Game 33 Recap: Sinking Ship
by Clint Clark on Dec 14, 2009 10:00 PM EST
in Game Recaps
14 comments
It seems every game we've played in the last 4 weeks "we haven't found our legs". Every team has more legs than us. What gives? Do our players have legs? Are they so poorly conditioned that they can't keep up with most teams? Is our roster slow? Do other teams simply want it more? Nashville beat us decisively tonight 5-3. It wasn't that close
Nashville beats up because they are always skating. Their forwards are hungry and their defensemen are skilled. The top 3 defenders on Nashville would immediately be the best defensemen in Blue Jackets history. That's a major difference. Our ineptitude in our backend hints that there needs to be a shake up there. Our players do no generate speed through the neutral zone and break out passes aren't made. We don't have defenders join a rush in a meaningful way.
The play of our defensemen is in my opinion the single biggest reason we are in the place we are right now. Commodore is much much worse than the physical, positionally strong defender of last year. Jan Hejda looks like he wants every in the league to forget his name again. Tyutin has been puck clumsy. Methot hasn't taken a step. This team must be missing Christian Backman. Barf. This is by far the weakest part of our roster. A good defense beats a good offense.
Who on our defense is a scoring threat from the backend? Ignoring Russell's 3 week streak... the answer is simply nobody. That really sucks when your defense isn't shutting anyone down either. What are they good at?
Defensive turnovers (Mark Methot) lead to the first two goals. If I recall on the second two goals they were the result of terrible positioning of Mike Commodore.
What happened to our 5 on 5 hunger from last year? We overmatched most teams in 5 on 5 play last year. This year we can't put together two decent shifts.
Who played welll tonight?
Steve Sullivan is what is wrong with our team. He constantly is playing. He's always looking for a way to make a defense miserable. It doesn't matter how old or injured he is. He's a hungry guy, a guy that has built a career out of it.
I can't point out a single blue shirt that played a good game, maybe Umberger. I think it is time for some intervention. I'd hope we would have already pulled out the players only meeting at this point. The leaders of this team need to seriously step it up.
Doghouse: Hitch. Big Papi makes a lot of money.
While it feels like we are in a terrible spot.... we are in about the same place as last year. We simply have to stop this slide. We have to win games. We need to break out and put together a great stretch of hockey.
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Time for a change
I’m not sure what yet but it’s definitely time. I am a diehard fan and I turned the channel after they went up 5-2. I’m sick of the recent play and something needs to be done.
Amen to that! I think I turned away at the same point. It really feels like when one good thing happens, they sit back and fall in love with themselves, and it turns against them almost immediately.
They need to get out there and start hitting people. Hard. Bully guys around, steal the puck, you know, the stuff they did nothing of last night. There’s no intensity whatsoever!
Columbus til I die, Columbus til I die. I know I am, I swear I am, Columbus til I die!
FKA BLAZER_FAN_199. Now an author for THE Jackets Cannon!
by Andrew Tolliver on Dec 15, 2009 8:52 AM EST up reply actions
Anyone know what was happening in the arena around 12 left in the 3rd? I had FSOhio on without sound, and I saw people on the camera side of the arena looking at the stands near center ice
A Nashville fan went running towards the ice to toss his hat on it. He made it
by Robert Barga on Dec 15, 2009 10:09 AM EST up reply actions
I live in Nashville...
…and Columbus is a team I root for consistently. I wanted a win tonight for the Preds, of course, but I respect Columbus because it seems that Columbus respects us. We’re fairly similar in that we’re small market teams with a voracious (albeit small) fan base, small salary load, and big, underrated talent. Because we play in the same division as the Wings and Hawks, we constantly take a beating from hockey “purists” which annoys me to no end.
That said, I would love to see a playoff series between these two teams. Not because of Nashville’s record against Columbus, but because these two teams consistently do more with less than any two teams in the league.
I hate that one of our fans was ejected from tonight’s game because he threw a hat on the ice to give Sullivan his props. But, other than that incident, I love it when my Preds face off against the Blue Jackets…always intense, always entertaining.
this goes out to the nashville fan....
since I got banned from your site, I will reply to your comment, about nashville vs Columbus in playoffs. LOLOL do you really think that would draw ratings, NO! so get off your high horse about your Nashville because they got no depth, one injury to your team and back to the cellar you go. I give credit to your no neck coach, thats about it. I really don’t kbow why the hell the NHL awarded Nashville a team. I mean look around the stadium. it’s like watching people at walmart. and when the score a goal…its followed by ..I like it I love it I want some more of it!? need I say anything else.
