When a team struggles like the Blue Jackets have this season, a lot of searching takes place. The coach is searching for a solution to get his team back on an even keel. The players may be searching for confidence in their game. And the fans are searching for someone to blame.
It's a cycle that, at times, may seem endless. It's easy to say that the players need to play harder or skate faster. It's a knee-jerk reaction to a team's struggles. In reality, even when a team is doing well, they want to be better.
One position that is under the microscope every game is that of the goaltender. They can keep their team in a game and give them a chance to win, which many times will involve standing on one's head, to us the vernacular.
In goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky's first season in Columbus, he did just that on his way to winning the Vezina Trophy in 2013. Fairly or not, the way that he played that season is the standard to which he is held every time that he takes the ice.
His work ethic is second-to-none and he takes the concept of 'team' very seriously. For him, a win is never about him; it's all about the team doing well. Conversely, when the team loses, he will take it upon himself to shoulder some of the blame.
"If I look at Sergei's game right now," said Blue Jackets goaltending coach Ian Clark, "to me, we're at a point where you hear 'your one quick solution for success is your goaltender'. If the goalie stands on his head, you've got a chance to win any game. So, that's a quick solution."
There have been mistakes and missteps along the way, not to mention being placed on Injured Reserve with a fractured finger and missing eight games.
"I think he's definitely made some mental mistakes; obviously the goal against Boston that was part of their comeback in the third period. I thought he made a mistake on the goal in Philadelphia where he lost his stick. He didn't make a mistake in the loss of his stick, but I thought he could have handled that situation better."
"A lot of the goals that have been scored on him... we as a group, from our goalie on out, have to find a way to commit to a higher standard of team defense."
Quick solutions have a way of being nothing more than a temporary fix, a band-aid, if you will. But expecting your goaltender to stand on his head the rest of the way is unrealistic. Delve a little deeper and you will find that Bobrovsky is not that far off the pace that he was on last year at this time.
"Last year at this same time, he had a bit of a slow start. There were specific areas of his game that we were targeting as needing work. Sergei and I do reviews after every game and we evaluate... not every shot, but probably the equivalent of 30 clips a game or more."
"We examine it, we study it and we see if we are on target with the hallmarks of your game. When I say hallmarks, I mean the very same hallmarks from the Vezina year. I think we're real close to where those hallmarks are."
He has a save percentage of .911 and a 2.95 goals against average through the first two months. Breaking it down by month shows that there isn't much difference between last year and this season.
This October, his SV% was .908 and had a 2.81 GAA. Last year in October his SV% was .916 with a 2.60 GAA. Not much difference between the two, really. Looking at this month, his SV% is 9.14 with a 3.16 GAA, compared to last November's .896 SV% and 3.00 GAA.
Ian Clark works daily with Bobrovsky, and backup goaltender Curtis McElhinney, in an effort to minimize mistakes. He has not found any glaring issues with Bobrovsky's game, just little things to work on in order to get better.
"Really, there are four ways that goals are scored. Goals are scored off the rush. Goals are scored in traffic. Goals are scored around the net and rebounds, scrambles, those types of things. If I evaluate his play in those areas, I don't see any significant issues in those areas."
"He's very stable off the rush. For me, he's taken a big step this year in how he's managed traffic; his aggressiveness and how he searches in traffic. He's always been an athletic, competitive goalie."
Bobrovsky hasn't "stolen" a game for the team since they were on the west coast road trip in October playing against the San Jose Sharks. The Blue Jackets won that game 5-4. And yet, Clark knows that the net-minder can't do that every game. It will take everyone pulling together and gaining confidence.
"In San Jose, he stood on his head and we ended up on the right side of that score. You're not going to win many games in this league giving up three to five goals a game. It's a collective commitment we all have to make, including our goaltender, to prevent that."
"When he makes a mental mistake, it ends up in the back of our net. When other guys make mental mistakes, they don't have that same (consequence). That's part of the business of goaltending."
In 13 games this season, Bobrovsky is 5-7-1 while the team is 6-13-2. You can sense the lack of confidence surrounding the team and the hesitation in their game right now.
"Is everybody on a little bit of a mental edge because of where we're at... probably. And does that affect goaltending... probably. I don' think his hand (broken finger) has hurt him from the standpoint of stopping pucks. But it has probably set him off (his game) a little bit."
When Sergei Bobrovsky is 'on his game', the guys in front of him gain a little bit of confidence and have a little bit of swagger to the way they play. It's infectious and helps to breed success, which they haven't seen too much of this year.
"Your goalie is one of your leaders," Clark said. "They have a responsibility to not only make saves, but they have a responsibility to help inspire the group. If you go back to last year or even the Vezina-winning year (2013), there was a huge inspiration from him to the group. They could go out there, unabashed, and play the game of hockey."
"But right now, I think that everybody is on a little bit of an edge. For me, as the goaltending coach, I look for our goalie to be the guy that steps forward and to lead that charge."
And at the end of the day, that will produce more wins to help get them back to playing the right way. That's what they really want. It also leads to another tradition that has become a staple of winning games... more hugs.
