Defensive illnesses hurt Jackets

Defensemen Anton Stralman and Milan Jurcina were scratched from Thursday’s lineup against the Los Angeles Kings as both had flu-like symptoms and were replaced by Mathieu Roy and Marc Methot. Columbus lost 4-1 to the Kings.

Both Stralman and Jurcina have right-handed shots; the only two defensemen on the team that shoot right-handed. Their departure in the lineup was missed, especially on the power play. The team only managed three shots on three power plays. It was very clear on Columbus’ first power play 3:18 into the first that the power play would suffer without the pair.

“Losing a guy like (Stralman) on the power play is a huge thing,” Methot said. “I think it shows in his stats that he is getting points and it is just one of those things that we need to get other guys to step it up on that power play and try to capitalize.”

“We missed Stralman early on the power play, a lot,” Blue Jackets coach Ken Hitchcock said. “We’re a team and there are other people who can do the job.”

Those replacements came in and played fairly well. Methot was not on the ice for any of the four goals scored by Los Angeles. Roy was an even on his plus/minus ratio and added in with four hits and two blocked shots. Methot said he was unsure of the situation heading into the game. Methot has only played two games since Christmas. Roy has been scratched the last two nights.

The Blue Jackets are currently carrying eight defensemen with two spares. They have only one spare forward.

“I think they want us all being prepared no matter what the circumstances are,” Methot said. “None of us knew that anybody is sick or whatnot… I am just glad to be back on the ice to play.”

Top line struggling to create scoring chances

For the first two periods of Thursday’s match, the Blue Jackets had a few scoring chances; none of which coming from the first line of Kristian Huselius, Rick Nash, and Antoine Vermette.

The trio only had three shots for the game; all of which coming in the third period. Vermette was able to score Columbus’ only goal as the puck bounced around off a Kings’ defenseman’s skate.

“I thought in the first period, we had some good pressure and some good forecheck going on,” Vermette said. “Sometimes you just have to keep doing it and eventually you can go get the puck on your stick, that is what happened there (on the goal).” 

Nash went the first 55 minutes of Thursday’s game without a shot.

“He is trying hard,” Vermette said about Nash. “He is one of the best players in the league. He is going to have to find shots every night. He is a dominating player, no doubt about that. He is putting a lot of pressure on himself. “

Hitchcock did not want to throw his top line under the bus following their performance saying: “I don’t look at that; we lost as a team today. You can’t put this on one line; we lost as a team today”