It was really two entirely different games. Unfortunately for the Columbus Blue Jackets, they came up empty in both ends of the home-and-home weekend just completed with the Pittsburgh Penguins. But they arrived at the two losses in completely different ways, one acceptable, the other not so much.
Let's put it in GPS terms. On Friday, the Blue Jackets had no trouble navigating their offense through downtown traffic (aka the Penguins net), peppering Marc Andre Fleury with 39 shots on goal. Heck, for major stretches of the game, it looked as though the visitors had taken up permanent residence in Pittsburgh's Market Square. The problem was that Fleury was a brick wall, playing spectacularly well in stopping 37 of those shots in the Pittsburgh 4-2 win. He literally stole the victory for the Penguins.
Fleury wasn't the brick wall on Saturday, in the second half of the home-and-home series. He wasn’t even in the game. No, this time the wall was built around Penguins backup starter Jeff Zatkoff, playing in only his third NHL game. As often as the Blue Jackets were able to get through traffic in the Pittsburgh d-zone Friday, they ran into what looked like a combination of roadblocks and detour signs in the 3-0 loss at Nationwide Saturday. Pittsburgh's defensive coverage was efficient and effective, and the Blue Jackets just couldn’t get to the Arena District often enough.
Looking back on the Saturday home loss after the Blue Jackets practice Monday morning, Columbus forward Brandon Dubinsky was quick to give credit to the Penguins game plan but also thinks his team’s inability to create offense was in part self-inflicted.
"I think it was a combination," he said. "They played better, I thought, and came harder at us on Saturday and made it tougher for us to get through traffic and bring pucks to the net the way we did on Friday. But we didn't do a good enough job getting pucks deep, getting a sustained forecheck and bringing those pucks to the net and creating those opportunities for ourselves."
Dubinsky, one of the leadership corps in the Blue Jackets locker room, thinks a significant reason his team was so successful generating chances in the offensive zone Friday but had so few results Saturday comes down to consistency.
"For me, what I see in our team, the most important thing is having that consistency and that preparation and making sure that game to game, period to period, and shift to shift, we're prepared to go out there and we know exactly what our job is, and we’re prepared to go out there and work.
"And when things go our way, we don’t get satisfied," he continued, "and when things aren’t going our way, then we decide to do something. It's about being a good professional, never being complacent, and always trying to expect the best out of yourself and out of your teammates."
Although the season is still relatively young, it’s not that young. At 5-8-0 through the first 13 games, the Blue Jackets need to make a move in the standings soon to be a viable playoff contender. Everyone knows about last year’s amazing stretch of 19-5-5 to close out the season. The problem was the 5-12-2 start made the hole too deep, and the playoff push fell short.
Dubinsky agrees the remainder of this home stand is the right time for his team to start to play like a playoff contender.
"You know, we’ve got to be ready. We had a great practice today (Monday). It's about getting better every day and developing that consistency. Guys came in today with a good attitude and a good mindset.
"Hopefully we can carry some of that confidence that we were able to build today into the game against Ottawa and realize the situation that we’re in. Make sure that we’re ready to play off the start and we take it shift by shift, and every time we jump over the boards just be ready to play."
Translation: Figure out a way to battle the traffic and get downtown.
