With the up-and-down nature of his team’s play lately, John Tortorella was asked pre-game if their readiness for this game concerned him.
“That’s always a concern,” he said.
And after a string of fast, aggressive early shifts in the first period, it appeared as though the Blue Jackets were ready to play this game. But the energy quickly tapered and they got lulled into exactly what the Vancouver Canucks wanted: a safe road game without many quality chances.
After a scoreless first period, the Canucks scored twice in the second period and took a 2-0 lead after 40 minutes. The Blue Jackets, at that point, were by no means out of the game, but they were nowhere near tenacious enough around the net and didn’t give much trouble to Vancouver goalie Ryan Miller. The scoresheet will tell you that Miller made 33 saves on the night, but the Blue Jackets had next to nothing in terms of second chances or high-danger opportunities in a 3-0 loss at Nationwide Arena – a less than ideal start to a long stretch of games on home ice.
“I thought the first three shifts were really good shifts,” Tortorella said. “Then, we just didn’t play well. There was zero emotion within the game, for what reason I don’t know. Nothing happens right if you don’t play the game with emotion, and we’ve got to figure that out.”
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