Keep talking, little man.
You bounce around from forum to forum using different screen names, bashing wherever you go.
Wow, all you care about is ratings?
You’re a coward. You’re intellectually inferior to those around you, so you use the anonymity of the internet to cover your ignorance, your apathy, and, what I can only imagine, an enormous beer gut that you self-massage living in your mom’s basement.
You hear that? That’s the sound of a sorry Nashville team that’s two points behind your Blackhawks. Nashville has been around 11 years. The Blackhawks are an original six team, yet they haven’t won a cup in almost 50 years. 50. YEARS. Seriously? Why don’t you guys just give up? It’s apparent that you just can’t do it. It’s like the Cubs on skates.
Blue Christmas
I too am frustrated and disappointed.
The team is without passion,and seem to sense no urgency or desire.
I cannot understand the downward spiral,but the blueliners are playing like poorly coached bantams.
The responsibility falls on the coach and captain.Hitch is frustrated and grumpy at his press conferences.But this is the painful portion of the big leagues,just fix the problems.
Captain Nash in my opinion gives a great effort ,but I feel that the team needs some senior leadership in the locker room.
This is a good team.But when the house of cards crashes,it is a mess.
What about the GM?? When do we make a change in players.Do we fall to 15th in the west and then try to win one for the gipper.I think the conservative,patient approach has run its course.SHAKE THINGS UP.
The next 5 will tell the tale.Its not getting any easier.
Wow, I miss Pazzy.
My issues
I have issues with three players and nobody else:
Nash – on two of the goals, I saw him glide from a far-reaching offense drive to the backend. You can not glide when all 5 players of the other team are down there
Commie – He can be good, he just is playing scared right now
Methot – I blame two of the goals on his turnovers, plain and simple
How is it that we have a player who wins 65-75% of faceoffs and centers the puck roughly 10 times a game but we can’t score on it? Vermette is great where he is, if only nash were in position near the goal (this is our biggest issue)
defence is bad at best
we need to shake things up…..Mason is not the entire problem…we cant get the puck out of our zone!! bad passes lead to scores and Methot, Tyutin, Commie and Hejda look like a deer in the headlights!!! Russel is our best so far and thats not saying much!! Aaron Ward is available and we need a true blue defenceman….do we sign him?
Agree. Mase has played a lot better recently. Maybe pair Russ with Hejda?
Columbus til I die, Columbus til I die. I know I am, I swear I am, Columbus til I die!
FKA BLAZER_FAN_199. Now an author for THE Jackets Cannon!
by Andrew Tolliver on Dec 15, 2009 10:55 AM EST up reply actions
I going to channel my inner John McKay (if you don't know who that is Wikipedia him)
We are going to petition the NHL to have our remaining games with Nashville Played at a neutral site, as we have shown we can neither win at Nashville or in Columbus
Players who should be in the Hall of Fame
DIck Lebeau, Pat TIllman, Dwight White, Donnie Shell, L.C. Greenwood, Ray Guy, Steve Tasker, Greg Llyod, Andy Russel and Chris Carter
How about this for a wake up...
Nash as a healthy scratch. I know it sounds crazy and it probably is but don’t you think it would scare the sh** out of everyone on the team? I mean, Nash is Mr. Untouchable and if you send a message to him, I think everyone gets it. Of course he would probably pull a Patrick Roy and tell Columbus he’d never play another game for them and I wouldn’t blame him.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think he’s the problem… at least not all of it. I do think a more realistic healthy scratch is Commodore. Put Roy in there and let the D know that they need to step up their game.
Or at least bump him down a line? That top-line RW position is his until the day his contract is up.
Columbus til I die, Columbus til I die. I know I am, I swear I am, Columbus til I die!
FKA BLAZER_FAN_199. Now an author for THE Jackets Cannon!
by Andrew Tolliver on Dec 16, 2009 8:59 AM EST up reply actions
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