It was a slump he couldn't figure out.
After an impressive rookie campaign that saw him finish with 48 points, Pierre-Luc Dubois was in the midst of an encore this season, tallying 23 goals and 30 assists for 53 points in the first 61 games. The 20-year-old center was on the verge of becoming a point-per-game player.
In 13 games following the trade deadline, Dubois notched just one assist. One measly apple. He was largely playing well, but was clearly frustrated.
“It was like I was cursed or something,” Dubois said following his team's 5-0 win in Vancouver. “I looked the scoring chance sheet after five or six games and I was third or second on the team and you know, how do you not get a point out of all of this?”
Sunday night against the Canucks, Dubois got on the board early with an assist on Josh Anderson's goal to open scoring in the first period. Then, he finally potted one, scoring his first goal since February 23 with a wrister 56 seconds into the middle period to put the Blue Jackets up 2-0.
It was a beauty.
It was Dubois' first multi-point night since getting a goal and an assist at Chicago February 16. The slump, now dead, is one that he hopes to put in the rearview.
“I've never been in a slump like that,” Dubois said. “I've been in a slump where I wasn't playing well and not getting points and I didn't wonder why [he wasn't scoring], because I wasn't playing well. This was a slump where some games I was playing really well and I was getting chances but not scoring. I started to get frustrated and wondered if it was a joke, like what's going on?”
With the Blue Jackets fighting for a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, they'll need a confident Dubois in the final seven games of the regular season.
“When Luc scored his goal, then he started making plays,” Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella said. “He started carrying the puck, beating people. He just looked so much more confident. It's a game that's in your head. It's amazing what happens when you regain some sort of semblance of confidence.”
