That one was rough. The Columbus Blue Jackets started the week with a 2-0 series lead heading back to home ice. Now, it's a 2-2 series, and they're heading to Washington for Game 5. Here's how the team reacted to tonight's loss.
Coach John Tortorella
On the slow start: You could see it from the first shift in the early power play, we looked nervous, right on through, I don’t know why.
On the transition game: We had problems making plays period the transition game isn’t going to work if you can’t make a play, that was a struggle. That’s a good old fashioned laying an [of] egg. It’s unexpected, it happens, we've just got to move on and get ready for the next game.
On what he said to the team: I don’t need to say a word to the team on what happened tonight, we just got to get ready for the next game. I wanted to have fun, if you can’t have fun now, it just, the human mind, I wish I could peel it and see what’s going on. We were like robots tonight, and it’s very unlike us. We’ll bounce back.
On his team’s struggles: It was a struggle for our whole team against Washington tonight, give them credit. They played a really good game, we fed into it.
On the frustration: You could see – athletes know when they’re struggling as a group and I was fighting with them to tell them – you could see they were frustrated and yapping at the other team. We can’t go down that road. We didn’t have a good 60 minutes tonight. Wipe it clean, it’s a three game series now. I don’t want them to go down the road of tying themselves up more, we’re a good team,, we need to move by this as quickly as possible and play a good game.
On the chippy play: You can sense it, there’s no sense in yelling at the opposing team. It’s us doing it to ourselves. We just can’t go there right now. We are not down in the damn series. Would we like to get something done at home? Great building both nights, we come up empty. Guys like to perform, they want to make the fans happy, I feel for them that way, let’s have a good practice tomorrow and get our heads back.
On the players’ lack of jump: We weren’t good. There’s no sense in asking me things about the game. We didn’t play a good game. We sucked. Let’s move by it and see if we play better Saturday… We laid an egg. That’s all I have to say, guys. I’m sorry, I’m not going to break it down for you. It’s on us.
Seth Jones
On the slow start: We didn’t have a lot of jump in the first period right from the get-go, We’ll change a few things going into the next game.
On the matchup with the Capitals: I don’t think it was anything they did, it was more about us at this point and what we can do to control the game and that’s our energy we bring. I don’t think we got enough of that tonight.
On what needs to change: I thought we did some good things along the way, we showed our speed and quickness down low. We need to get that 60 minute consistency, Bob made lots of huge saves, we’ll continue to build up energy.
Cam Atkinson
On the series being even: As far as I’m concerned it’s 0-0.
On the flow of the game: Bob kept us in the game the whole night, to make unbelievable save after save, we just couldn’t find a rhythm. I thought Boone was buzzing and trying to get the boys going, that was the only time we had a surge there.
On the future of the series: We need to know where we are right now, we just need to play with a lot more energy and a lot more confidence. Right from the get go, we had a power play, and you could tell that from whatever it was, we were flat.
On coming up short on home ice: We need to realize that our fans are behind us and we need to play for them, we needed to get them involved as much as we can… We’ll be ready to rock and roll tomorrow and get better and be ready on Saturday.
Boone Jenner
On the learning experience: You take from each game, you learn from it, you try to enjoy it and move on. after one game you’re looking forward to the next. we’re just looking forward to the next step on Saturday.
On what needs to change: I think we just play to our strengths put the puck in the area we’re a fast team. We move the puck quick and put pressure on them — they got pressure on us a little bit. You want to stay aggressive obviously, but you know they’re calling the stick infractions and cracking down. You’ve got to be careful with your stick. you’ve got to check with your legs. We know they’re going to call it and obviously it’s something we want to be better at.
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