COLUMBUS, Ohio — Midway through the Blue Jackets’ 25-minute practice Monday, the curtains lifted on the east side of Nationwide Arena, allowing rays of sunshine to cast from the upper bowl to the ice surface.
Sunshine is a scarce commodity in winter months here, but if anybody needs a catharsis right now, it’s the Blue Jackets.
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Since management dialed up the talent level with a series of bold moves near the NHL trade deadline — in the process, they have cranked up the expectations in Columbus, too — the Blue Jackets have lost three out of four games, including a weekend back-to-back home sweep to Edmonton and Winnipeg.
It’s knocked the Blue Jackets out of a playoff spot heading into Tuesday’s game in New Jersey, the beginning of a tough stretch of games, many within the Metropolitan Division.
There is mounting pressure in the dressing room, where the Blue Jackets — still adapting to their new look after acquiring four players — know they need a strong finish just to qualify for the Stanley Cup playoffs. (This season would be an unmitigated disaster if they don’t play in the postseason.)
And there is angst among the fan base, which has so many times seen high hopes dissolve into heartbreak. This is the best roster ever assembled in Columbus, and now it’s sputtering at the most meaningful time of the season.
“The greatest thing about where I think the team has gone to is there are expectations,” Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella said. “It’s a different way to play. There’s a different type of pressure with expectations, and I think we’re going through that. I think we’ll handle it.
“Some guys revel in it. We have to get everybody to play on their toes and try to enjoy it. We talked about it before the game (Sunday vs. Winnipeg): it’s supposed to be fun, being in the situation where the games are meaning something. It’s supposed to be fun. I want our guys to allow themselves to play and learn how to play in these situations.”
An optimist would say there are still 17 games remaining, more than 20 percent of the season. That’s plenty of time for newcomers Matt Duchene and Ryan Dzingel to click with new linemates and help create a more explosive offense. Those five weeks could allow defenseman Ryan Murray time to return and help steady the blue line.
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A pessimist would note that games are only going to get more difficult and pressure-packed the rest of the way, that the Blue Jackets’ upcoming schedule — two vs. Pittsburgh, two vs. Boston, the dreaded Western Canada swing — does them no favors.
Here are four current struggles the Blue Jackets need to fix, and quickly:
Plumbers vs. artists
It’s one of hockey’s great adages: the best teams have a healthy mix of plumbers and artists. In 2016-17, the Blue Jackets played like a club full of plumbers, dead set on proving the world wrong.
Since then, the Jackets have added two high-end artists — Artemi Panarin and Matt Duchene via trades — and have watched some of their young plumbers morph into artists.
Point is, the Blue Jackets’ default setting used to be as a “sandpaper” club that could physically overwhelm an opponent. Now, on too many nights, they try to out-skill opponents. As former coach Ken Hitchcock liked to say, “They wanted it to be easy.”
This is something that has irritated captain Nick Foligno.
“We’ve gotten better (as a team), yes, so we’ve lost that edge a little bit,” he said. “But we still have so much to prove. We have to have that.”
Calm the nerves
There have been glimpses in recent games where the Blue Jackets have seemed tentative, or even nervous, a far cry from the “Safe Is Death” mantra they’ve been told to adopt.
That’s especially true against Pittsburgh. The Blue Jackets seem a quivering mess against the Penguins, to whom they’ve lost seven in a row.
“You’d be amazed (the number) of athletes — strong-willed, thoroughbreds as far as athletes go — how confidence comes and goes so quickly,” Tortorella said.
On Sunday, before playing Winnipeg, the players talked specifically about “having fun.”
“This is the fun time of the year,” Foligno said. “This time of year, all that matters is results and points.”
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The Blue Jackets weren’t originally scheduled to practice on Monday, but Tortorella didn’t want them to baste in the disappointment of the weekend losses. So they took a quick, high-paced twirl that seemed planned as a mood-lifter.
Tortorella doesn’t want to act like these upcoming games are just any other games. Instead, he wants his group of players to embrace the pressure — learn to live with it, then learn to thrive within it.
“Oh, sure, we’re down to the short strokes here as far as games, and we’re fighting for our life to get in,” Tortorella said. “It’s not a panic-type pressure. It’s, ‘We’re right here, guys!’ We’re in a good spot. We’re fighting for a playoff spot. Some teams can’t say that. Accept that and try to grow in it.”
Playing from the red line back
The pitchforks are out for Blue Jackets goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, who has allowed 15 goals in his last four outings. But it’s hard to pin the Blue Jackets’ recent slide on Bobrovsky.
In that span, six of the goals allowed have been deflected, including two by Winnipeg’s Blake Wheeler on Sunday. Two others have been scored off 2-on-1s or by players left alone on doorsteps for tap-ins.
Is this Bobrovsky at his best? No. But the Blue Jackets have struggled mightily in their own end, and they sorely miss mobile defenseman Ryan Murray, who is out indefinitely with an injury.
“Bob’s made some huge saves for us throughout these games here,” Tortorella said. “We can’t … I’m not going to lay anything at his door. We’ve had some inconsistencies within our structure.
“Sure I don’t think we’re going to win a lot of games with four goals against us. I think everybody, including Bob and everybody, needs to be better. But I’m not laying the losses on Bob. I’m not. I can’t, because everybody needs to give some skin there.”
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Tortorella is trying to find three solid pairs with Murray out.
On Tuesday, he’s likely to play Seth Jones and Zach Werenski together and likely to make veteran Adam McQuaid a healthy scratch for the second consecutive game.
No chaser
In the four games since the trade deadline, the Blue Jackets have had the lead for only 8 minutes, 57 seconds. They never led in losses to Pittsburgh, Edmonton or Winnipeg.
The Jackets played well and dominated scoring chances (23-9) on Sunday vs. Winnipeg, but they trailed 1-0 and 2-1 and could never quite get on top of the game.
Chasing the play is exhausting, as the Blue Jackets know all too well.
The Blue Jackets have allowed the first goal (33 games) more times than they’ve scored it (32) this season, but that includes a stunning number in Nationwide Arena: opponents have scored first in 23 of 35 games.
It sounds like such a minor issue, the 1-0 goal. But only two teams — Tampa Bay (18-9-0) and Winnipeg (16-14-1) — have a better than .500 winning percentage when they give up the 1-0 goal. And only two teams — New York Rangers (14-9-9) and Ottawa (16-5-3) — have more losses than wins in games when they score first.
“It’s just not a recipe to have consistent success, because you’re chasing it,” Tortorella said. “Last night was kind of a double whammy for us. We get scored on again, the second shot in our net. And then we crawl back in and the beginning of the period we get scored on again. We’re climbing again.”
(Photo of Nick Foligno: Jamie Sabau / Getty Images)