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Every Tuesday, WFNY’s The 5-Hole brings you up to date with the goings-on of the CBJ…

The Week That Was

Week: 2-0-0, 4 points
Overall: 5-1-0, 10 points (2nd division; t6th conference)

Don’t let the “t6th” fool you: Columbus is off to a stellar start. In the West, there is one team with 13 points (Colorado), four teams with 11 points (Chicago, San Jose, Calgary, and Edmonton), and three with 10 points (Columbus, Phoenix, and Los Angeles). The difference? The Jackets have played only six games. Every other team in that top-eight has played at least seven (Phoenix), and most have played eight or nine. So what does that mean? In terms of points per game thus far on the young season, Columbus (1.667) has gotten off to the best start in the conference. The Jackets have passed their first major test, but it doesn’t get any easier as they again head out to the western time zones for four straight games.

Tuesday, 10/13 in Columbus – Blue Jackets 2, Flames 1 (Recap)
Saturday, 10/17 in Columbus – Blue Jackets 4, Kings 1 (Box Score) – Highlights

The Jackets faced a tough, physical team in Calgary on Tuesday, but were more than able to match the intensity of the Flames. It wasn’t always pretty, but newcomer Anton Stralman and Kristian Huselius notched goals against their former team, and the Jackets withstood having two goals waved off by the officials to hold on for the win.

The theme for this week’s games was that Columbus fell behind 1-0 in the first period both times and had their resolve tested. Both times they were able to rally back and tie it. It was what happened after that that defined this week: the Jackets closed the door on defense, relied on Steve Mason, and were able to force enough action to get the game-winning goals. The Jackets weren’t as sharp on Saturday night, but with the Kings playing their third road game in four days, the Jackets had a decided edge.

Columbus got off to a decent start, outshooting the Kings 6-1 in the early going. But, it was the Kings who got the first goal. Columbus put some offensive pressure on while killing a penalty (more on that below), and almost notched a short-handed goal. Unable to capitalize, however, it left the Kings able to send an odd-man rush the other way. Dustin Brown snapped a shot from near the blue line which seemed to catch Mason by surprise as it trickled through his pads. 1-0, Kings. That was all Mason would give them, however.

Once they put the pressure on and denied the Kings any kind of momentum, LA could not match the Jackets’ defensive pressure. Jason Chimera tied it with less than a minute left in the first period on a rush up the left side. He stopped short, fired a slapper from the left circle, and watched as it smoked by Kings goalie Jonathon Quick high and to the glove side. It would prove to be a huge goal, tying the game at 1 just before the intermission. It wasn’t until late in the second period that Columbus was able to really step on the Kings; on a fluky PP goal by Raffi Torres, they took the lead with about 3 minutes left in the second. They never looked back. Rick Nash’s short-handed goal (on a beautiful move and backhanded shot) in the third put the game out of reach for the Jackets. However, while the offense did manage four goals, including two on the Power Play (one an empty netter, also technically a PP goal), it certainly was not their best effort.

Which is what makes their early record so impressive…

The Jackets haven’t really put a complete game together yet. They were close against Calgary, but they have either had injuries (LA), or a lack of offensive pressure (Phoenix, Vancouver), or some laspses on defense (San Jose). And you know what? They’re 5-1. The sky could be the limit for this team if they can get healthy and really put it all together.

Much like what I wrote last week, the Jackets’ schedule still doesn’t get any easier. They are in Calgary tonight for a rematch with the Flames, and then have three more this week out in the western reaches of the league. On one hand, it’s a brutal four-games-in-six-days stretch. On the other, the Jackets—who must play two road games in each western city this season—are getting some of their tough road trips out of the way now: in their first 10 games, they will have literally already played one of their road games against every team in the Pacific time zone. They play the teams in their division three times each on the road, and those trips are much easier to make (no further west than St. Louis),  so if they can survive this early gauntlet it could pay dividends later in the year with fewer long trips out west.

Up Next

As noted, the Jackets have four games this week out west: tonight in Calgary (5-2-1, 11pts); Thursday in Edmonton (5-2-1, 11pts); Saturday in Anaheim (3-3-1, 7pts); and Sunday in Los Angeles (5-4-0, 10pts). The Jackets then have two days off to get back home and settled.

