The title seemed appropriate for a couple of reasons.
1. Christmas season is here and since this is the last "Elvis" themed post for the month of November - why not segway with his most popular Christmas song.
2. And as we all unfortunately know, it's been a blue blue season thus far for the Blue Jackets.
So as the great Boomer would still want (and for those other suckers like myself who stayed up to watch this ass kicking) - on to the game recap.
1. I can't be the only one who thought this game was over before it started. West coast trip. Worst team in the league. An offense who couldn't score on a free hooker. Vancouver came out flying, got that first goal and off they went to a regulation win.
2. 48 shots (a franchise record) and 1 effing goal..! 1!!! Once again they tried everything. Traffic. Deflections. Hit posts (Letestu). Point blank shots. Wide open nets where the Jacket (Umberger) fires it right back into the goaltender. Wide open net where the Jacket (Wiz) bumbles the puck. Odd man rushes (3 on 1 and Carter comes up empty). I just don't get it anymore -- why can't these guys convert on these chances? It's not just this season but every season. It really does seem like you could put Gretzky, Lemieux, Crosby, etc on this team and they couldn't score either. The jersey sucks all the offense outta any player it dawns. It's like kryptonite to an offensive hockey player.
3. It's pretty sad when your PK had more pressure than your PP. Credit to Vermette, Tyutin and Pahlsson (who got the goal) for scoring the only CBJ goal of the game and avoiding a shutout.
4. Lots of talk about Corey Schneider but hell, the Jackets seem to make EVERY goaltender look good/hot. Two perennial 30 goal scorers in this lineup and just 10 goals between them 24 games into this season. At this point they will be lucky to get 30 goals combined between them.
5. It's time to try Carter and Nash on separate lines and see if some offense can be generated that way. Enough of force feeding this shit. It reminds me of Mason -- if they keep playing him it will eventually work right? Right? Hogwash. The chemistry is not there. What's the saying? The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and over again.
6. Sanford wasn't horrible but should have had that 2nd goal. This game could have been worse without him in the net. I haven't blamed the D alot this season but they have to do a better job tying up sticks and moving bodies away from that net. No excuse for Nikitin not tying up Sedin on goal #1 and Tyutin could have done a better job on Booth on goal #2. No chance on goal #3 on that tic-tac-toe goal.
EXTRA SHOTS:
I liked Moore and Clitsome better in this game. Moore took some big hits out there to make plays. Carter, on the other hand, doesn't take any hits to make plays. Nikitin was a horrendous -4. Team as a whole was -17. How ugly could this trip get with two games in two nights versus Calgary and Edmonton on Thurs/Fri. Both teams aren't exactly tearing up the standings but are .500 or better at home. Cannot give up that goal after that shorty -- total momentum killer and typical Jackets play. My guess is we'll see Mason in net on Thursday. Umberger is more noticeable of late but still can't find the back of the net. Nash didn't do much. In fact, I don't remember any significant plays from him. Johansen had some nice looks and was competing in the hard areas of the ice but nada on the scoreboard. Too bad he couldn't get on it with 200 family/friends in house. Jackets continue to live in the league cellar with just 15p in 24 games.
The theme for the month of December will be "classic Christmas toys". Lots of great candidates out there, especially the way this season is going!
Off to bed.
-LTL
