Be prepared for many ups and downs for the rest of the season. We are in the thick of the playoff race, and the Blue Jackets are riding a rollercoaster of good and bad play. Currently, they are stuck in a bit of a funk. While the teams chasing the Jackets have been taking care of their business, the Vegas Golden Knights came into Nationwide and played the spoiler by routing the Jackets 4-0.
1st Period
Possession tilted heavily toward Columbus in the first five minutes. There was a sense of urgency for the Jackets that wasn’t seen against the Devils.
Barbashev went to the box for tripping to give the Jackets their first power play. New to the first unit was Captain Boone Jenner. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much going for either unit. There was some possession and a few shots, but nothing high danger.
The Kuraly line, which included Christian Fischer in his Columbus debut, generated several close chances after the power play expired. Hill was able to keep the puck out of the net.
Danforth ended the Columbus domination (shot attempts were 16-0) when he went off for tripping. He reached for a puck he probably shouldn’t have and got his stick caught in between the legs of a Golden Knight. The penalty kill was doing a great job until Vegas caught them with no defenders below the hashes. A bang-bang play gave them the lead. Without looking at the stats, it feels like the PK has been awful recently.
VGK PP Goal 1-0: Roy (Eichel, Hertl) 12:00
Vegas scored on their first shot attempt of the game.
Mateychuk drew a high stick to give the Jackets a four-minute power play. Vegas managed a short-handed two-on-one, and Elvis absolutely robbed Roy of his second of the night.
Voronko hit the post, but that was the closest the Jackets came to scoring. Columbus’s special teams have not been doing well recently.
Saad scored right in front of the net when he outbattled Provorov and got his stick on a rebound. It hasn’t been a great couple of games for Provorov.
VGK Goal 2-0: Saad (Smith, Roy) 19:01
The Jackets dominated everywhere but on the scoreboard in the first period.
2nd Period
Vegas came out and turned the tables to start the second. The Jackets weren’t able to gain any momentum. To make matters worse, Fabbro went off for interference just before the first TV timeout.
This time, the kill was successful. ZAR even managed a short-handed chance, but he didn’t make Hill work to make the save.
The game went to 3-0 when Dorofeyev beat Elvis’s five-hole from the left faceoff dot.
VGK Goal 3-0: Dorofeyev (Hertl, Saad) 12:17
It was a pretty low-event period, but Vegas took advantage of a scoring chance while Hill continued to stymie the Jackets.
3rd Period
There wasn’t much brewing for the Jackets in this period.
With seven minutes left, Fabbro dumped Hertl directly into Elvis. He received two minutes for tripping and probably an owed dinner to Elvis.
Pietrangelo potted the empty-netter to make it 4-0.
Final Thoughts
After playing well post-4 Nations, the Jackets have fallen off a cliff. They’ve lost four of their last five and will lose their wild card spot if they don’t earn a win on Saturday.
Strength of schedule is going to be a problem. Teams like the Golden Knights, Panthers, and Lightning are able to easily expose Columbus’s lack of forward depth. Monahan and Sillinger will eventually arrive for reinforcement, but treading water until then is proving difficult.
This team’s defensive play has been regressing. Provorov, in particular, has been very bad as of late. Special teams have also been a problem. The power play has been lackluster, and it feels like the penalty kill can be counted on to give up at least one goal every game.
Up Next
The Rangers come to Nationwide on Saturday at 7:00 PM EDT.