Final Score: Canucks 3 – Blue Jackets 0
Game Summary
The Jackets started this game well and that’s the only positive thing you can take away from the game. They played poorly the whole night outside of a couple good shifts. Any chances they did get were smothered by Ryan Miller. You add those two together and end up with a 3-0 shutout loss at home.
Between this game and the New Jersey game the Jackets are playing some of their worst hockey of the season. They are plenty of players who are struggling but the area that stands out the most in the power play. They weren’t going to convert on the close to 30% rate they had during the streak, so this regression was expected. The frustrating part is how they have regressed. They are not getting the same chances with the man advantage because teams have adjusted. Vancouver did a great job at this; they knew exactly where the Jackets were going to enter the zone and stacked the blue line accordingly. The Jacket failed to adjust and as a result the Jackets went 0-for-2 on the power play with no shots.
The one Jacket to at least have a decent game was Sergei Bobrovsky. His overall line doesn’t look great, three goals on 24 shots for an .875 save percentage, but he made some very big saves and kept the game respectable.
Bob with a great point blank stop. Canucks force turnover to set it up. #CBJ pic.twitter.com/4snmvCoNyR
— Buckeye State Hockey (@BuckeyeStHockey) February 10, 2017
He also saw the Jackets inability to generate offense and tried to take matters into his own hands.
Bobrovsky channeling his inner All-Star game self here. Almost pays off. #CBJ pic.twitter.com/7SyCBSzevA
— Buckeye State Hockey (@BuckeyeStHockey) February 10, 2017
The Jackets are a much better team than the Canucks and this was a game they should have won. Instead they played a sloppy game and fell into the old habit of playing down to your competition. This was not something they did during the streak and they need to get back to playing that way as soon as possible. They take on the Red Wings on Saturday at 5pm.
Stat of the Night
Stats courtesy of Natural Stat Trick and Hockey-Reference.
You can follow me on Twitter @PaulBerthelot