Columbus Blue Jackets coach Dean Evason was blunt in his assessment of his club’s performance in a 3-1 loss Monday: “We were slow in all areas: We thought slow, we skated slow, we passed slow. And we haven’t done that lately.”
Evason could have saved himself a few words. The Blue Jackets were all of those things, but their biggest mistake was getting lulled into playing the New York Islanders’ brand of hockey.
The Islanders, under general manager Lou Lamoriello, have refused to step into the NHL’s wave of younger, faster players, instead dressing one of the oldest and heaviest lineups in the league. But that doesn’t mean it can’t be effective some nights.
The only highlight for the Blue Jackets came less than five minutes into the game when Kent Johnson scored a power-play goal. Actually, the only two times the Blue Jackets carried play for any sustained stretch occurred when they had an extra skater on the ice.
The Jackets couldn’t (or wouldn’t) get inside on the Islanders in the offensive zone, and they couldn’t get the puck back in the defensive zone. A big part of the latter issue is that they rarely started with the puck, winning only 16 of 50 faceoffs.
And so the Blue Jackets’ seven-game point streak (6-0-1), their longest in five years, was snapped.
“We’ve played the game fast (lately),” Evason told reporters in UBS Arena. “We’ve thought it fast and got pucks going so that we could move our feet. It looked like we were stuck in a bit of mud.”
The Blue Jackets were coming off a 1-0 shootout loss to the New York Rangers on Saturday. Truth be told, that game was extremely competitive, but it wasn’t exactly played at breakneck speed.
But Monday was a step backward.
WHAT A LASER! 🚨@FanaticsBook | #CBJ pic.twitter.com/C0hOiI9Cla
— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) January 21, 2025
At 4:52 of the first period, with the Blue Jackets up a skater after a tripping penalty on New York’s Anders Lee, Johnson leaned his body into a wrister from the left circle. With Dmitri Voronkov providing a barn-door-sized screen on Islanders goalie Ilya Sorokin, the shot sailed clean to the far corner.
But it was clear by the middle of the first period that the game was shifting toward the Islanders’ style. They dominated Blue Jackets players at times, generating 40 hits — eight by forward Marc Gatcomb — despite carrying the puck most of the night.
“We’re coming into these games after being on a six-game win streak, a seven-game point streak. … Teams are playing us extra hard,” Blue Jackets center Adam Fantilli said. “They know we’ve been rolling lately, and they’re tightening up.”
The Islanders cashed in early in the second period, scoring three goals in just 5:04. Bo Horvat scored an even-strength goal only 43 seconds into the period, Simon Holmstrom added one short-handed at 2:57, and Horvat scored again on the power play at 5:47.
The short-handed goal, which gave the Islanders a 2-1 lead, was indicative of how the night went for the Blue Jackets.
Zach Werenski, who has been one of the NHL’s elite performers this season, simply tripped while all alone carrying the puck up the ice on the power play. New York’s Jean-Gabriel Pageau scooped it up and embarked on a two-on-one with Holmstrom, who beat Elvis Merzlikins for the lead.
🚨 SHORTHANDED GOAL ALERT 🚨#Isles | @Ford pic.twitter.com/U9bapCohSI
— New York Islanders (@NYIslanders) January 21, 2025
The Blue Jackets tried to make a push in the third period, but they couldn’t get out of the quicksand. They didn’t get their first shot on goal until 8:47 was off the clock, and that was a 45-foot wrister from Mikael Pyyhtiä that Sorokin swallowed with ease.
It could be that the loss of No. 1 center Sean Monahan (sprained wrist) is catching up with the Blue Jackets. In the last five games, the high-scoring Jackets have cooled off, scoring just 10 goals. They haven’t scored an even-strength goal in two games.
“We’ve been getting some good opportunities lately; we just have to capitalize on them,” said Fantilli, who has moved up in the lineup in Monahan’s absence. “I know it’s the NHL, but you can’t get those opportunities, not score and then just say, ‘Oh, well, next time.’ Eventually, you have to bear down on them.
“I’m staring right in the mirror at myself on that one, too. I had a couple of opportunities I should have been bearing down on.”
The Blue Jackets welcomed fourth-line winger Justin Danforth back to the lineup. He’d been out since Dec. 10 with a lower-body injury. But defenseman Denton Mateychuk was a late scratch due to an illness, allowing veteran Jack Johnson to draw into the lineup after a five-game break.
But the Blue Jackets are hoping to stay afloat in the Eastern Conference long enough for reinforcements to join the lineup, including captain Boone Jenner, rugged defenseman Erik Gudbranson and speedy winger Yegor Chinakhov.
Monday’s loss, coupled with the Boston Bruins’ win, bumped the Blue Jackets out of a playoff spot for the first time since Jan. 7. They sit in ninth place in the conference.
They sure could have used Jenner and Gudbranson on Monday.
(Photo of the Islanders’ Anders Lee missing an opportunity against Elvis Merzlikins: Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)
