Five Thoughts: Blue Jackets Humiliated at Home by the Edmonton Oilers

By Dan Dukart on December 12, 2017 at 10:59 pm
Blue Jackets center Alexander Wennberg helps goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky
Russell LaBounty – USA TODAY Sports
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The Columbus Blue Jackets lost a clunker of a game, falling 7-2 to the Edmonton Oilers at home on Tuesday night.

Typically when I write these analyses, I like to support my thoughts with possession stats and other statistics that may explain a game in a helpful way, for people who saw the game and those who missed it.

For the first time this year, though, I feel like two eyes could not deceive me, and the lack of energy, passion, or urgency cannot be explained. The Blue Jackets were outplayed, plain and simple, by a team that appeared to want to win.

These are five takeaways from a game that could not have ended any sooner:


WHERE WAS THE ENERGY?

Of the last five games I've been to at Nationwide Arena, two of them have been playoff games. I'm not new to this, I would never expect a Tuesday night game against a Western Conference foe rival the atmosphere of a playoff game.

... But boy, that was bad. The team looked like willing participants for much of the game, and were truly outclassed. I can't remember seeing a crowd turn from apathetic to spiteful to absent in such quick order.

It took more than two periods for something outside of a promotional giveaway to get the fans (and the team) excited. Which reminds me...

FOLIGNO FIGHTS

I like to think I'm a complicated hockey fan. I absolutely believe that possession metrics (fancy stats, to some) have a place in hockey. I don't think simply watching a game, no matter how experienced, can tell one everything that they need to know about the game.

On the same token, I don't know how anyone can watch that game and tell me that Nick Foligno's fight early in the third period didn't change the tone and momentum of the game. Was it too late? Clearly. Was it a coincidence that Oliver Bjorkstrand got the Blue Jackets on the board with a goal in the next shift? I contend no.

This team spent the first two periods waiting for something good to happen, and it took the captain throwing punches to finally ignite a spark. 

McDAVID MARVELOUS

A few weeks ago, a few friends of mine and I picked this game off the calendar to attend, and seeing McDavid live was the justification. I'm not giving the Jackets an excuse, but McDavid is clearly a generational talent in every sense. 

He took over the game the way great players do – by capitalizing on opportunities. In one game, McDavid climbed right back into the NHL scoring title race and is within ear shot of Tampa Bay forwards Nikita Kucherov and Steven Stamkos. In his past 12 games, he has 17 points. 

BOBROVSKY YANKED

Sergei Bobrovsky wasn't great tonight, but it's impossible to pin this one on him. His team simply failed to keep the puck away from dangerous areas, and it seemed like he (and Joonas Korpisalo, eventually) was facing odd-man chances at every turn. 

The number of 2-on-1s allowed by the Blue Jackets was appalling. 

It was the first time he'd been pulled from a game this season, and you have to go all the way back to Jan. 24 against the New York Islanders to find the last time Bobrovsky was removed from game action.

TORTORELLA NOT PLEASED

It's hard to blame the guy after a game like that, but clearly John Tortorella has had a hard time getting his message across to the team as of late. His post-game press conference (if you can call it that?) leads one to believe that he grilled into the team pretty good after the game.

If scratching last-season's top goal/point scorer in Cam Atkinson isn't enough to light a fire, I what will? For better or worse, the Blue Jackets are right back at it on Thursday night as they host the New York Islanders. 

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