Problems not new in latest loss
The puck slid all the way down the ice and into an empty net, providing a frustrating punctuation the Blue Jackets have had to endure for three games in a row.
The Blue Jackets lost to the Carolina Hurricanes 3-1 at Nationwide Arena on Friday night, giving up an empty-netter in the final minute as they scrambled desperately, and unsuccessfully, to get the tying goal — just like in losses to the Predators and Rangers to
start this week.
They lost their fourth consecutive game ( 0- 3- 1), and the refrain afterward was similar: The slow start was unacceptable, and they have to find a way to win games like this.
“We’ve got to find a way to come out better. Our first ( period) wasn’t very good. Most of the second, the same way,” said Brandon Dubinsky, who scored the Jackets’ lone goal 5: 35 into the game.
“We need to take a long look in the mirror at what type of team we are, how we’re successful and how we’re built,” Dubinsky added. “It’s not by trying to be fancy, making plays and trying to be runandgun. It’s about getting pucks beneath the other team’s hash marks and winning battles. We’re not doing enough of that.”
Jordan Staal scored the tying goal at 3: 50 of the second period and the winner at 8: 54 of the third. The Jackets came up short even though they finished one of their worst first periods leading 1- 0 and improved from the middle of the second period on.
“The third period was our best period,” coach John Tortorella said. “We ( had) four or five really good opportunities with the right people with the puck on their sticks, and we don’t get it done. So no matter how bad we were, we still had a chance to win it, and we just don’t find a way in the third.”
Sergei Bobrovsky was stellar, finishing with 26 saves. His counterpart, Cam Ward, made 25 stops, including a stretching, left- toe save on Cam Atkinson’s breakaway six minutes into the final period.
“We’ve got to score more than one goal,” said center Alexander Wennberg, whose Jackets have mustered only that the past two games.
Dubinsky’s goal, his second of the season, came off a stellar stretch pass from Tyler Motte that spanned the blue lines. The sprinting Dubinsky bore down on Ward on a mini- breakaway and flipped the puck over him with a backhand when Ward went low.
The Hurricanes pulled even after the Jackets turned over the puck in their end. Noah Hanifin deftly faked a shot that drew Bobrovsky out of position, and then passed the puck to Staal, who tapped it into an open net.
The Jackets had two power plays but were unable to set up in the offensive zone on the first one, eliciting boos from the crowd. On the second opportunity, they tallied three shots but came up empty for the 11th consecutive power play.
“We’ve got to get back to who we are,” Dubinsky said. “I don’t think that was an indicator of who we are tonight. So we’ve got to rectify that immediately.”