Getting blanked by Jonathan Bernier is about as frustrating as it gets.
The Colorado Avalanche are without Semyon Varlamov, a guy who usually stymies the Blue Jackets, leaving their backup to try and continue their roll on home ice. Bernier, a journeyman who’s had only moderate success the last few years, pitched a 35-shutout in a game the Jackets failed to show much fight in until the third period.
By then, it was borrowed time. Columbus out-shot the Avalanche by a 17-7 margin in the third period but couldn’t crack Bernier, who sent the Blue Jackets to their fifth loss in the last six road games.
BAD PENALTIES
The Blue Jackets didn’t help themselves by taking penalties at bad times, but Pierre-Luc Dubois’ offensive-zone hooking penalty set up Colorado’s opening goal in the second period. He got away with an earlier penalty when Blake Comeau retaliated and set up a 4-on-4 situation, but the second time, Dubois wasn’t so lucky.
Mikko Rantanen sent a puck on goal from the right circle that redirected off Scott Harrington and past Sergei Bobrovsky, a tough break for Columbus but all the offense Colorado would need. That’s on the Blue Jackets, who didn’t generate much in the first two periods and ultimately paid the price.
NOT OPPORTUNISTIC
Were there chances? Sure, the Blue Jackets had their looks, especially in the third period.
Bernier made a few big saves but there wasn’t enough work for him. The Blue Jackets came and went and had trouble sustaining their attack, at times looking caught in-between their revised style of play and the “safe is death” approach they’ve employed for the last year and a half.
Columbus allowed only three high-danger scoring chances (per NaturalStatTrick) and two of those came in the first two periods. They played an efficient game defensively but, once again, didn’t have enough people going offensively to mount any sort of threat.
BOB WAS STRONG
Bobrovsky gave the Blue Jackets a chance.
Unfortunately, he didn’t get any run support.
A handful of timely stops in the first two periods gave way for a rather quiet third, while the Blue Jackets attempted to dent Bernier at the other end of the rink. Nothing doing, of course. Bobrovsky said post-game that these two games in Dallas and Denver gave him an opportunity to get his game back on track after a two-week stretch of un-Bob-like hockey; he’s given up three goals in two games (yes, he gets charged for the empty net goal) and looks more confident than he did before New Year’s Eve.
POWER PLAY...
(fart noise)
It was bad. Again.
TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE
The Blue Jackets’ third period assault looked more like the team they expect to be: they skated, get pucks below the goal line and checked the puck back with quick reloads.
Columbus had 55 percent of 5-on-5 shot attempts in the game, including a 21-14 edge in the third period. They had 11 scoring chances in the third period after 12 combined in the first and second period.
“We have to do that from the start,” Zach Werenski said of the Blue Jackets’ third-period push. “Those were some good chances we had – we just have to do that for the full 60.”
