This time, the Jackets got their mind-numbing collapse out of the way early. They weren’t forcing enough turnovers in the neutral zone, weren’t as crisp with their passing, etc. They didn’t have any sustained offensive pressure at all throughout the game. “It led to a lot of mistakes”. Stepan missed a wide-angled shot on a breakaway, and later, Bobrovsky stopped Rick Nash’s penalty shot. “That’s not good hockey when you’re doing that”.
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All that optimism, chest-thumping and swagger that swelled during the preseason appears to have faded into confusion and a waning confidence.
The Rangers improved to 3-0-0 with their home-opening victory while the Blue Jackets are 0-2-0 after losing on back-to-back nights to their Metropolitan Division rivals.
To be sure, the Blue Jackets remain among the National Hockey League’s worst at the box office, ranking 24th out of 30 teams for attendance last season. But without a refresher course.
“Chemistry is tough to explain, but we seem to click”, No. 21 said. “We want to stay a little bit more disciplined, but that’s gotta be our calling card there is playing aggressive and playing relentless”.
Curtis McElhinney relieved starter Sergei Bobrovsky in the third period of Saturday’s loss to the Rangers. Oscar Lindberg swatted home the rebound. The center, a second-round pick in 2010, has a goal in each of the first two games and can become the club’s first rookie to put together a longer streak since Steven King found the net in his first four games of 1992-93.
“I am not going to get into my opinion of it, … there’s no timetable yet”, Richards said. “We knew it was going to he hostile”.
The puck drops at 7:00 p.m.
Lundqvist has a. 943 save percentage and has allowed just six goals while facing an average of more than 35 shots per contest.
Right winger Mats Zuccarello followed one minute later with his second goal of the night to make it 4-2.
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The Blue Jackets hope that kicks off a third-straight season of climbing attendance, driven by a talented young core that two seasons ago made a Stanley Cup playoffs appearance. They have it in them, it understandably takes a few time to develop, although the Miller – Lindberg – Stalberg line looks phenomenal already.
