! Stop trying to play like the Red Wings and just shoot the puck already! Their passing game is mind-numbingly bad; they look like they expect some kind of reward for putting the puck in the skates of their teammates, rather than on the stick. The Lightning, in their own exquisite awfulness, are just about the only NHL team on which the Jackets can execute a legitimate zone break-out (rather than their usual technique of flinging the puck into the stratosphere and hoping for the best), but it’s all for naught if you don’t shoot it on target. Columbus may or may not make the playoffs this year - with so many divisional games left it is far from certain - but even if they do, their voyage into the post-season will be mercifully short unless they find a way to improve their attack. Based on their power-play performance alone, I wouldn’t bet my mortgage on it.

Posted by drb from Dublin on 03/25/09 at 11:20 AM ET

The Tampa game was one where I could really tell that the CBJ needed a center. Despite all of the issues above, a decent center who could take the million-odd centering passes and take a shot instead of let the puck wander across the middle untouched...that could have won the game for us.

Posted by Tom on 03/26/09 at 05:43 AM ET