It’s become a bit of a cliche, but you hear it a lot this time of year.
When teams are battling to earn the honor of being one of the 16 teams to advance to the Stanley Cup postseason, it feels like every game down the stretch is a playoff game.
There’s an element of truth to it, though, and that’s how Dean Evason felt about the Blue Jackets’ 3-2 loss at Ottawa on Saturday night. It was a tight, fast-paced game from the start, with both teams posting nearly equal amounts of shots and scoring chances, but the Senators were able to hold off Columbus to earn the home victory.
“That was a great game,” the CBJ head coach said. “Both teams played hard, played fast. Certainly, the start was fantastic, the pace of the game. Everybody was playing their butts off. We had lots of chances obviously, certainly in the third period and at the end to tie it. It was just a real great hockey game that we fell a little bit short.”
If the Blue Jackets didn’t get points in the Canadian capital, at least they kept some momentum going. Columbus crossed the border having won two in a row, and they had their legs and energy at the start in the second half of the back-to-back against the Senators. They dipped a bit in the second period, but battled to draw within one in the third period before falling just short.
“I thought it was a pretty even game for the most part,” Zach Werenski said. “I would have liked to have back some minutes in the second there (where) I feel like we didn’t get to our game, but it’s a good team. They’re fighting for the playoffs as well, and they didn’t give us much tonight, but I liked our effort.”
That kind of effort will be paramount tonight, and the Blue Jackets likely need to get some points as well. With 10 games to play, Columbus is two points behind Montreal and the New York Rangers for the final wild card spot in the Eastern Conference, and the Blue Jackets have a game in hand on the Habs and two on the Rangers.
There’s enough time to make up that gap, and tonight offers an opportunity against a team that is well out of the playoff race. Evason cautioned the Blue Jackets can’t take anyone lightly down the stretch, and Werenski said he and his teammates remain focused on what remains ahead of them.
“We’re still in a good spot,” Werenski said. “A lot of hockey left, and anything can happen.”
Know The Foe: Nashville Predators
Head coach: Andrew Brunette (Second season)
Team stats: Goals per game: 2.50 (32nd) | Scoring defense: 3.20 (23rd) | PP: 21.6 percent (16th) | PK: 81.0 percent (9th)
The narrative: The Predators made a huge splash in the offseason, inking veteran forwards Steven Stamkos and Jonathan Marchessault and defenseman Brady Skjei in free agency. But those big plans went awry right from the beginning, as the Preds lost their first five games and never got their heads above water. This will be just the second season in the last 11 without playoff hockey on Broadway, and it should be an interesting offseason as general manager Barry Trotz tries to figure out what went wrong in the Music City.
Team leaders: While the year hasn’t gone as planned for Nashville, they still have one of the more dynamic scorers in the NHL in Filip Forsberg. The longtime Jackets killer (14 goals in 27 career games) is just shy of a point per game this season, leading the Predators with 28 goals, 39 assists and 67 points. Stamkos (19-30-49) and Marchessault (23-22-45) are next in scoring, but the Preds’ attack has struggled all season. Roman Josi leads the defense with 38 points but has been out since late February with an upper body injury.
Juuse Saros should start in net after Justus Annunen played last night in Philadelphia, and Saros has an 18-28-6 record in 53 starts with a 2.89 GAA and .897 save percentage.
What's new: Nashville never really righted the ship after its 0-5-0 start, as an eight-game losing streak in late November and early December dropped the team to 7-16-6. Any hopes of a playoff appearance were essentially extinguished at that point, and the Preds have been playing out the string since. They can play spoiler down the stretch here with games against the Blue Jackets, Canadiens and Islanders, but they head to Columbus having lost three straight and eight of the last 10 after falling 2-1 against the Flyers last night.
Trending: Nashville won the opening game of the series Oct. 26, taking a 4-3 final in overtime.
Former CBJ: One of the Preds’ bright spots on the year has been the play of Nick Blankenburg, as the defenseman has played 52 games, posted a 3-10-13 line and is a team-best plus-5. Veteran forward Gus Nyquist had a 9-12-21 line in 57 games but went to Minnesota at the trade deadline.
