Columbus Blue Jackets turn up the heat at practice following blowout losses
The Blue Jackets have pushed the reset button.
After large margins of defeat in back-to-back losses to the Winnipeg Jets and Washington Capitals, the Jackets returned to practice Monday at Nationwide Arena. After a pointed video breakdown of what happened during losses that resulted in a combined 13-4 loss margin, the Jackets shifted their focus forward — and westward ― to a four-game road trip that starts Tuesday in San Jose.
The coaching staff, led by head coach Dean Evason, turned up the intensity with a couple of high-volume tongue lashings and sharp commentaries during a demanding 45-minute practice.
“It was worse (rewatching the video),” Evason said. “There’s going to be mistakes, but we could’ve corrected it or helped alleviate that scoring chance by working, and we didn’t. That’s not who we’ve been and that’s not who we’re going to be going forward. So, we had to have a little adjustment today.”
It’s still early in the NHL’s 82-game season, so the Blue Jackets are hovering around .500 at 5-5-1, which means they’re still fifth in the Metropolitan Division with an upcoming slate against teams that aren’t quite as imposing as the Jets and Capitals. It begins with the San Jose Sharks, who are 3-8-2 with a minus-18 goal differential. Addressing what happened in the past two games was essential in the Jackets’ transformation process into a legitimate playoff contender.
“The guys know that we, as a coaching staff ... there’s no gray,” Evason said. “It’s black and white. It’s just, ‘This is what happened.’ We watched every goal this morning, and it’s not calling guy out. It’s teaching, it’s learning and it’s being accountable. If you’re on six of those clips, so be it. You’re the one that’s going to teach us how not to do things that were done in order to allow teams to score on us.”
The Sharks lost 3-2 to the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday after winning their previous three games, so they’re playing better since dropping nine games during an poor start. The game Tuesday, however, should be a chance for the Blue Jackets to get back on track.
“We learned from it today, and we move on from it now,” defenseman Zach Werenski said. “It’s pretty simple. We watched video on it, our mistakes, we had a hard practice and now we move on from it and get ready for San Jose. We played two good teams. That’s no excuse for how we played those games, but I think it exposed what could happen when you’re not playing your game, and you’re not playing hard enough.”
The Blue Jackets will also get three days in Southern California before another back-to-back Saturday and Sunday against the Los Angeles Kings (6-3-3) and Anaheim Ducks (4-5-2). The Kings are constructed to play a style similar to Winnipeg and Washington, while Anaheim is almost a mirror image of Columbus. The trip concludes next week with a game Tuesday against the Seattle Kraken (5-7-1), who have the same point total as the Blue Jackets (11) after two more games.
Should they right the ship, it's a trip that could buoy the Jackets' chances of surprising the NHL by remaining in the early playoff picture in the Eastern Conference.
"It's a long season," center Sean Monahan said. "You're not going to forget about (the last two games). You've got to remember what it feels like and remember that style of play doesn't give you success. When you look at the video we watched as a team, it shows that it's a direct correlation of not working and not doing the things we did earlier in the year to have success."
Columbus Blue Jackets forward Kent Johnson returns to skating
Following the Blue Jackets’ practice Monday, injured forward Kent Johnson geared up for a solo workout at the Ice Haus while rehabbing and recovering from a shoulder injury.
After seeing specialists, Johnson will avoid another shoulder surgery to repair damage from tripping over teammate James van Riemsdyk in the fourth game of the season. Evason didn’t have any update about Johnson, whose return to skating was news to him.
Evason didn’t say whether Johnson will make the trip out West with the Blue Jackets or remain in Columbus to keep skating on his own. The Blue Jackets are planning to have "team building" activities during off days Wednesday and Thursday in the L.A. area, but Evason also declined to elaborate on what that entailed.
Columbus Blue Jackets' Kevin Labanc 'excited' for return to San Jose
This is Kevin Labanc’s ninth NHL season and first not playing for the Sharks, which makes his first return trip to San Jose with an opposing team a little weird. He’s trying to remain focused on helping the Blue Jackets right themselves more than his feelings about facing his former team for the first time.
“I’m just going to try and keep it as simple as possible, and just go in there with the mindset to just get two points and not make it too emotional,” Labanc said. “It’s going to be exciting. I know a lot of the guys over there. I’d been there for eight years, so that’s where I started as a kid and came out of there as a man. I’m excited to go there and play against them.”
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus Blue Jackets address weekend blowouts with intense practice
