"It's a simple game. There are no secrets."
John Tortorella feels strongly about that. He prefers not to spend much time talking about the opponent, worrying about what they're going to do, or who they should be on the lookout for on the other side. He wants his team to focus on its own game, its strengths, and direct its energy to doing those things better.
For the first three games of this series against the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Blue Jackets appeared to have lost themselves. They were wrapped up in the physical undertones of each game, trying to get under the Penguins' skin rather than taking control of the game as they best know how. Remember when they throttled the Penguins, 7-1, at Nationwide Arena back on Dec. 22? That was the Blue Jackets at their best.
Desperately, they needed to rediscover that mentality or risk being swept by the defending champions.
Their start to Game 4 looked and felt differently than their starts in the first three games. Partly because they didn't completely collapse in this game, but also because we saw traces of their identity from the regular season. The Blue Jackets won 50 of their 82 regular season games and showed they can get the job done in many ways, but more often than not, it was their attacking style that catalyzed their success.
They fired 34 pucks at Marc-Andre Fleury and spent plenty of time buzzing around his net. Rather than hang on the perimeter (which they were guilty of earlier in the series), the Blue Jackets got pucks to the net along with layers of traffic, and looked the part of a team that wasn't ready to let Pittsburgh off the hook.
“After the second goal, I think we started turning pucks over and they really turned it up," Tortorella said. "But I thought we answered. We played a lot of good minutes. A lot of simple minutes. Like I said, and I mean it, I wanted them – some guys with limited playoff experience, some guys with none, just to try to enjoy a win. Now we'll try to figure out how we go about our business and how we manage our series.”
This Markus Nutivaara goal - the first of his playoff career - is a good example of what the Blue Jackets do well when they're on their game. They pounce on a loose puck and are immediately up the ice with numbers; Nutivaara has the green light to join the attack, and his presence helps Columbus create an outnumbered situation at the net.
Chaos, havoc, trouble for Pittsburgh...and sure enough, Nutivaara springs free at the side of the net and jams in a big goal for the Blue Jackets.
It's simple, straight-ahead and, when done right, it's done fast. If the Blue Jackets can stick with this style and carry it into Game 5, who knows?
“Last game, too, we got off to a quick start, but we ended up giving up the lead," Brandon Saad said. "So tonight, our mentality was coming in and starting fast and continuing that for 60 minutes and buckling down, playing the right way.”
