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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

This Week: 2-1-0, 4 points
Overall: 24-27-9, 57 points (5th division; 14th conference)

Well, some of the dust has settled from the firing of Ken Hitchcock. The Claude Noel Era has officially begun, and Noel now has a 24-game audition to try to land the job on a full time basis. Early returns? 2-0. Not too shabby to start. But, things are going to get a lot harder very quickly.

Tuesday, 2/2 in Colorado – Avalanche 5, Jackets 1 (Box Score) – Highlights
Thursday, 2/4 in Columbus – Jackets 2, Stars 1 (Box Score) – Highlights
Saturday, 2/6 in Columbus – Jackets 4, Sabres 0 (Box Score) – Highlights

Tuesday’s game in Colorado was effectively what sealed the fate of coach Ken Hitchcock. The best coach in franchise history was let go on Wednesday afternoon after a listless effort on Tuesday in Denver resulted in a 1-0 lead turning into an embarrassing 5-1 loss, capped by TWO short-handed goals by the Avalanche on the same Jackets Power Play. There was no effort; no heart; and the team looked positively flat and defeated.

Enter Noel.

It’s early, so it’s hard to say that everything is now fixed. But, after two games in which the Jackets looked like an almost completely different team—more relaxed, more intense, more focused—and brought home two wins, it’s certainly an indictment of Hitchcock’s coaching style having worn down the players and/or the players having tuned him out.

This, again, is not to say that all ills are cured. But, Steve Mason has had two of his best games in recent memory back-to-back after Hitch’s dismissal. Jake Voracek had a solid three assist night on Saturday, and he is one of the young players who has been slumping big-time. Milan Jurcina—often-times a healthy scratch by Hitchcock—has played both of the last two games, and looked like he belongs out there full time. The schedule gets tougher right before the Olympic break, so we’ll see if this can continue.

The biggest thing that I noticed about Saturday’s game is that once Columbus pulled ahead by two goals to end the second period, they didn’t come out in the third and simply attempt to grind the clock down—a Hitchcock specialty—and instead kept the pressure on and quickly made it 4-0. Game over. The other thing that I’ve noticed is that Noel is not afraid to roll all four lines out protecting a lead late (against Dallas late, when the game was 1-0 until RJ Umberger added an empty-net goal with just over a minute left). Hitchcock was notorious for cutting the minutes of the players that he perhaps didn’t trust as much with late leads. Confidence? What?

Finally, with some of the time off between games, the Jackets are making conditioning a bigger part of their practice routine. To me, this is a huge change, as I have felt that with the condensed schedule their conditioning has been a problem. Money quote from the link above: “Noel was asked if he thought his club was in shape. ‘I won’t go there,’ he said.” This can only help if they truly believe they can make a playoff push. I’m not saying I think they can; I’m just saying…

Up Next

There is just one week and three more games until the Olympic break, and since many in the building are still trying to convince the world that they have playoff aspirations, the Jackets need to sprint home. And, those games are at home, which is nice. But they finish with a murderer’s row of San Jose (39-11-9, 87pts) on Wednesday, Vancouver (35-20-2, 72pts) on Friday, and Chicago (38-15-5, 81pts) on Sunday before the break… the top three seeds in the conference right in a row. The Jackets are playing well these past two games, but these three will be a true test of whether they believe they have any realistic shot at a playoff push.

Full Schedule

Team Rankings

Since I haven’t been able to do a ton of game previews so far this year, this new section highlights the different units on the team and compares them to last week, last season, and the league-at-large.

