After another stretch of time off, the Blue Jackets are back at home tonight for their final home game of the month, and the assignment is as clear as it gets: beat the Vegas Golden Knights and give their fans something to feel good about before the road trip begins.
The numbers behind Columbus’ start are ugly. With seven of their first nine games coming on home ice, the Blue Jackets have only three wins, and just one of those came in regulation. They enter the night last in the Eastern Conference in both points, with six, and points percentage at .375%.
The schedule is about to tighten up, too. Over the next couple of weeks, they’ll go no more than two days without playing.
That means the time for waiting around is over. At minimum, the Jackets need to start stacking together better performances.
Vegas brings a very different picture into the building. The Golden Knights are 8-4-0, sitting second in the Western Conference, and they look like their usual self: deep, talented, and dangerous all over the ice.
For Columbus, the first order of business is simple. Execute.
That has been the recurring buzzword around the team this week, and for good reason. The Blue Jackets have already had long stretches in multiple games this season where the puck movement has fallen apart.
Tuesday night against Toronto was another example, with too much “hot potato” passing and too many turnovers. Their transition game has been exposed because they have struggled to make even the basic plays cleanly.
Rick Bowness postgame: “Was the effort there? Yeah, it was.
We worked very hard. It’s the execution.
We couldn’t get any flow going to the game. That would be the biggest disappointment is the execution.”
#CBJ
That issue touches every zone. Columbus does not need fancy feeds or high-risk plays.
They just need to connect on the easy passes, get the puck moving quickly, and stop sabotaging their own shifts. At this level, that part of the game has to be there.
The power play also needs to finally show up.
The coaching staff made it a focal point at practice this week, which feels overdue considering how long the group has gone without a goal. Columbus has not scored on the power play since opening night against Buffalo, when they struck twice. Since then, they are 0 for 20.
Vegas might offer a chance to break that skid. The Golden Knights have been shaky on the penalty kill, ranking 28th in the league at 67.9%. A power-play goal would do more than pad a stat line for the Jackets; it would give them a little life.
And maybe more than anything else, this team needs to give its crowd something to hold onto.
This start has not just been about losing. It has been about the lack of anything worth grabbing onto. Columbus has a fan base that has stuck with a lot of losing over 27 years, but so far this group has not offered much reason to feel proud of the way it has handled adversity.
The Blue Jackets were supposed to be built as the “Big Bad Blue Jackets,” a team that could contend for a playoff spot with some edge. Instead, when things have gone sideways, they’ve mostly disappeared into themselves.
Against a team like Vegas, even if the game gets away, Columbus needs to show some fight, some pride, and some response when challenged. They do not have to win the intimidation battle, but they do have to make the Golden Knights work for everything. There has to be some emotion, some pushback, some sign that they care about defending home ice.
At this point, that part might matter almost as much as the result.
In Other News...
Blue Jackets Face A Frustrating Test Against A Team Just Like Them
Saturdays matchup in Vegas puts the Blue Jackets in a familiar kind of test, one that feels more about correcting habits than chasing style points. Both teams arrive on two-game losing streaks, and both have spent the week trying to clean up their own end of the rink after earlier signs that their structure could hold. The Golden Knights opened the season looking steady defensively before giving up 12 goals across those last two losses, and Jack Eichel along with Brayden McNabb have both acknowledged the recent dip.
Columbus has its own issues to sort through, and they are the sort that can turn a tight game into a frustrating one quickly. The Blue Jackets have struggled on the power play, and coach Rick Bowness has already pointed to turnovers and penalties as problems that need to be addressed. Against a Vegas team dealing with a similar slump, this one may come down to which side settles down first and starts looking more like the team it expected to be. [Read more 🡒]
Blue Jackets Already Entering An Unwanted Coach Debate
The early-season coaching conversation around the NHL has already turned uncomfortable, and Columbus is right in the middle of it. Around the league, analysts are floating a familiar list of names when they talk about who could be the first coach to go, with Rick Bowness mentioned alongside Andrew Brunette in Nashville, Ryan Huska in Calgary and Jeff Blashill in Chicago as the first names to watch if things keep sliding.
For the Blue Jackets, the concern is less about one hot-take discussion than what it says about where the organization stands. A coaching change would add another layer of instability to a club that has already gone through plenty of turnover, and it would only deepen the sense that Columbus is still searching for the right direction behind the bench. [Read more 🡒]