While I"m away please feel free to post your thoughts on this game in the comments below!
This game has the classic "let down" feeling surrounding it. The old Jackets would lose games like this to teams bleow them in the standings.
However these are the new Blue Jackets who don't look anything like those teams of old. They need take care of a Tampa with a solid hard working effort (you take short cuts you get beat) and get out of town with two big ones.
Chances are I won't be able to catch any live feeds of this game so I will look forward to reading your comments from my handy dandy iPhone.
GO JACKETS!
-LTL
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Open post: Jackets @ Lightning
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21 comments:
I agree... this game screams "TRAP GAME!!!" to me. Let's hope the rest on the off day keeps them out of that trap.
Additional game preview over at Waiting For Next Year.
Cheers!
-DP
Hey Jackets Fans
Go to my new Blue Jacket blog, it is loaded with information all about the Jackets we all love so much.
Feel free to check it out while LTL is on vacation
http://cbjbanner.blogspot.com/
THanks, Chris
Through two periods, it is like we are toying with them. Not sharp in our passes, but not really threatened either.
Feeling right now is similar to Florida, except we were sharper against the Panthers on offense. We are sharper in our own zone tonight.
Hitch will do a little attitude adjustment at the break. We own the third!!!
--JAL
A Shot From The Point
That was an ugly game. Once again, the Jackets were out hit. These guys gotta play the body to win. At least we salvaged a point, but guys you've got to hit more.
Yep, we lulled ourselves into a false sense of security.
Credit to McKenna for a great job in the pipes, and that was a helluva shot by St. Louis in OT.
A great defensive effort on our part, but failed to cash in with offensive opportunities.
Game review up at A Shot From The Point
--JAL
I know AP in the Dispatch is pretty forgiving of the team for getting 3-of-4 on the trip, and I certainly won't turn down the points... but man, there is no reason the Jackets should have lost that game. TB was LIFELESS for about 50 minutes.
How often do the Jackets take only ONE penalty in a game and lose??
They had no answer for St. Louis (and hey, the guy's a tremendous player), but on a team like that you just CAN'T let their best guy beat you. Credit to St. Louis for the shot in OT, which was a stunner, but there's no excuse for letting him skate circles around you for 10 minutes straight. Hit the guy!
Recap at Waiting For Next Year as well.
AP over at the Dispatch has hit a nerve with me after each of these last two games. First with the headline "They're In" after the Florida win when we're most certainly not yet "in." Then last night with the "hey, we're one point closer..." meme. You know what? The way team make the playoffs is by beating the teams they're supposed to beat, and a team like ours is supposed to win against a team like the Lightning. We didn't get a point last night, we gave one away. And in our heart of hearts, we know this team isn't good enough to be giving points away.
Nice to hear some others are p'd about the 3/4 points BS in the DP... I get it... but it should have been a lock on 4 points. TB is not a good team. The worst is the inability to convert on scoring chances. I hate games where we have such a shot advantage and are unable to put the puck in the net. Unacceptable for the playoffs and a huge problem to solve.
Sorry, but I have a tough time getting too bent out of shape over this one. We played funadamentally sound hockey -- but couldn't get the puck in the net.
Every team has games like this, where you dominate everywhere but on the scoreboard. Trotting out the OSU fan lexicon of "unacceptable" and "a huge problem" is both a) unhelpful and b) inaccurate.
The Jackets are 16 - 8 - 2 since the All Star break, and 8 - 3- 1 in their last 12. There were no more critical people of the CBJ early on than Portzline et al. at the Dispatch, and I took them to task at the time, arguing that this team needed time to gel and assimilate the injury problem.
The Tampa Bay goalie played great, we whiffed on some chances, and they got a timely tip in and a sharpshooter shot in OT. If there is anything the CBJ has shown this year is the ability to get up for and win the big games against the toughest opponents.
Listen to the analysts on NHL Live or NHL On The Fly, and they will tell you that every point is a big one at this time of year. We are closer to 5th than 8th, and are just 3 or 4 wins from clinching. Let's not get pissed off over a point -- there are going to be other games we lose in this stretch, as will every other team.
--JAL
A Shot From The Point
JAL - It's not so much our play that upsets me; we outplayed them as we should have. It's the fact that (a) outplaying our opponent yet losing due to an inability to convert is a reoccurring theme/nightmare, (b) good teams don't just "get up for and win the big games against tough opponents," they do it night in and and night out no matter who they're playing. We seem to lose a troubling number of games against mediocre teams.
And most of all is the way everyone seems okay with it. At a time like this with the playoffs (not to mention seeding) on the line in crunch time, you'd think we'd be of the mindset that we need two points whenever possible, and against bad teams especially. Instead the theme is "yea, we lost to a bad team but these things happen. At least we got a point!" Like I said over at Puckrakers, you think the Red Wings or Sharks would tolerate that sort of mindset?
Dan -- I understand the point, and I don't think the players are of the "Oh, well" mindset.
You have to distinguish between attitude before the game and attitude after the game. They went into this wanting two points, and put forth a solid effort, with 34 shots, many of them really good chances that got stopped, plus a number of other near misses that don't make the scoresheet.
However, once the game is over, there is no point in crying about the missed point. This is not a "recurring theme/nightmare" -- our instances of making poor efforts against inferior clubs almost invariably occured a)early in the season (i.e. we played all 4 Phoenix games by Game 33, when we were 14-15-4) b)at the end of a long road trip or c) when Mason had mono (the 7 - 2 Dallas fiasco).
