Tkachuked Up: Jackets Lose To Blues For Third Time This Month
By Steve Sirk

Ho Ho Hum! The Columbus Blue Jackets lost to the St. Louis Blues 3-2. Dreary Christmas! When it comes to the Blue Jackets’ dismal December, the redundancies are being rehashed over and over again repeatedly ad nauseum. You’ve probably already memorized the predictable plot points: a one-goal loss to St. Louis; a goal by Blues LW Keith Tkachuk; a soft goal allowed by a Columbus goaltender; etc. The only things missing were a Rick Nash goal and 4:50+ of overtime. Oh well. At least the power play scored.

There’s really not a whole lot new to say, which is probably why Jackets coach Doug MacLean opted not to say anything to the media afterward. It is said that silence speaks louder than words, but there surely would have been great volume to MacLean’s words had he spoken them, so it’s probably a wash.

Things started out well enough for the Jackets. The team that put the quotation marks in “power” play, in the midst of an 0-for-30 slump with a one or two-man advantage, finally got an elusive power play goal to take a 1-0 lead. It happened at 13:08 of the first period when Geoff Sanderson converted a Nikolai Zherdev feed, scooting the puck under a diving Bryce Salvador and through the legs of goalie Brent Johnson. It was only Sanderson’s sixth goal of the season.

The euphoria was short-lived. At 18:11, with time running out on a four-minute St. Louis power play, center Doug Weight skated deep into the Columbus zone. Later admitting that he was merely trying to shuffle the puck to Denis to set up an offensive face-off, Weight chucked a weak, bad-angle backhand toward the Columbus goal. The puck confounded Denis, going right through his legs to tie the score. The goal was campfire marshmallow soft-- a gooey problem that has inexplicably plagued Columbus of late.

The second period was evidently forgettable, as the Jackets forgot to show up. The Blues outshot Columbus 19-7, but their only goal was ample evidence of the Jackets’ somnambulism. The Blues took the lead at 9:49 when Weight (10th in the league in assists) was allowed to roam free behind the goal, without the faintest hint of pursuit. Given ample time to pick out a target, he found a predictable one in Tkachuk (8th in the league in goals), who skated unimpeded across the middle of the zone, sneaking to the near post to bury a wide-open shot from the slot.

“For whatever reason, we didn’t come out to play in the second period,” said Denis.

The Jackets rebounded in the third, quickly tying the score on another power play goal at 3:31. Todd Marchant did the honors, with David Vyborny picking up the helper. Marchant let loose with a one-timer from between the circles for only his fourth goal of the season.

The Jackets battled hard, but don’t forget, there was a script to follow. Needless to say, it’s a crummy script with a downer ending. Inside of four minutes to play, Nash coughed up the puck along the half-boards in the Blue Jackets’ zone. It was gathered in the left circle by Blues center Ryan Johnson, who zinged a 14-foot wrister over Denis’ glove and into the roof of the net at 16:16.

“I have a tendency to shoot high,” said Johnson, before chuckling at the irony of the situation. “The coaches have been getting on me about that.”

The Columbus locker room was subdued and the air was sticky with frustration and disappointment.

“Our team concept is not working right now,” said Denis. “At times, everybody is exceptional, and at times everybody is awful. Awful. There’s no way around it. Our goalscoring has had some good games, but not consistently. Our defense has been good at times and lethargic at times. And it goes for our goaltending as well. Freddy and I have made some big saves, and we’ve let in some bad goals. When you don’t have everything in sync, you don’t get wins.”

“We need to put 60 minutes together,” defenseman Darryl Sydor agreed. “That’s the bottom line. We’re 13 points back (of the playoffs.) I hate to say it, but we’re playing for our season right now.”

With a seven-game road trip looming, it might behoove the Jackets to put 60 minutes together on Wednesday night. The Sharks are coming, and there is an abundance of chum in the water.