Maligned power play showing signs of life
Passes crisp, zone entries better despite 0-for-7 run
Once again, the Blue Jackets aren’t giving themselves a lot of in-game practice time on power plays.
They’d only drawn seven after the first four games — going 0-for-7 — but extra work on power plays during training camp appears to have helped, at least anecdotally.
Entries into the offensive zone were mostly successful, the puck passed cleanly and the action has largely stayed inside the opponent’s zone. The Blue Jackets also outshot their opponents 15-0 without scoring during those power plays.
Those are all good signs when compared to struggles they’ve had the past three years, but the sample size is still quite small.
“We just don’t get too many chances on the power play, historically, with the club here,” coach John Tortorella said. “There’s been some good things to it, but it’s hard to really make a judgment on it because we really haven’t had many opportunities.”
Improving on power plays is one of the Jackets’ top goals after finishing toward the bottom of the NHL’S rankings the past couple of years. They also want to score more goals overall, which would be a lot easier with a better power play.
“You can help your team, as far as good momentum, and you can hurt your team also, if it’s just a really bad one,” Tortorella said.
“We have spent more time this preseason in camp, even though it was shorter than others, on special teams. We’re hoping our power play gets consistent in a stretch and helps with our total 5-on-5 play.”
Hard pass
Alexandre Texier is learning on the fly about the finer points of playing
center in the NHL, including faceoffs and completing passes.
Mikko Koivu, a veteran center, had already begun working with him on draws before he was sidelined by COVID-19 protocols, and the passing is something Texier must adjust on his own. He currently has about two power levels on his feeds to teammates — hard and harder — and it can be an issue when it surprises the recipient.
“He’s not going to change what he is,” Tortorella said of Texier, who had three goals and one assist in the Jackets’ first four games. “He is energy. It’s all balled up in there. I do think as he continues to play there are going to be certain times and certain situations in a game that he may have to slow himself down a little bit. He catches people off-guard when he goes to move the puck, because he moves it so hard all the time, whether it be 10 feet or 30 feet — and I think he’s going to find that type of feel.”
Without an arena full of fans, Texier’s passes can really make the puck echo when they hit a teammate on the tape.
“There’s a few guys that have to get up with speed (with him), there’s a few guys that are right there (with him) and Tex has to figure out how to mesh with them,” Tortorella said. “He’ll figure that out.”
Utility man
During the Jackets’ 3-2 victory Monday in Detroit, they lost one of their top penalty-killing defensemen when David Savard was sent to the box. He was replaced by Michael Del Zotto in that role and the offensively gifted defenseman helped the kill off the ensuing Red Wings power play.
“(Assistant coach Brad Shaw) did some work with him during camp and felt he could be a guy you could put in there,” Tortorella said.
“And that’s the big thing with (Del Zotto), in signing him. There’s a lot of utility to him and I think that’s very important to our team.” bhedger@dispatch.com @Brianhedger