Game after bye week worries Tortorella
Perhaps no game this season is causing coach John Tortorella and the Blue Jackets more anxiety than the next one.
Tortorella set up a meeting with players over the weekend to discuss the best ways to approach it. He plans to call other NHL coaches in search of tips for how to prepare.
The game in question is against the New York Islanders on Saturday afternoon in Nationwide Arena. The Blue Jackets’ real opponent, however, will be rust.
The club began its bye week Monday. The Jackets don’t return to practice until 4 p.m. Friday. It marks the first season the NHL has instituted byes, and teams returning from the five-day getaways have been generally awful.
The 19 franchises to go through the process are a combined 3-12-4 in the first games back, including 0-8-3 in February. They are averaging 1.95 goals in those games, according to a Yahoo Sports story.
“I know the records of the teams is pretty scary,” Tortorella said. “This is out of our control. The league decided to do this along with the players’ association, I guess. We’re trying to figure it out. We gave (the players) as much information to help them. Hopefully,
there will be a balance there because they need to get away, but not completely away.
“I’m racking my brain. I know I’m going to talk to a couple of coaches who I am pretty close with (to find out) how they went about their business. I will think about it the whole break.”
The Blue Jackets met with the strength-and-conditioning staff to discuss how best to relax while staying ready to play three games over four nights starting Saturday. Defenseman Seth Jones said most of the suggestions were rooted in common sense: eat healthy, stay hydrated and don’t spend all five days on the couch.
But unlike breaks at Christmas and during All-Star Weekend, not all teams are off at the same time. The Islanders, New York Rangers and Montreal Canadiens — the Jackets’ next three opponents — already
have had their byes.
The Jackets (37-16-5) are fighting to earn home-ice advantage in the opening round of the playoffs.
“It’s a really critical time for our club,” captain Nick Foligno said. “You are seeing the results teams have had coming off bye weeks and it’s not impressive. Maybe it’s a good lesson for us, being part of the last teams to go, to figure out what we can do better.”
Nashville Predators center Ryan Johansen, a former Blue Jacket, said it was difficult emerging from the bye week. Nashville lost to the Minnesota Wild 5-2 on Saturday before beating Columbus 4-3 on Sunday.
“It’s weird,” Johansen said. “It’s definitely a little different. You have to really have your mindset just as soon as you get back.”
The league plans to conduct bye weeks again next season if the NHL doesn’t participate in the Winter Olympics. Some suggest having teams on the same rest period playing each other in the first games back so there’s no competitive advantage. Toronto coach Mike Babcock told The Buffalo News the bye weeks are adding to schedule compression and the risk of injury.
The Blue Jackets play six times in the first nine days after the break.
“I think it’s 100 percent wrong for player safety,” Babcock said. “You’ve got so many games in such a short period of time and you’re jamming in more. To me, the more days rest you can have by not playing back-to-backs and jamming it in, the healthier you have a chance to be.”
The NHL has suspended Winnipeg Jets defenseman Jacob Trouba for two games for an illegal check to the head of Ottawa Senators forward Mark Stone. The incident occurred at 6:42 of the third period of Winnipeg’s 3-2 win in Ottawa on Sunday. A first-time offender, Trouba will forfeit 33,333.34 in salary. He will miss Winnipeg’s games today in Toronto and Feb. 28 at home to Minnesota. He will be eligible to return when Winnipeg hosts St. Louis on March 3.