Next Day Review: CBJ vs ARI 3/26
Woof, probably the first time where the team has completely given up after getting roundly trounced against another bad team. That’s not a good sign for Pascal Vincent, or the veterans breaking their sticks, but it might be if you covet a high draft pick.
The Stats
A tale of every Blue Jackets game lately. A solid first period followed by two more of complete and utter domination.
This one, is cause for more concern on a couple of fronts. Firstly, the Arizona Coyotes aren’t a good team. Secondly, there weren’t any line-swaps or significant matchup changes from the Arizona Coyotes.
This was simple the Blue Jackets completely falling apart to a tune of short-handed chance after short-chance for the Arizona Coyotes. Erik Gudbranson threw a fit after getting arguably slew-footed but he had his own questionable boarding call. In any case, tempers only continued to flare from both him and Boone Jenner after they both gave up massive high-zone turnovers to feed the Coyotes.
As far as matchups go, there's a little to be learned. Primarily that Pyythia-Sillinger-Marchenko didn’t work. It set a certain vibe, that LWs are playmakers and RWs are battle driven, especially considering Voronkov’s skill in that area, but it undermined the strength of the Sillinger-Marchenko pairing and their commitment to competitiveness.
Either way the theme of the game was the Cleveland Monsters’ callups looking completely out of their depth against a team that was more than willing to string a couple of passes together.
The Blue Jackets’ top-line fought to decent results against the Coyotes’ top-line, but I’m not going to spend too much time here because the story of the game comes from a couple of specific players who were doing specific things.
Those two players were, primarily, Dylan Guenther and Josh Doan. Josh Doan played in his first NHL game and completely windmill dunked the Blue Jackets at the netfront.
Dylan Guenther made an impact across the ice with multiple high quality short-handed chances that ultimately culminated in a goal.]
The Blue Jackets had no such juice.
The Tape
The outcome of this game was ultimately decided by the individual performances of a handful of players.
Still, the Arizona Coyotes managed to exert tandem pressure on the Blue Jackets at key locations, and they struggled to manage.
In particular, Arizona loved to have two forwards low and another occupying the high ice. If one of the two low forwards reloaded, they had another eager to join. This gave them constant pressure on breakouts and plenty of space and pace to kill exits.
Here, the Coyotes’ first two forwards are pressuring Provorov at the same time.
The first play, Provorov reads the pressure and passes the puck off at almost the exact wrong time. He didn’t move his feet to draw the forechecker away from his pass target and he didn’t hold onto the puck long enough to occupy him with a hit either.
In any case, Arizona finds a scoring chance and Provorov takes the puck behind the net. The Coyotes love to attack from both sides in this situation. Provorov moves the puck up-ice but into a player completely covered.
The Coyotes forwards stay moving and so are always able to respond quickly to the puck movement. Sillinger is behind the play, moving up in support of a potential breakout bump from Marchenko, and has his feet still by the time the puck comes to him. Lawson Crouse had reloaded high and is now coming downhill to break up the exit.
In this case, Arizona’s forwards attack a weakpoint in Sillinger’s exit handling. One that could, and should, have been avoided by a better route from Marchenko or even a more conservative approach from Bean. Alas, they must go North.
Juuso Valimaki takes the body, separating Sillinger from the puck and the other quickly swoops in to secure possession. He’s up-ice to buy space and time for the Arizona line-change. Perhaps his presence surprised Sillinger.
Lawson Crouse seals the deal and sends the loose puck in the direction of Dylan Guenther. Sillinger had no ability to make a last-minute play because of the previous body contact.
Guenther then quickly moves the puck cross-ice to Valimaki and attacks Jake Bean with speed. He then keeps his speed and pressures Provorov who sort of gets stuck in the corner, I guess. The puck is cleared.
Here, Arizona sends two forwards to retrieve the puck. The Blue Jackets really want to leave a player net front so a defenseman is trying to win back the puck solo.
Arizona gets a solid but unspectacular scoring chance but Keller’s continued movement through the zone means he is meeting the Blue Jackets breakout forwards who are all starting from a standstill.
Here, Zach Werenski quickly beats the converging forecheck pressure though the outcome, though the end result is a loose puck in the neutral zone.
For Arizona’s second goal, their converging pressure forced Zach Werenski into a perilous turnover.
Well prior to that, there’s quite a lot to dislike from the very young Blue Jackets forwards. Of note, Werenski went around even in xG and CF% when away from this line, this shift is a big reason for that.
Right before the goal, Werenski does a great job intercepting the pass and then separating body from puck. When Werenski eventually corrals it, he’s pretty much entirely boxed-in with a bunch of green forwards looking at him.
Still, Werenski made a poor choice and Josh Doan capitalized with some excellent timing.
Ultimately, the Arizona pressure made it impossible for the Blue Jackets to generate any offense from clean zone exits. It shouldn’t surprise us too much that second periods, with the long change, spell doom for a team who can’t break the puck out cleanly.
Each of these last three teams, Colorado, Vegas and Arizona, built momentum by trapping the Blue Jackets in their own zone during the long-change and kept it rolling into the third period.
Notable Performances
Josh Doan
1.27 goals is quite a few. Doan’s debut was impressive.
Particularly, his timing in sliding between defensemen and his work on the back wall and the net front are really good. Not to be outdone though he still contributed with solid and timely passing through the neutral zone.
Dylan Guenther
Guenther looks like an emerging star whose development path stands in stark contrast to his fellow 2021 draftees Kent Johnson and Cole Sillinger.
In any case, in this game his passing, off-puck movement for shooting and rush routes were all fantastic. What surprised me, however, was his ability to use his assets to work on the back wall. If he can continue to find success there, or even just hold water, he’ll be able to support his more dynamic offensive skills and buy playtime in all situations.
Werenski-Severson
This pair should be a perfect fit together and for about 190ft of it, they are. Their inability to control the front of the net is going to prove a significant roadblock for team construction as they go forward.
Perhaps they aren’t suited to this style of defense but something has got to give.
Dmitri Voronkov
Voronkov was absolutely outstanding this game. In my mind he should continue to play on the wing. He’s a modern power forward who’s even harder to stop because of his fantastic quick passing and pressure drawing as well as his backhand passes to space. When he can’t make space with footspeed, his backhand serves as a release valve that gives him “effective space” in the neutral zone.
Like the other modern power forwards (Nichuskin, Slafkovsky, Robertson, Tkachuk) he thrives when put into motion. I wouldn’t put him in the same skill tier as those players and I wouldn’t totally write him off as a center in the right system (Florida’s net-front pressure would probably work very well).
Alexander Texier
Gaudreau and Jenner needed someone to stretch the zone, win pucks and extend possessions, they didn’t exactly get it.
Texier, as he does when he plays up the lineup, displayed his usual inefficient puck management tendencies. He’s a good player who, with some savvy guidance, could become an off-puck force, but he’s not there yet.