With six games left to go in the season, the math doesn’t look good for the Blue Jackets.
Columbus sits eight points back of the final wild card spot occupied by Montreal, meaning it would take a miracle run for the CBJ – and essentially a collapse out of the Habs – to get the Blue Jackets back into the top eight in the Eastern Conference.
That’s the result of a 4-11-1 run down the stretch that has been marked by a struggle to put the puck in the back of the net. The Blue Jackets went to Ontario this weekend needing critical points and instead were shut out in back-to-back games by Toronto and Ottawa despite a combined 57 shots on goal, 20 high-danger chances and 4.44 expected goals, per Natural Stat Trick.
“I think we can be better,” center Sean Monahan said afterward. “We got to be a desperate team. We have to find ways to score and keep the season alive. You just gotta work through (the frustration). It’s a team game. Everyone’s involved. Everyone’s got to play a part. We’re at the part of the season where it’s do or die every night.”
Another thing that would help the Blue Jackets would be playing with a lead. Through the first 60 games, Columbus was one of the best teams in the league at scoring first, doing so 37 times; but in the last 16 games, the Blue Jackets have scored the game's first goal just twice.
They went on to win both of those games, but having to come from behind on a regular basis is difficult this time of year. Against Ottawa, it was a 2-0 hole within the opening five minutes, and while the Blue Jackets played better as the game went on, the deficit was too much to overcome.
“Did we get to our game? Did we have some chances, even early? Yeah,” head coach Dean Evason said. “Clearly, we’re not scoring goals, so it just gets magnified when you get down because you’re pressing even harder. When you’re not having success and you’re not scoring goals and you’re pressing, it’s not a good recipe.”
Add it all up and it’s been a difficult mental road for the Blue Jackets over the last month, as they feel like they’ve deserved better results only to repeatedly come up short. But there are six games to go, and the Blue Jackets will face the Senators again tonight with two points on the line.
“They’re pros, right?” Evason said. “That’s our job. Our job is to get ready for the next game, and that’s what we have to do regardless of how we feel emotionally or physically. We gotta get back up and ready to go again. We’re still in a position where ... we have to have the belief that if we can get on a roll and get on a run here that we’ll be in a good spot at the end of the year.”
Know The Foe: Ottawa Senators
Head coach: Travis Green (First season)
Team stats: Goals per game: 2.87 (20th) | Scoring defense: 2.77 (10th) | PP: 23.1 percent (12th) | PK: 77.9 percent (17th)
The narrative: Boasting a young roster with plenty of talent, the Senators have been building toward something, and this appears to be the year Ottawa will snap a seven-year streak of missing the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The arrival of Green and an improved defense have supplemented such standouts as Brady Tkachuk, Tim Stutzle, Drake Batherson and Jake Sanderson, and the Sens can clinch a playoff berth with a victory tonight.
Team leaders: Stutzle has become one of the NHL’s most consistent players at age 23, as the third overall pick in the 2020 draft from Germany leads the way at a near point-per-game pace (21-51-72 in 77 games). Batherson may be one of the game’s most underrated forwards, putting up 22 goals and 61 points on the year. Though he’s been out of late with an upper body injury, Tkachuk is the straw that stirs the drink with a team-best 29 goals, 55 points and 123 penalty minutes to join CBJ forward Mathieu Olivier as the only players in the league with at least 15 goals and 100 PIMs. Sanderson adds 11-43-54 from the blue line, while veteran Claude Giroux has 15 goals among his 48 points.
Linus Ullmark was acquired from Boston in the offseason to steady the goaltending spot, and he’s largely done just that with a 23-14-3 record, 2.68 GAA and .911 save percentage.
What's new: While many of the teams battling for a playoff berth in the Eastern Conference have scuffled down the stretch, Ottawa has gone 12-4-1 in its last 17 games and posted two straight shutouts to all but clinch its spot. The Sens sensed that the opportunity to play postseason hockey was there at the trade deadline and bolstered the forward group, bringing in Dylan Cozens from Buffalo and Fabian Zetterlund from San Jose, with Cozens posting a 3-7-10 line in his first 16 games.
Trending: This is the final of three contests in 11 days between the teams, with the Senators winning both matchups in the Canadian capital. Columbus is 2-0-1 in the last three meetings at Nationwide Arena.
Former CBJ: Goaltender Anton Forsberg has found a home in net in Ottawa, starting 24 games and playing in 27 with a 10-11-2 record, 2.57 GAA and .907 save percentage.