That was a rough one.
On Friday night, the Blue Jackets were soundly defeated by the New York Rangers, 4-0. Ryan Strome, Alexis Lafreniere, and Chris Kreider (twice) tallied for New York, and Igor Shesterkin (31 saves) notched the shutout for the Rangers.
Let's get into three things from tonight's loss.
Elvis Takes The Loss
Elvis Merzlikins was 4-0-0 coming into tonight's showdown with the Rangers, but his record's no longer perfect. He allowed four goals on 37 shots, and was on the receiving end of some chirps from Chris Kreider after Kreider scored his second power-play goal of the evening in the third period.
Quality Chances, But No Goals
The Blue Jackets generated chances all night, but were unable to beat Shesterkin. Per Natural Stat Trick, they created 13 high-danger chances and generated 2.46 expected goals, but came away with nothing at the end of the night. Part of that was Shesterkin playing a phenomenal game, and part of that was the Blue Jackets' inability to finish.
With a young team like the Blue Jackets, these nights are bound to happen from time to time.
Third Pairing Struggles
With Dean Kukan and Adam Boqvist on the shelf, the Blue Jackets' depth on the blue line is truly being tested. The third pairing tonight was comprised of Scott Harrington and Gabriel Carlsson, and they did not have good games. Carlsson only played 10:04, and Harrington notched 13:55. They were on the ice for Strome's goal, and gave him acres of space to fire off a shot.