Full Schedule

Who’s Hot, Who’s Not

Hot: The Special Teams. Don’t look now, but the Columbus Power Play is not longer “god awful” and “abysmal” to start the year. They have five PP goals in 21 chances, good for a 23.8% success rate. That’s good enough for 12th so far on the young season. Five PP goals in 6 games (one PP goal every .83 games), compared to 41 goals in 82 games (one PP goal every .5 games) last season. Part of this is attributed to the additions of Anton Stralman on the point on the top unit, as well as Derick Brassard playing the point on the second unit. In addition to that, the Jackets are getting PP goals from an unlikely source: Raffi Torres has three goals on the season… all on the Power Play. If they can keep this up, it will only make them that much better.

Oh, but it doesn’t stop there. The Penalty Kill unit is actually “hotter” than the PP unit! The Jackets have surrendered only ONE PP goal to their opponents in 24 chances, which is a 95.8% successful kill rate, which is currently FIRST in the league. What more can be said about that? The Jackets even killed off five-for-five on Saturday without top defenseman Jan Hejda. The best part? The Jackets have two short-handed goals on the year… or, one more goal than they actually allowed on the PK. The Kill has been a huge boon for the Jackets’ defensive effort, and if it can continue it will certainly be a big key to their continued success overall.

Not: The top two scoring lines. We noted above that the Jackets’ record in spite of a lackluster offensive performance overall is definitely a plus. However, it would be naive to assume it can continue without a consistent contribution from the top six on offense. Rick Nash has stepped his game up, leading the team in points with 10 points (3G, 7A). But, other than The Cap, the next highest point total from anyone who has played on a top-two line is Kristian Huselius with five points (2G, 3A). The silver lining is that the Jackets have gotten scoring from other sources, with guys like Raffi Torres having three goals and Jason Chimera having two. But, they need folks like Antoine Vermette (1G, 3A), RJ Umberger (2G, 1A), Derick Brassard (0G, 3A) and Jakub Voracek (1G, 2A) to step up.

It’s not time to sound the alarm, yet. Yet.

Injury Update

Defenseman Mike Commodore (groin) is getting closer. The reports coming out of practice are that his groin feels OK, and now the issue is his conditioning. Due to two separate groin problems as well as a flu bug, Commodore has never really had a chance to get into any kind of game shape, and doesn’t want to play until he’s closer. He’s out for tonight’s game in Calgary and most likely for Thursday’s game in Edmonton. He and the team have not ruled out the weekend’s games, however.

The other big blow this week came at the end of the Calgary game, when D Jan Hejda left with a sprained MCL in his knee. The timetable is generally a four- to six-week return. Mathieu Roy figures to get a bunch more playing time in Hejda’s absence. Hejda is by far the Jackets’ best on-man defenseman, and is fourth in the league in overall +/- rating over the past 2+ seasons.

Forward Fredrik Modin (knee) remains on the IR list and is skating, but he’s still a ways away from being activated.

Defensive Quotes of the Week

Last year, (Toronto) wanted me to change my game a little bit. They wanted me to play more intense and tougher. That’s something you can’t change right away. … It feels great to come here (to Columbus) and know they want me to play the way I’ve always played. It feels great to play for a team that believes in you and gives you an opportunity to show what you’ve got.
–Defenseman Anton Stralman, reflecting upon his trade to Columbus.

The groin feels good. The rest of me doesn’t feel so great. It was a tough practice. This is like the third time I’ve tried to get in shape since the start of training camp. It’s not easy. … I have no issue with the groin right now at all, but I don’t want to go out there, be out of gas in the second period, hurt the groin again and be back to square one all over again. If I go out there, I want to know that it’s 100 percent and I can let it go and not worry about it.
–Defenseman Mike Commodore, talking about the rehab of his nagging groin injury.

Stralman is a big part of the Jackets continued defensive success in the absence of both Commodore and Jan Hejda. In addition, his presence on the top Power Play unit has paid some dividends already, and he can be a big key there as well if the Jackets are to continue their improvement on the PP unit.

Cool Rick-Nash-Being-The-Captain Quote of the Week

We’ve got a tight group. We understand we’ve got to follow the game plan. We’ve got to outplay the other teams to win and that’s what we’re doing right now. We’ve been on the other end of the stick. We can’t get too high, because we know this can turn around quick.
–Captain Rick Nash

Have I mentioned I like Rick Nash?