Columbus, OH -- One game down, eighty-one to go. Winning the first game of an 82 game season is a feel-good moment, for sure. The team stepped up, as a whole, and came together in the absence of some of their core group.
"I thought all of our young guys did a great job," said head coach Todd Richards, "not just Wennberg, not just Dano... I still consider Joey (Ryan Johansen) a young guy. We're the youngest team in the league, so we have a lot of those types of guys."
Richards liked many things about the game versus Buffalo. From the team stepping up and the youth performing up to expectations, to Johansen playing better than maybe they expected and the team playing within their forged identity, it was a good game for Columbus. A trial-by-fire, if you will.
"I like the way that we skated. I thought we skated hard, created some turnovers and put a lot of pressure on them [Buffalo]. And, we had fore-checks. We're a fore-checking team. By our calculation, we had about 48 fore-checks throughout the game."
"We still have to do a better job of getting to the net and creating traffic. We have to do a better job of getting pucks to the net. We had too many blocks and pucks that didn't get through."
How close is the return of Murray?
Defenseman Ryan Murray is still skating with his teammates in anticipation of getting the word that he's good to go. He hasn't taken any heavy contact yet, but seems to be getting closer each day.
"How close is he? I don't know", said Richards. "But I know he's getting closer. I asked him how he's feeling. Early on, there was some hesitation in his answer as he'd think about it for a little bit. There's not as much hesitation now."
"There are some battles that he's been doing, but they're controlled battles. Eventually, we have to get him into situations where it's not controlled. Hopefully, we'll be getting into that stage pretty quick."
Shots on goal increase
There was quite the disparity between the Blue Jackets and their opponents during the preseason in the SOG category. At least for one game they rectified that, putting up 40 shots on Jhonas Enroth in Buffalo.
"I believe it was more of just elevating our compete and battle levels", said Richards. "As I've said, players use the exhibition for timing in certain purposes. They wanted last night. It's what they're waiting for."
"I think that was what I was hoping for, as a coach. To me, they showed that level that they can get to. And when they get to that level, they're a pretty good hockey team. Now, they've set the bar, they've set the standard. Going into tomorrow night's game (vs. NY Rangers), that's what the expectations are."
Avoiding the roller coaster
In years past, the team has started the season riding the roller coaster of highs and lows. They would win a good game, only to plunge down the next game with a horrible loss. They are looking to get started on a more even keel this year in the hope of building upon the success of last season.
"We'll see", said Richards. "I hope so. (Last year) it was that growth we had throughout the season, growing and maturing as a team, understanding what it took to win and understanding the response after a win."
"I think the players started to respect when you win games, because it makes it harder the next day to come out. When you become a hot team, a streaky team, other teams know that. They're ready for you. If you're not ready to come out and perform, they're going to make you look bad and they're going to embarrass you."
