Jackets Collapse Against the Rangers, Look to Rebound Tonight in Montreal

Living in New Jersey, I’ve had the chance to watch a lot of Rangers games, and the one thing that struck me going into last night’s game was just how similar they are to the Blue Jackets. Both teams rely heavily on one superstar (Rick Nash, Marion Gaborik) and the chemistry he has with his winger (Kristian Huselius, Vaclav Prospel) but have yet to solidify the number one center position. Both teams expect strong goaltending (Steve Mason, Henrik Lundqvist). The Jackets and Rangers both have recently rebooted their franchises on the strength of Stanley Cup winning coaches (Ken Hitchcock, John Tortorella) trying to imprint their personality and styles onto their players. Both are relying heavily on young, developing defensemen (Anton Stralman, Michael Del Zotto quarterbacking the teams’ power plays). Two of the main issues facing both teams going into this season were also similar: poor defense and a lack of secondary scoring.

This season, it seems the Blue Jackets have been able to solve the secondary scoring issue, often getting timely goals from the likes of Jake Voracek, RJ Umberger, and Raffi Torres. The Rangers, meanwhile, haven’t been able to buy a goal that wasn’t scored or set up by Gaborik. Leading up to the Ranger game, the Jackets defense had also been better, thanks to the returns of Mike Commodore and Jan Hejda. All in all, I was pretty confident that the Jackets would put up an impressive victory at the Garden. And with a dominant first 10 minutes of the game, with a two goal lead thanks to fourth-liners Jared Boll and Derek MacKenzie, I was ready to pencil in the “W” for the Jackets.

Then came seven straight unanswered Ranger goals.

Steve Mason was bad. His backup, Mathieu Garon, wasn’t much better but I’m hesitant to put too much blame on the goalies with of how poorly the Jackets played in front of them. Giving up breakaways, odd man rushes, along with being out muscled to loose pucks – regardless of the goaltending the Jackets couldn’t have beaten Toronto playing like this.  Even though the Rangers closed the first period with three straight goals, the game was only 3-2 and still within reach. The Jackets responded by coming out in the second as if they had already given up.

Anyone who has watched the Rangers this season knows they are not a seven goal a game type team. In fact, if you would have told me before the game that Lundqvist would have given up four goals, I would have assumed it to be a Jackets victory.

As much as I want to call this game an anomaly, I can’t.  It was less than a month ago that the Jackets lost 9-1 at the hands of the Detroit Red Wings. Aside from horrendous defense, another issue that might be cropping up within the Blue Jackets are their age, maturity, and mental toughness. The Blue Jackets seem to be too susceptible to momentum shifts, and don’t have the mental toughness to get back in games or mount a comeback. Even after the Jackets scored their two goals, they never really sustained an offensive push. Aside from Jared Boll trying to spark the team with a couple fights, the Jackets didn’t come close to matching the Rangers level physically.

I do feel like Hitchcock has a good handle on his team, and prideful players like Rick Nash will come back strong. But there is no question, this team needs to tighten up on defense and not let games get away from them. Much has been made about how important points are in this NHL, and how hard it is to make up ground with teams gaining points in overtime losses. With Chicago, Nashville, and Detroit are all playing well and the Jackets cannot afford to keep taking losses like this, or worse, let them turn into losing streaks.

Hitchcock has to get this team ready to play, and he has to do it by tonight. The Blue Jackets travel to Montreal to face a Canadians team that has had its struggles, but has put together a pretty decent stretch lately and is getting great goaltending from Carey Price. That being said, they are a very beatable team. Brian Gionta is out of the lineup, and Scott Gomez is questionable tonight for the Canadians; two major parts of their offense. If the Jackets want to salvage this road trip and wipe away the bad taste from last night, they have a great opportunity tonight and need to make the most of it.