Columbus, Ohio -- When a top line doesn't perform through their first two games and are then called out by the coach, the response is usually dramatic. The Dallas Stars top line of Jamie Benn (1-3-4, +4), Tyler Seguin (3-0-3, +4) and Colton Sceviour (0-1-1, +3) responded with a combined eight points and had a plus/minus of +11.
Blue Jackets head coach Todd Richards was wary of playing a team that was 'hungry'. It came to fruition Tuesday evening.
"It happened," he said. "They were hungry, came out and put us on our heels. They won most of the battles in the first period."
The Blue Jackets top line of Nick Foligno, Ryan Johansen and Cam Atkinson produced four points and a plus/minus of +2. Despite the two-goal output from Johansen, these numbers stood in stark contrast to the Stars top line.
What's surprising is the lack of an immediate response from Columbus.
"It's what I expected out of Dallas," said Richards. "We just didn't have a response for their top line. They were a hungry team. When the puck dropped, they were hungrier than we were."
After chasing the game for most of the first period, the two second-period goals from Ryan Johansen (career points 100 and 101, by the way) helped to add a little jump to the Blue Jackets bench. Judging by the roar from the crowd, all would seem to be forgiven from the fan base over Johansen's contract saga.
A carryover from last year that they would rather not repeat was when they had a good game-day skate, the Blue Jackets tended to not have such a good game. That would seem to be the case against Dallas.
"I don't know the answer," said Johansen. "They were getting pucks behind us and we were fighting it a little bit."
Forward Jack Skille, in his second tour of duty with Columbus, started the game on the fourth line before Richards started fiddling with his lines in the hope of generating a spark. He played a good portion of the game with Mark Letestu and Matt Calvert, ending the night with four shots, two takeaways and one hit against the Stars.
"I think as a whole, as a team," said Skille, "we did better when we stuck to the little details, whether that was just getting pucks in, getting pucks out or just not turning the puck over. We did a good job of that in the second, but got away from it in the first and third."
There will be more games like this. As much as every player wants to win every game, that just won't happen. What the Blue Jackets want to do is to minimize the times that they have this kind of a game.
It may sound simple, but over the grind of an 82 game season, dud games are bound to occur.
"Some of that," said Richards, "is learning how to win and what it takes to win. This is part of the NHL, getting yourself ready to play."
The Blue Jackets are home on Friday to host the Calgary Flames before taking a four game road trip.
