Being a blog about the Columbus Blue Jackets and being read primarily by Blue Jackets fans, it’s perfectly natural that our focus remains inside our own lines. However, this season, we’ll take a peek over the breastworks to see just what the opposition is doing. This bi-weekly series will give a our fellow Cannonites a little intelligence on the rest of the Metropolitan Division
*Results listed: 10/26 through 11/12
Carolina Hurricanes
10/29 – Beat Calgary
11/1 – Beat Detroit
11/2 – Loss to New Jersey
11/5 – Loss to Philadelphia
11/7 – Loss to New York Rangers
11/9 – Loss to Ottawa
11/11 – Beat Ottawa
Last time we checked in on Carolina, we thought beating Chicago might right the ship. That victory was followed by two others…and then the Hurricanes decided to let the rest of the Metro beat the crap out of them. No Canes are doing a storm surge when the Devils are dropping you like a bad habit. Really, their best highlight of this stretch was some guy stealing an ice cream cone from another Canes fan. On the other hand, the Canes walloped the Senators on the 11th…so maybe that victory will right the ship.
Where they rank in the Metro: Middle of the pack
Trending: Down
CanesCountry General Mood: “TVR needs to be traded. It will suck.. But Fleury continues to improve.” MMP.
New Jersey Devils
10/30 – OT Loss to Tampa Bay
11/1 – SO Loss to Philadelphia
11/2 – Beat Carolina
11/5 – Beat Winnipeg
11/7 – Loss to Calgary
11/8 – Loss to Edmonton
11/10 – Beat Vancouver
No long losing streaks for the Devils during this portion of the schedule. That’s good. The bad news is reports say Taylor Hall isn’t going to sign anything during the season. Not a lot of reason to do so, really. The trade rumors should be picking up. This team is the worst in the Metro but it isn’t a landslide. They are behind Columbus by 2 points…but have 2 games in hand.
Where they rank in the Metro: At the bottom
Trending: Even
All About the Jersey General Mood: “Sometimes I feel like Greene blocks more shots on a given night than Schneider.” That’s former Miami Redhawk Andy Greene who is having a nice age 37 season. Apparently not a good leader though – didn’t know there was a stat for that.
New York Islanders
10/27 – Beat Philadelphia
11/1 – Beat Tampa Bay
11/2 – Beat Buffalo
11/5 – Beat Ottawa
11/7 – OT Loss to Pittsburgh
11/9 – Beat Florida
The Islanders’ long winning streak came to an end in unexpected fashion – A Trotz team gacking up a 3 goal lead. They still managed to salvage a point, we guess. There won’t be a lot of other surprising things about the Islanders. As you might expect, they are continuing their play from last season. 1st in goals against. 8th in PK. Bottom third offense. Thomas Greiss is a damn machine early in the season. 7-1-0 with a .942 SV% and a 1.88 GAA? We won’t even bother getting into the fancy stats. The old stats are good enough here.
Where they rank in the Metro: Top three
Trending: Up
Lighthouse Hockey General Mood: “The Greiss is Right”. Not a comment, but an article title. Greiss might be the most surprising repeat good player in the league.
New York Rangers
10/27 – Loss to Boston
10/29 – Beat Tampa Bay
11/2 – Beat Nashville
11/4 – Loss to Ottawa
11/6 – Beat Detroit
11/7 – Beat Carolina
11/10 – SO Loss to Florida
11/12 – Beat Pittsburgh
The Rangers completed a solid portion of their schedule though the effect is dampened a bit by losing to Ottawa. Just seems odd… Beat Tampa, Beat Nashville…get steamrolled by Ottawa. Luckily, no one will care in a week. They may not care now. The NYR are getting positive results and have climbed out of the cellar. Hard to believe that a team with Artemi Panarin (8-10-18) has such a good power play, but there ya go. Kaapo Kakko seems to be getting acclimated as well with 2 goals against the Pens.
Where they rank in the Metro: Bottom three
Trending: Up
Blueshirt Banter General Mood: “No Crosby and Letang tonight…who’s got the Jack Johnson hat trick square on their bingo card?” We appreciate the wit.
Philadelphia Flyers
10/27 – Loss to New York Islanders
10/29 – Loss to Pittsburgh
11/1 – Beat New Jersey (SO)
11/2 – SO Loss to Toronto
11/5 – Beat Carolina
11/7 – Beat Montreal (OT)
11/9 – Beat Toronto (SO)
11/10 – Beat Boston (SO)
We aren’t going to make a habit of pointing out whether a victory is in regulation or not. We don’t usually have time for that, but we had to make an exception here. The Flyers had a pretty good stretch over the last two weeks. They made hay on the coin flips. Three shoot out wins and another one in OT! We assume Carter Hart is a shoot out black hole. We aren’t going to delve too deeply there. All credit to Hart. The Flyers have ridden that win streak to a top three spot in the Metro. They did a good job in only giving loser points to Atlantic Division foes (and the Devils, which doesn’t help them much).
Where they rank in the Metro: Top Three (What?!)
Trending: Up
Broad Street Hockey General Mood: “We’re getting in the playoffs. We’re a playoff team, there’s no doubt in my mind.” Actually a quote from Alain Vigneault. Seems pretty positive…but the team might want more regulation wins.
Pittsburgh Penguins
10/29 – Beat Philadelphia
11/2 – OT Loss to Edmonton
11/4 – Loss to Boston
11/7 – Beat New York Islanders
11/9 – Beat Chicago
11/12 – OT Loss to New York Rangers
Last time we checked, the Penguins were alternating streaks. That calmed down a bit over the past two weeks and Pittsburgh has done well to continue treading water while their roster heals. “Treading water” may be a bit unfair given they earned 8 of a possible 12 points over the last two weeks – but hotter Metro teams have made the Pens look like they are standing still. Plus the injury bug isn’t done with them yet – Sidney Crosby was injured against Chicago and did not play against the Rangers.
Where they rank in the Metro: Mid-table
Trending: Even
Pensburgh General Mood: “Please let it be short term, please let it be short term.” Regarding Crosby’s injury. Surviving without Evgeni Malkin is one thing, but Crosby means more.
Washington Capitals
10/29 – Beat Toronto
11/1 – Beat Buffalo
11/3 – Beat Calgary
11/7 – Beat Florida
11/9 – Beat Vegas
11/11 – SO Loss to Arizona
The Capitals are simply going down their schedule like crap through a goose. And they aren’t exactly beating up on the bad teams in the league. The schedule is tough and it doesn’t seem to matter. They are breaking clear of everyone…except the equally hot Islanders. Washington is up 5 pts on NYI but has also played 3 more games. John Carlson has 29 points on the season, the Caps score a lot of goals…though it might be by necessity as the goaltending has not been stellar to date. Still, can’t argue with leading the division for the last month.
Where they rank in the Metro: Top of the Metro
Trending: Even
Japers Rink General Mood: “We left the arena thinking the Caps had won. Turned on the radio when we got in the car and were thoroughly confused.” Washington had an OT game winner called back after video review. If that happened to Columbus, we’d probably drop our head in silent, sad acceptance.
Thanks for reading. Here’s your palate cleanser.