It's kind of surprising it took this long to come to the surface.
You could tell something had been eating at John Tortorella for a while. He was holding it in, almost afraid to share what he really felt about the way his team was playing.
Tuesday's relative no-show (save for a few players) against the Minnesota Wild sealed the deal for him. A strong start – which they've been prone to – was followed by shellacking in the second period that probably cost them a point in the game, though you could also argue they were lucky to get a point. Sergei Bobrovsky's all-world performance played a big role in the outcome.
But what's gotten under Tortorella's skin is the slipping of their "standard of play," as he calls it. A year ago when things were cruising along, the Blue Jackets brought the same energy and pace to every single game; even when they didn't have their best stuff, they could get by in simply playing hard and willing themselves to hang around in the game. When they needed a spark, they found it. When they smelled blood in the water, they overwhelmed teams.
This year, for whatever reason, neither of those has been the case.
And so Wednesday's practice happened. The Blue Jackets were scheduled to have their annual practice outside at Winter Park, but that was promptly shut down after they snoozed their way to a shootout loss at Nationwide Arena. Tortorella brought them indoors to the OhioHealth Ice Haus for a lengthy practice focused on exactly what you'd expect: tempo, battles, and the details of how they need to play.
In his post-practice media session, the frustration was evident.
Something that was the foundation of the Blue Jackets' success in 2016-17 has suddenly dissipated on far too many occasions. How is that possible?
It's fair to say that basic human nature has crept in. It's near impossible to replicate anything, especially in a sport filled with randomness, and the Blue Jackets' breakout season featured a lot of things that probably wouldn't go that well twice in a row. It's also hard to maintain that "chip on the shoulder" motivation into a new season when, for all intents and purposes, you've elevated yourself beyond also-ran status for the first time in franchise history.
Things are different now. On some nights, it feels like the Blue Jackets know that and expect it to come easier than before. Again...that's normal. But it has to get addressed and sniffed out before it becomes a lasting problem and that's where Tortorella was coming from with his practice and comments on Wednesday.
It was time to meet this problem head-on and figure out how to blast it into outer space, because time's a wasting in a playoff race that's not waiting for them to get their shit together.
YOU SHOULD BE READING
- Cam Atkinson felt like the Blue Jackets relented a bit in their shootout loss to the Wild.
- Nick Foligno has feelings similar to his head coach about the Blue Jackets' approach and commitment to playing the right way.
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