Dean Evason and his coaching staff have a clear vision for the identity they want the Blue Jackets to embrace this season, but it’s taking several difficult “lessons” for the team to fully adopt it.
Their desired style of play is fast-paced, aggressive, and, above all, rooted in simplicity. When the Blue Jackets adhere to this approach, they are effective; however, they struggle significantly when they stray from it, as seen in their disappointing 5-1 loss to the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday at Bell Centre. This defeat marked their sixth consecutive loss to the Canadiens since November 17, 2022, and their seventh straight winless game on the road this season (0-5-2).
“We’ve had enough learning experiences by now to know how we need to play in order to succeed,” Evason remarked after the game. “We showed it against Pittsburgh, particularly in the third period, and we must not allow ourselves to fall back into old habits. We need to stay focused and keep emphasizing that this is the right way for the Columbus Blue Jackets to compete. We believe that eventually it will click, and we’ll achieve greater consistency moving forward.”
Until that happens, the team must brace for another challenging road game on Monday in Boston. Here are three key takeaways from the Blue Jackets’ performance in Montreal:
Columbus Blue Jackets can’t keep it ‘simple’
It’s not only the younger players who are making critical mistakes while trying to play “hero hockey.”
One of the Blue Jackets’ ongoing issues this season is that veteran players are straying from the team’s straightforward identity in an attempt to force plays in precarious situations. This often results in turnovers, scoring opportunities for the opposition, and goals allowed—providing plenty of new examples for the coaching staff to highlight in their upcoming video review.
Columbus fell into the trap set by the Canadiens, displaying impatience, particularly from the second defense pairing of Ivan Provorov and Damon Severson, as well as the third line led by Justin Danforth. Puck management was a significant issue throughout the game, highlighted by back-to-back turnovers from Provorov and Severson in the third period, just before Lucas Condotta scored to push the Canadiens’ lead to 3-1.
Provorov’s exit pass was intercepted just outside the blue line, and Severson followed up with a mistake of his own, mishandling a rebound from Emil Heineman’s shot and attempting a no-look clear that careened off the end boards instead of finding safe passage. This set up Armia for Condotta’s goal.
“We’re trying to make too many plays that aren’t there,” said Blue Jackets defenseman Zach Werenski. “It was a 2-1 game, and we weren’t out of it yet, but then the turnovers happened, they scored a few goals, and before you know it, the score gets out of hand. You’re going to lose a lot of games in this league if you don’t stick to your style, and tonight we didn’t.”
Columbus Blue Jackets hurt by ‘terrible’ penalties in Montreal
It wasn’t just the turnovers that hurt the Blue Jackets at Bell Centre.
They also racked up four stick-related penalties that not only killed their own power plays but also gave the Canadiens an advantage. In the first period, Severson and Kevin Labanc were penalized for slashing, which led to Mike Matheson’s power-play goal that gave Montreal a 1-0 lead. Later in the same period, Sean Monahan was called for interference after he grabbed an opposing player’s stick.
In the third period, Adam Fantilli took an interference penalty, negating a Blue Jackets power play after his aggressive attempt to lift Kaiden Guhle’s stick sent it flying.
“Every penalty is a bad penalty,” Evason remarked. “We had two slashes for no good reason, and we grabbed a guy’s stick. Then, when we had a chance at a power play in the third, we should know that’s being called across the league. If you lift a guy’s stick like that, it’s going to get penalized. All four penalties were just awful.”
Columbus Blue Jackets goalie Daniil Tarasov gets another raw deal
Playing time has become limited for Daniil Tarasov, who has shared starting duties almost evenly with Elvis Merzlikins but is currently serving as the backup.
Merzlikins has firmly established himself as the No. 1 goalie with strong performances, while Tarasov has struggled, allowing 15 goals in his last three games. All of those outings came in the second halves of back-to-back matchups, and the Blue Jackets did not support him well defensively. They committed several turnovers that led to high-danger scoring opportunities, and even skilled NHL goalies can’t stop all of those.
This trend continued in Montreal, where Tarasov surrendered five goals, despite making 19 saves on 21 shots in the first two periods. He was a key factor in keeping the Blue Jackets in the game, with only a 2-1 deficit heading into the third period, but ultimately allowed three more goals due to multiple mistakes by his teammates.
Tarasov’s record is still a respectable 3-4-1, but his other statistics have declined significantly. He has a goals-against average of 4.04 and a save percentage of .861, both ranking last in the NHL among goalies with at least eight starts. In comparison, Merzlikins has a record of 3-5-1, with a 2.92 GAA, .898 save percentage, and one shutout in his nine starts.
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