Offense:
Current: 2.57 gpg (19th)
Last Post: 2.58 gpg (20th)
2008-2009: 2.68 gpg (21st)

Defense:
Current: 3.10 gapg (26th)
Last Post: 3.16 gapg (27th)
2008-2009: 2.72 (t9th)

Power Play:
Current: 45-for-221, 20.4% (6th)
Last Post: 43-for-211, 20.4% (7th)
2008-2009: 41-for-322, 12.7% (30th)

Penalty Kill:
Current: 195-for-237, 82.3% (13th)
Last Post: 186-for-228, 81.6% (14th)
2008-2009: 282-for-346, 82.1% (13th)

Technically, improvement in the standings! Woo hoo! In actuality, the offense is still leveled off where it has been for awhile, but a 4-goal explosion on Saturday night certainly looked nice. The important thing is that, after surrendering 5 goals to Colorado and a coaching change, Steve Mason has all but carried the defensive effort himself. If not for a fluky goal late in the game against the Stars, he’d be working on two straight shutouts.

Who’s Hot, Who’s Not

Hot: Steve Mason. With apologies to many players (including last week’s recipient Kris Russell), Mase gets the trophy here. After looking lost for stretches this year giving up soft goals and not looking confident at all, one has to wonder if the coaching change has lifted a weight off of Mason’s shoulders specifically. He’s looked quicker, bigger, and more confident, and has stopped 50 of 51 shots the past two games (and in fairness, the one goal he allowed was fluky as it bounced off two players to get behind him). The Jackets can only go as far as Mason can take them in many cases, and to see him looking like the Mason from last season—if only for two games in a row at this point—is certainly good to see. Mason has also won four of his last six starts, allowing just 13 goals in those six games (and only five in the four wins).

Not: Ken Hitchcock. The last two games, combined with some of the quotes by the players, have been a bit of an indictment of Hitchcock’s style and how it has almost worn the players down to the point where they were no longer truly in the best position to succeed. While no players will come out and say it, and many people—myself included—have many good things to say about Hitchcock and what he has done for this franchise overall, it is looking now more and more like it was clearly time for the team to move on in terms of its head coach and day-to-day work with the players.

Injury Update

The club is nicked up in some spots. Defenseman Mike Commodore is still out with a lower-body injury; forward Fredrik Modin has missed time with a sore foot, still stemming from a blocked shot several games ago (he re-aggravated it recently by, errr, blocking another shot); defenseman Fedor Tyuitin missed Saturday’s game with a sore knee; forward Derek Dorsett has missed the past two games with soreness in his hand from the break he suffered in December. Anton Stalman missed some practice time with a protective boot on his foot, but it is believed it is more precautionary than anything else. Stralman expects to play Wednesday night.

Finally, defenseman Rostislav Klesla is not going to be back until after the Olympic break. Anyone that reads this column weekly will not find that shocking in the least.

Quotes of the Week

I just like the enthusiasm we’ve played with, the energy we’ve shown. You never know what you’re going to get when you make such a dramatic change as we made. Sometimes your team flattens out for a couple of games, and sometimes you get a boost, like we’ve gotten.
–GM Scott Howson

So much has happened in the last two days, (Claude Noel) wanted to free our minds. Don’t carry it onto the ice. When we leave and drive home, he wants us to be proud of our effort. All we talked about today is not too many Xs and Os. It was about doing everything you can on your end.
–Forward RJ Umberger

The message (from Noel) is, figure it out. That is a challenge. It is also trust. The second thing is playing in all different situations, especially some situations you haven’t gone through. … Me and Jake were out there 4-on-4. Jared Boll was out there 5-on-4, for the first time in three years. He worked hard, so it was, ‘OK, go out 5-on-4.’ When you’re a young player, you just feel better when you feel challenged. And you bring a young player’s energy.
–Forward Derick Brassard

To say the Jackets have looked like a totally different team these past two games would be an understatement. They were a minute away from two straight shutouts to kick off the Claude Noel Era. Brassard’s quote sums up the feelings of the team—especially the young guys—better than anything I’ve seen. The guys look more lively, and less afraid/tentative. It’s too early to say the team is “fixed” or what-have-you, but they definitely look more comfortable out on the ice, and less afraid to make a mistake. Gone are the dump-and-chase offense for entire periods, and the sloppy play in the back end (well, mostly gone, anyway). The post-game interviews have been happier. The team looks more relaxed and more comfortable. And that alone is a step in the right direction.