Jackets flat as pancakes

That was the Jackets last night - a stack of a flat pancakes with Blues syrup poured all over them.

Crummy analogy? Well one crummy analogy for one crummy game.

I don't know about the rest of you all but I"m one pissed off fan. This team is finally in the playoff hunt and this is the kind of effort we get? Unnacceptable.

Last night's performance was hands down the worst of the year. Not even close. It made the 5-1 loss to Colorado way back in October look competitive. The Jackets were flat, uninterested, uncompetitive, slow, lazy...outside of Freddy Norrena who was left on his own island all night long....nobody showed up last night. They should have just forfitted the damn thing.

The Jackets thinking of playoffs? I certainly hope not after last night. This team has a looong way to go before that thought should creep in their heads. This team should focus on one thing and that's winning on the road.

Lit it up

St. Louis Blues. Worst scoring team in the league layed a 6 spot on the Jackets last night. Their team finished a collective +20 to the Jackets -20. They out hit em, outshot em and outplayed them in every facet of the game. How the Jackets scored even 1 goal I have no idea.

Dim the light

If it weren't for Freddy Norrena the score could have been 10 or 12 to 1.

Busted Bulbs

You can go right down the roster but lets just focus on one guy this time:

Rick Nash. He said in the paper today that those were "the old Jackets out there". Well its starts with him. He was as pathetic and lazy out there as the rest of them. In fact, when is the last time Nash has even shown up? Sure he had the hat trick New Years eve but was he really *that* noticeable even that game? His defensive game has slipped, he's not driving the net, he's not creating room for himself or his teammates, he's not paying the price. Nash wants to be the leader of this team and franchise player, well he needs to start performing on the ice like one. He did it the first 20 games but since then he's been merely average. The Jackets can't afford him to be "merely average" out there.

Through the first 21 games Nash had 24 points and was a +1. Through the last 22 games he has 13 points and is a -1. He's 41st in overall league scoring. Not good enough...and I don't want to hear this "he plays against the other team's top defensive units"...great players, franchise players, play though that and keep producing to help their team win.

...and of course our most competitive player of late, Andrew Murray, goes down with a head injury thats sure to be a concussion. Nevermind our best offensive talent in Nik Zherdev who also went down with an injury.

3 bright lights on the night

1. St.

2. Louis

3. Blues

The Jacket finished up this road trip a dismal 1-3. They are now 6-12-2 on the road with 14 of their next 23 on the road. Anything close to the play they displayed last night and they'll get a top 5 draft pickt his summer.

They return home for a 3 games stand that starts on Friday against those same Blues who unlike us are decent on the road with a 8-7-2 record.

I know Howson is a patient man and he's not going to do anything to jeopordize the future. He understand the big picture and knows that next year is really the year for this team to breakout but before he finds this team completely out of the hunt this year he needs to shake things up. Even if its just a minor deal. Because if not, not even a coach like Hitchcock won't be able get this group to overachieve and play consistantly, especially on the road. Time to weed out a couple of passengers now.

A callup of Brassard will be a nice start but he's not going to make that big of a difference out there as he's only a rookie. Need something bigger than that.

In fact I'm not so sure what more Hitch can do with this group besides stay afloat and wait for the offseason and a chance to really gut this fish. Just not enough guys on this roster who are willing to compete every night.

This team needs more than W-L-O-L-W-L if they want anything better than a lottery pick this summer.

Pancakes do look pretty good right about now though.

-LTL