Last night was a gut punch for the Blue Jackets.
Like Tuesday, and Saturday before it, they simply dominated the game.
Special teams were so-so but at 5-on-5, the puck belonged to the Blue Jackets. The Maple Leafs signed the paperwork and handed it over. In all they had 57 shots and scored three times, which is often enough to win games in the NHL. It wasn't meant to be, whether you look at inconsistent goaltending from Joonas Korpisalo (who shouldered much of the blame) or their porous penalty kill.
Tortorella was asked about Korpisalo's performance, and his non-answer said enough.
"We didn't give them much," he said.
Allllllllllright.
No matter how you carve it up, one truth remains: when they control the game and nearly every measurable statistic, they need points. It's not good enough at this stage of the season to do everything right (for the most part) and leave Air Canada Centre with nothing.
That was their game in-hand on the Carolina Hurricanes, who the Blue Jackets are trailing by a single point for the Eastern Conference's final wild card spot. And, this time, it was wasted.
Tortorella said the Blue Jackets had 30-plus scoring chances.
Toronto had 15. Nearly double the opportunities and there were several grade-A looks in each period. The Blue Jackets were the better team in the first period, the second period, and the third. Sure, Frederik Andersen played the game of his life but the Blue Jackets can't hang their hat on a good effort right now. They need that Boone Jenner chance in the third period to go in. They need a more active night from Artemi Panarin, and maybe for one of Josh Anderson's eight shots to beat Andersen.
But here's the other side of the coin: when a team wins the possession battle, the scoring chances battle and doesn't really beat itself too bad (a couple of the Leafs' goals were preventable, let's say that), they'll get the result more often than not. It's frustrating in a vacuum like Wednesday, but there's time for this to market-correct.
You just hope it happens before it's too late, because man...the Blue Jackets playing this kind of hockey down the stretch and not getting rewarded by making the playoffs would be tough to take.
YOU SHOULD BE READING
- In perhaps my favorite piece this week, our Kyle Morrison broke down Zach Werenski's recent furniture-buying adventure through Value City Furniture.
- Andy Anders goes in-depth on the Jackets' loss last night and tries to put the pieces together – how did that game end up in a defeat?
- It's no consolation, but the Blue Jackets did make NHL history last night in Toronto.
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