This comes at a good time.
After an ugly 8-2 loss in Tampa on Saturday, the Blue Jackets don't play again until Thursday. While some may see it as too much time to let an embarrassing result simmer, head coach John Tortorella sees it as an opportunity.
Class is back in session.
"It gives us a chance to pause, and get some teaching done...not just on the special teams but in a number of different areas," Tortorella said.
Sure, the final margin wasn't great. But Tortorella points to a couple of key moments in the game – late mistakes in both the first and second periods – that cost the Blue Jackets a chance to get back in the game. Specifically, a late second-period goal against put them in a 4-2 hole after they'd done so much work to claw back in it. Those quality minutes remained in Tortorella's mind with more prominence than the ugly start and finish, and he wants his team to do the same as they embark on an important week of practice before facing Philadelphia at Nationwide Arena on Thursday.
"You've got be really careful judging your team just (by) the score," Tortorella said after Monday's practice. "Are we happy 8-2? Absolutely not. We've had a couple of really good opportunities early on to, stop, and digest and teach. We've got a good day of teaching (Tuesday) with video and another practice day Wednesday, so it works out really well."
It's not like the Blue Jackets are in shambles. They have some things to clean up, including their power play (we've never talked about that!) and the fact that they've yet to find their optimal lineup. Up front, they have question marks – namely Oliver Bjorkstrand and Sonny Milano – while their top players are still not up to full speed. On defense, they've got one strong pairing, one inconsistent pairing and one pairing that's in a state of flux.
Tortorella said they've been OK offensively and in transition from the back end – which is encouraging in the absence of Seth Jones – but they can be better defensively.
"I think we're really good at times, and I think we're just brain-dead at other times," he said. "I think our sticks need to be better. You go through this, and you're just trying to get it to more consistent minutes away from the puck."