So, the Jackets went into the game fully intent on getting two points, made a game effort, but came up short. What would you have them do now? They are professionals, and they will put full energy into the Thursday game against Calgary.
The longest losing streak of the year for the Jackets has been just 3 games. That is because they have confidence, and are professional enough to know that in an 82 game season, you have to immediately move on to the next game. The way to perpetuate a losing streak is to hold onto each loss, tighten your grip on the stick and try to overcompensate. Just like in football, the cornerback has to forget that touchdown pass he just gave up.
If you seriously think that acknowledging that 1 point is better than none is somehow indicative of a poor team attitude that they will take into the playoffs, then you have not watched this team at all this year.
Insofar as the Sharks and Red Wings are concerned, have you listened to them at all? We were in Detroit for the 8 - 2 whipping we laid on the Red Wings. When they were interviewed afterwards, almost to a man, they basically said "This stuff happens, you need to move on." That is professionalism -- correct what needs to be corrected, but acknowledge reality.
If you find it intolerable, it's simple -- don't go to the games. It's the same old "everything is a disaster" mentality that calls for Tressel to be fired every time he fails to when a National Championship.
The fact of the matter is that you are going to lose a lot of games in an 82 games season, and you can't go off the deep end about them. Hitch and the boys will fix some of the fanciness that got trotted out last night, and get back to simplicity.
--JAL
JAL, your point is very well taken. I would argue that last night was far from the effort we've been seeing from this team, though. If the team that showed up for the 4-game streak against Detroit-Boston-Pittsburgh-Chicago had showed up last night, last night's game would have been a laugher by the middle of the second period.
I agree that they played well for stretches, but I didn't think their effort was "solid" last night. End of a road trip isn't an excuse, since they all had a "day at the beach" off day on Sunday. AP reported that they weren't crisp in practice on Monday, and that Hitch lit into them.
I guess my point is this: last night, to me, looked like a team that--once they got the first goal--thought the game was over and stopped playing hard. As soon as the Lightning got the PP and scored, they looked like a hungry team; the Jackets looked like a team just trying to hold on and make it to OT to get the point. St. Louis, Malone, Stamkos, and Lecavelier were skating circles around them.
Am I happy they got a point? Absolutely. Should they have gotten two? Again, absolutely. Therein lies my disappointment. I guess I just wished that AP had leaned a little harder on the point they let get away rather than shrugging his proverbial shoulders and saying "3-out-of-4 ain't bad." (It's not bad, but that's not the point.)
That's where I was coming from.
Cheers!
--DP@WFNY
Waiting For Next Year
Bottom line... we lost a point to a basement team and teams in 8 & 9 crept a little closer.
I am going to agree with JAL on this. We still got a point and gained a little more breathing room on EDM(7th place). All of this "second worst team in the NHL" argument is ridiculous. Its still the freaking NHL! No game is a gimme and a goaltender can steal a game any given night(Mason late DEC/early JAN).
Also, that was the same TBL team that lite up the Flames for 8 goals earlier in June. And Stamkos has been on a tear recently and us fans got to see first hand why he was the first overall pick.
Fun read on TSN... I guess Hitchy isn't worried :-)
http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=272629
Cool it man, we can agree to disagree. I'm voicing concerns because I like the team, as we all do. We're both disappointed they lost and we're both looking forward to getting back on track against Calgary tomorrow. It's not a contest.
Go Jackets
Dan - I am fine, thank you. You are the one who seems to be getting bent out of shape because the team lost one game that they "should have won". By that argument we have no reason having wins against the likes of Detroit, San Jose, Boston, and Washington. On paper those teams are obviously the better team. Heck, if that's the way games were won why even play any games?
So, yes it is okay to say "at least we got a point".
Chris - sorry, I was referring to some of JAL's comments about not having watched the games (my checking account begs to differ) and recommending I just stay home, nothing at you.
At any rate, I'm looking forward to a shutout from Mase, Hejda, and Big Red tonight, though I'll take a win of any sort. Go Jackets
Sorry if I get a bit fired up, but I see similar stuff all the time here, on Puck-Rakers, TSN, THN, etc. and it gets me riled.
Part of it, I am sure, is the written word rather than an in person discussion, where you can infer tone and intent from context. On the web,and in emails, you get the stark words, and when I read about things being "unacceptable" and "huge problems" when they clearly are not, I get fired up.
Nothing personal -- I just see too much of that attitude among what I call the "OSU Black Helicopter Fans". Agree to disagree. Cool.
These comments could not be made any year prior to this one and I like that. What I see from our team is a desire to compete that we have never seen in Nationwide Arena except for visiting teams. I love our grit and that we can steal wins this year.
In the next 9 games we will play 6 games against teams below us, we need to win at least 4 of the 6. I said three weeks ago to fiend sthat we need 94points for the playoffs and I still stand by that. It starts tonight with Calgary (my old Hometown), they have a similar makeup as the Jackets. The key will be slowing down Cammalleri and Iginla. I am not worried about Kiprisoft (and yes I spelled it right). He is soft and usually allows some soft goals. I look for us to take it to them in the first 10 minutes theey played last night and we should jump all over them tonight. If we get a lead then Mason can shut the door. I see a 2-1 or 3-2 game tonight. Our PP will get a goal and Vermette to put one int he net as well.
Go Jackets!!!
When does LTL get back so he can un-hijack his blog?
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