Columbus Blue Jackets fall to Seattle Kraken in sixth straight loss: 3 takeaways
The Blue Jackets are returning from a brutal road trip with a six-game winless skid, more question marks and no “moral victories” gained in Seattle.
More: Rewind: Columbus Blue Jackets fizzle after strong start against Seattle Kraken
After negating their best period of the season with one of their worst in a 5-2 loss Tuesday to the Seattle Kraken, the Jackets are stuck in a tailspin that looks all too familiar from the past two seasons.
Their encouraging 5-3-1 start is a speck in the rearview now, they’ve dropped to the basement of all NHL standings formats and their next game Friday at Nationwide Arena is against the Pittsburgh Penguins ― who might as well hold ownership in the Blue Jackets based on the all-time series. That’s also the start of the Jackets’ third straight weekend back-to-back, which concludes Saturday at the Montreal Canadiens.
“We’ve played some good hockey on this trip, but the name of the game, obviously, is to come away with some points and there’s not as many as we wanted on this trip,” center Sean Kuraly said during a postgame interview on FanDuel Sports Network’s broadcast. “There’s definitely things we’re going to need to clean up.”
Here are three takeaways from the Jackets’ meltdown in Seattle:
Columbus Blue Jackets’ loss to Seattle Kraken was a tale of two periods
It was difficult to process what happened to the Blue Jackets in the second period at Climate Pledge Arena. They so thoroughly dominated the Kraken in the first period, building a 2-0 lead with an 18-6 shot advantage, that it felt like the end of their five-game slide would happen impressively.
Instead, Seattle released the Kraken in the second and the Blue Jackets wilted. They made a series of puzzling errors, all by veteran players, and paid for almost every single one. Goalie Elvis Merzlikins was hung out to dry, again, while the Kraken scored four unanswered goals.
At fault was a series of bad coverages in the defensive zone, bad decisions that led to four of five skaters getting caught in the Seattle zone while the Kraken raced toward Merzlikins plus a power-play goal allowed just seven seconds after it began. After the dust settled, the Kraken had outshot the Blue Jackets 20-8 in the middle period and carried a 4-2 lead into the third.
It was mindboggling to watch.
“For whatever reason, we lost a lot of battles in the second period, foot races ... we looked tired in the second period,” coach Dean Evason said during his postgame assessment. “We’ve got to find a way to sustain that type of a (game start) right through.”
Sound familiar?
Columbus Blue Jackets reeling after long, strange trip
Normally, teams that lose six straight games have stats to match.
That’s not the case here. This one’s bizarre due to how impressive the Blue Jackets have been in almost every offensive category other than goals. During this skid, they've been outscored 29-11 while outshooting the opposition by a combined 214-179 for a +35 margin in their favor. According to Natural Stat Trick, they’ve also compiled 5-on-5 advantages in shot attempts (55.9%), scoring chances (55.4%) and high-danger chances (53.3%) during the losing streak.
What the Blue Jackets haven't done is convert enough of those opportunities into goals. They've also compounded their woes by making some egregious mistakes that opponents have turned into goals. It’s a two-fold problem, but it starts with their own offensive failures. The Jackets are 1-5-1 in their past seven games, scoring exactly two goals in each one. That’s how you drop into the basement of all NHL standings.
The most frustrating part is what their drought looks like on a shot chart, which shows the Blue Jackets just not scoring goals off their ‘Grade A’ chances.
Dante Fabbro had challenging assignment in Columbus Blue Jackets debut
Dante Fabbro met his new team late Sunday in Seattle after the Blue Jackets claimed him off waivers earlier that day from the Nashville Predators. He flew that night from Nashville, after the Predators had scratched him in all but six of games.
Adding up the factors — new team, new coaches, new systems plus a cross-country flight — made it seem like a role on the third defense pairing was most likely in his Blue Jackets debut. Instead, Fabbro played most of the game as Zach Werenski’s partner on first pairing. He skated 19:17 and finished as Jack Johnson's partner on the third pairing.
Fabbro had four of the Blue Jackets’ 14 giveaways, but it wasn’t an awful debut. He needs more time to get his sea legs while learning a new system, structure and teammates. The game against the Kraken should only be taken for what it was with Fabbro, one early data point. He did step into the lineup ahead of both Jordan Harris and David Jiricek, though, which is worth noting and watching.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus Blue Jackets fall to Seattle Kraken: 3 takeaways
