The Columbus Blue Jackets came into Tuesday night's showdown with the Dallas Stars with high hopes. They left the game with long faces.
In this new series, we'll take a look at three plays that encapsulate the game that was – the good, the bad, the ugly – and try to paint a picture of what went wrong (or right).
Play #1: Atkinson's Missed Chance
Early in the first period, with the Blue Jackets already trailing 1-0, Patrik Laine picked up a puck in his own zone. The Dallas Stars were caught with three guys deep – a rarity in their game – and the Blue Jackets were quick in transition to create a 3-on-2.
Laine, who carried the puck from blue line to blue line, cut to the middle before sending a picture-perfect pass to Cam Atkinson. The pass was everything the Blue Jackets could hope for: a "royal road" pass on a rush play. And then, a microcosm of Atkinson's early-season struggles, the puck fumbled off his stick and into the corner.
In essence, the Blue Jackets turned a high-danger scoring chance into a nothing play behind the net.
Play #2: Jamie Benn's Fluky Goal
The Blue Jackets gave up a power-play goal early in the second period to stretch the deficit to 2-0. They needed the next goal, and they got it when Seth Jones scored his first goal of the season. Unfortunately, any momentum was squashed when Stars captain Jamie Benn scored 17 seconds later to re-up Dallas' lead to two goals.
If the first play was a microcosm of Atkinson's struggles, the second was one of the team's defensive struggles. In an attempt to spark any of their defensemen, John Tortorella shuffled pairs, playing Zach Werenski with David Savard. In the clip above, both players go into the corner to check the same player at the same time.
Simple math dictates that this leaves a player open in front of the net, and before either of them can fully recover, Benn is able to tap in a loose puck for an easy goal.
This clip is a perfect reminder that players aren't just pieces; they need to develop chemistry and understand tendencies. In a perfect world, Mikko Koivu doesn't bat this puck right to the Stars, sure, but the larger point is that I doubt Jones would have chased to the corner with Werenski on his check. The result is a puck in the back of the net.
Play #3: A Clumsy Breakout
The final play of the day illustrates the Blue Jackets' inability to break the puck out of their zone cleanly, a constant frustration in the early part of this season. After scoring two quick goals, the Blue Jackets have cut the Stars' lead to 5-3. Momentum is in their favor, all they need to do is keep playing.
Dean Kukan starts the play by reversing the puck to his (new) defense partner, Vladislav Gavrikov. Gavrikov is pressured and pushes the puck up the wall to Nick Foligno. Foligno has several options here: he can skate the puck, he can pass to Max Domi, who is skating through the middle of the ice, or he can (this would have been my choice) passed the puck to Kukan, who is activating as a weak-side option in the defensive zone. Instead, Foligno tries to force a stretch pass to Liam Foudy, and it results in an icing.
The frustration with this decision is that, even if Foudy catches this puck, he'll be 1-on-2 in the neutral zone against a well-gapped defense. He would be forced to chip the puck into the offensive zone or skate it wide and wait for support. A pass to Kukan may have led to a dump, sure, but I prefer 4v4 to 1v2. Instead, it ends in an icing, and the lasting image is a visibly frustrated Domi.
