Once again, the Columbus Blue Jackets won the game of shots, hits, and takeaways, only to lose the only metric that mattered, falling 3-1 to the Pittsburgh Penguins Wednesday night.
It was a quick humbling for a franchise that entered the Stanley Cup Playoffs looking to actually do damage for once. But alas, it was only one game and playoff series are marathons, not sprints.
Go to the Net, Young Man
The Jackets outshot the Pens, 16–3 in the opening period. Pittsburgh returned the favor in the second, outshooting Columbus, 16–4. So how did we get to 3-0, Penguins after two?
Natural Stat Trick's heat map of shots provides some clues:
The Blue Jackets actually outshot Pittsburgh over the course of the game, 32–29, but you'll notice the Penguins getting more high quality shots. The Penguins did a great job of the center of the lane clear and forcing the Jackets to take shots from the point and wide angles.
Meanwhile, Bryan Rust, Nick Bonino and company made a living in front of Blue Jackets goalie Sergei Bobrovsky.
“I thought where they hurt us tonight to get set up in those types of situations is through the seams and we have to get that figured out,” Blue Jackets head coach John Tortorella said following the game. “Seam plays were exposed tonight.”
It's not enough to get shots off right now. To make this a series, the Jackets will need quality chances that force the Penguins' goalies to work for saves and the Pens' defensemen to clear away rebounds.
May Want to Avoid the Pens' Power Play
The Penguins entered the playoffs with the NHL's third-best power play unit, converting on 23.1% of their man advantages during the regular season.
Wednesday night against the Blue Jackets, Pittsburgh scored 47 seconds into their first power play, when Phil Kessel burned Sergei Bobrovsky (and defenseman Scott Harrington) with a hellfire missile from the left dot.
The Jackets would go on to thwart the Pens' other two power plays on the night, but a 67% kill rate is not a recipe for playoff success.
Pittsburgh's first unit of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kessel and whoever else they feel like throwing out there is as good as it gets. Give this squad too many opportunities and we could be looking at a replay of 2014, when the Blue Jackets held their own even strength against the Penguins, but were brutalized by Pittsburgh's power play on the way to a 4–2 series loss.
Noobs Will Have to Grow Up in a Hurry
Seven Blue Jackets – defensemen Zach Werenski, Gabriel Carlsson and Scott Harrington and forwards Alexander Wennberg, William Karlsson, Oliver Bjorkstrand and Josh Anderson – made their NHL playoff debuts Wednesday night.
Some, like Oliver Bjorkstrand (+15 shot differential at even strength. 94.1 CF%), Zach Werenski (team-high six shots on 25:19 of ice time) and Josh Anderson (game-high eight hits) stood tall.
“What can you say about him. He hasn't played... a 19-year-old kid,” Tortorella said when asked about Werenski. ”We lose the game, but I thought he put on a show. I thought his determination and the things he does – I hope it rubs off on other people on the team, because that was inspiring to me to see what that kid can do.”
Others, not so much.
Harrington, once involved in a trade for Kessel, was victimized on the power play goal by America's Dad. Carlsson, whom Tortorella seems enamored with after the young Swede made a late season debut for the Blue Jackets, was similarly owned by Bonino when he stuffed a goal in from the mouth of the crease.
You would be forgiven for second-guessing Tortorella's decision to ride Harrington and Carlsson as his third tandem on defense, particularly when they were each on the ice when the Pens scored goals, despite only registering 8:28 and 7:57 of ice time, respectively.
If Tortorella is going to stick with the pair when he has steady options in Kyle Quincey and Markus Nutivaara at his disposal, they'll need to up their game. And quickly.
Composure is Key
“For eight or so minutes there, they got some momentum and capitalized on their chances,” Werenski said in the locker room following the game. ”Other than that, I thought we played a great game.”
Tortorella echoed the same, specifically mentioning the eight-minute stretch in the second when Pittsburgh racked up three goals to put the game away. Like Werenski, the head coach did not give off the appearance of a man disappointed in the performance of his team.
This is the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Adversity can and will show up to take a dump in your lap. Don't let one goal turn into two.
How this team responds to these setbacks will determine how far the Blue Jackets advance.
Come Home Soon, Power Play
The Blue Jackets earned two power plays Wednesday night, including the first one of the game, coming with 2:21 remaining in the first. Columbus generated decent chances on four shots on that power play, but the Pens killed it.
And they easily killed the Blue Jackets' second power play of the evening, coming midway through the third period.
Going back to the regular season, the Jackets have just one power play goal in their last 15 games, going 1 of 26 on the man advantage in that span.
After leading the NHL on the power play, converting 28.3% of their chances through the club's 16-game winning streak, Columbus is just 12 of 107 (11.2%) on the power play since the end of the streak. In fact, the Blue Jackets are just 7 of 71 (9.9%) on the power play since the end of January.
This series will end quickly unless the Jackets get that sorted out.
