The Blue Jackets never like to be outworked.
That's their play-style: forecheck hard, get to pucks first, and physically break the other team down. So, when the Hurricanes gave them a taste of their own medicine on Monday night, John Tortorella and his group weren't exactly thrilled.
"You can ask me ten different questions about it...(the Hurricanes) checked tonight and we couldn't get through it," said Tortorella. "Didn't do enough things to get through it."
The Blue Jackets certainly didn't make it easy on themselves in the first period, as David Savard headed to the box early on, and Nick Foligno joined him while attempting to kill off Savard's penalty. The Blue Jackets killed off both penalties, but never really got their legs going. After the Hurricanes staked themselves out to a 3-0 lead in the second period, it was virtually game over.
"I'm not going to call it a step back. We didn't check well enough in the second, and they did. That's the difference. That's a team that's lost a few in a row and isn't used to losing, and we knew they were going to push. Just didn't have an answer for it," said Nick Foligno.
Every team has off games, but the Blue Jackets were very off tonight. Alex Nedejlkovic only had to make 19 saves, and none were particularly outstanding. The Blue Jackets only created four high-danger chances all game, per Natural Stat Trick.
"(Checking)'s a big part of their team. It's a big part of what they do, and tonight we struggled getting through it," said Tortorella.
There are lots of things that you could pick apart about tonight's game, and the Blue Jackets will do their fair share of it, but they know that Thursday's matchup against the Hurricanes is a big one. It'll wrap up a stretch of four consecutive games the clubs have played against each other, with both teams having taken four points from the first three games.
"We get another crack at them. We're gonna rest up here, get our legs back, and (it'll be a) different game (and) different story, come Thursday," said Max Domi, who rang the post in the third period with a wrist shot that beat Nedeljkovic but didn't find the back of the net.
"We'll get ready to go from the next one and learn from tonight and be better, that's for sure."
