There's plenty of merit to what John Tortorella is saying.
His post-game press conference last night was a mix of lament and optimism, if such a combination is possible.
Was he pissed about the Blue Jackets letting another game get away from them in the third period? You bet.
But he also made a valid point: his team is playing much better than it was a couple of weeks ago, and they're not getting rewarded. In fact, they're getting punished.
They were utterly dominant for long periods of Saturday's 4-3 loss to the Islanders, with 35 scoring chances and the puck taped to their stick for much of the game. It got them zero points. Last night against the Washington Capitals, they played hard again and had plenty of opportunities to score, but their offensive rut is close to becoming a canyon.
How many chances do they need to score? It was more of the same last night, with another dominant 5-on-5 effort resulting in two goals and a fluky play/bad coverage dooming them in the final minute. Their margin for error is razor-thin and a bounce like that only shrinks it further.
It's a weird feeling with this group right now. They're not playing poorly. They're playing some of their best hockey of the season. As Tortorella noted, both last season and earlier this season, they left the rink after a lousy effort and still had two points in the bank. Those kinds of things have a way of catching up to you, and that's what they're currently dealing with.
The good news is that you can get out of it by playing through it.
Math is something that the hockey community has been slow to embrace, but we're getting there. The numbers will tell you this: consistently good 5-on-5 like the Blue Jackets have had for a few games now should, in most cases, turn in good results. Do they need to be better at closing games out? No question, and more than poor offense, that's what failed them in Brooklyn. Last night, they're probably not in that position if a couple of their earlier chances go in the net.
Like Tortorella said, the margin is problematic but the effort is enough to keep them moving forward. It could be a lot worse – they're in a playoff spot (by the skin of their teeth) as of this morning. A couple of wins in this stretch of Metropolitan madness would go a long way toward turning their confidence and optimism into conviction.
YOU SHOULD BE READING
- Welcome to the recap game, kid: our intern Andy Anders penned his first Blue Jackets recap last night. Give it a read.
- Dan Dukart's "5 Thoughts" tries to nail down exactly how the Blue Jackets emerged from that game with zero points.
- Here's more on Tortorella's positive approach, which he's going to continue preaching so long as his team is playing solid hockey.
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