Sigh… Yet another shutout for the Jackets, their sixth this year (they only had five all of last season). Lots of frustrating things about this game… but Pascal Leclaire wasn’t one of them. The man was an absolute animal between the pipes, especially through the early second period when the Jackets were getting outshot three to one. Only one of 33 shots got past him, and that was from — who else? — Naslund.
The refs taking away a goal from the Jackets didn’t help, either. I don’t know what Toronto saw, it was plainly clear even in my small bedroom television that the puck crossed the goal line before Luongo swatted it away. Luongo got the shutout, but to this writer he was outplayed by Leclaire.
I saw moments of great effort from the lines last night, but they weren’t able to string it together for an entire game. Luongo had a great game, but there were two or three opportunities where the hole was there but the forwards couldn’t find it, or couldn’t make the pass, or WOULDN’T make the pass (still not playing as a team), or whiffed the puck, etc., etc. Too many painful turnovers. I was hoping Anson Carter would find the net last night, just to silence the boos from the Vancouver crowd every time he took the ice.
Still, I think this team is playing with better effort than it was a month ago, so I guess it’s admirable that some sort of improvement is occurring. It hasn’t translated to the scoreboard yet, but I’m optimistic that isn’t too far off.
I was disappointed to see such a great effort by Pascal Leclaire wasted due to another poor offensive showing by the Blue Jackets. I’m a Nashville Predators fan who graduated from Ohio State in 2005, and it’s tough to figure out why the Predators have had so much success in the past 2+ seasons, while the Blue Jackets have not. Columbus has shown little, if any, improvement since their inaugural season. Nashville, on the other hand, has slowly gotten better and better. Both teams haven’t been around very long, they’ve both been able to make personnel adjustments, but Columbus has had zero success in this department. I guess I will remain baffled until Columbus finds a way to win semi-consistently.
I know what you mean, Tom. CBJ fans are a little envious of the success Nashville has been able to achieve on the scoreboard.
Of course, Nashville doesn’t have Doug MacLean…
Not that I necessarily think MacLean’s to blame for the CBJ’s abysmal W-L record, but he’s been pretty much the only constant. But I wonder if a change in that position would be a positive move for the coaches and players.
In his defense, he’s taken the “business” of CBJ hockey to levels that make other teams envious. The Jackets have an unusually loyal fan base — any time a last place team can sell its games out more than half the time is quite something.
But if things don’t get much better this season, I think the next logical step would be to make some changes at the top. Nothing else seems to be working.