SIGNS OF LIFE
Blue Jackets in playoff hunt after Carolina series
Four straight games against the Carolina Hurricanes could have put the Blue Jackets into a playoff spot by a narrow margin, at best, or decimated hopes of contending for a spot with 22 games remaining.
It wasn’t hard to envision the Jackets losing four in a row to a Carolina team that, at times, dominated them in previous games. Instead, the Jackets proved their competence against one of the top teams in the NHL by grabbing five of eight possible points (2-1-1), ending in an overtime loss Thursday after a late tying goal by Oliver Bjorkstrand.
“I think we did some great things in this series,” said Cam Atkinson, who scored a tying goal in the third period Thursday night. “It just goes to show that we can play with any single team on any given night, so we have to continue to play like that but do it on more of a consistent basis and we'll have a lot of success.”
There were still stretches of games — mostly in Monday's 3-0 loss — when the Jackets looked lost and lacked any type of positive identity. But in the other three games the Jackets looked like a team capable of grinding out points and wins consistently.
“I think we'd been playing better before the Carolina four games,” coach John Tortorella said. “I think our game has come along. We have for a number of weeks now had some great improvement as far as our coverages, as far as how many chances we're giving up and also developing more forechecking and creating scoring chances.”
Tortorella has said several times this season that he wanted something good to happen for his team to latch onto.
The number of odd-man rushes and breakaways, and a penalty kill that allowed one goal in nine short-handed times against the Hurricanes were all signs of a team trending in the right direction.
But there are still a number of finer details that decide whether this team is playing beyond the 56-game schedule.
Not only do the breakaway chances have to be goals, but Tortorella mentioned Jack Roslovic's pass in overtime that was deflected and led to Carolina's winning goal, as well as Roslovic having a blown assignment that resulted in a tying goal 45 seconds after the Jackets took the lead 1-0 in the second period.
“This is where some of the guys have to continue to progress and learn that there is a tremendous value to small little things in a game when you're not scoring four or five goals a game,” Tortorella said. “When you're scoring two and sometimes three in a game, you better do the other things right. That's the part of the game that I think has got to really shine when we get on this road trip.”
Atkinson said the team has even talked about its play now determining whether or not the Jackets are buyers or sellers by the April 12 trade deadline.
Though the Jackets (13-13-8, 34 pts.) gained only one point on the fourthplace Chicago Blackhawks and actually lost three points ahead of the sixthplace Nashville Predators through the course of the Carolina series, they remain very much alive entering a sixgame road stand beginning Saturday in Detroit.
“Every team is fighting for their playoff lives,” Atkinson said. “As an athlete and a competitor, you want to play in these games and you want to make a difference every single day.” jmyers@dispatch.com @_jcmyers