The Vancouver Canucks weren’t praising themselves much for their 5-0 victory Friday night, with the exception of their appreciation for goaltender Ryan Miller. While the Canucks weren’t eager to take too much credit, Columbus wasn’t looking to deflect responsibility for the loss.
In a season derailed by injuries, with the summer optimism stemming from their strong first-round showing against the Pittsburgh Penguins now a distant memory, the Blue Jackets are the worst team in the NHL after the lowly Buffalo Sabres finished ahead against Montreal tonight.
“It just seems like we don’t have enough confidence,” Nick Foligno said, per the team’s Twitter feed.
Blue Jackets coach Todd Richards felt that Columbus played fairly evenly against Vancouver through 40 minutes as reflected by the 1-0 score going into the second intermission, but the Blue Jackets fell apart in the third period.
“I’m not going to say ‘quit,’ I’m not going to say that about our guys,” Richards said, when asked about that specifically. “I see a team that’s frustrated ... that’s searching.”
The Blue Jackets have dropped their last five contests and have now lost 14 of its last 16 games.
For better or worse, Columbus has no time to regroup from this setback before Saturday’s game in Nashville. Perhaps the Blue Jackets can start a comeback. It seems hard to believe that they can dig themselves out of the sizable hole they’re in, even with three-quarters of the campaign left, but they have no choice but to try.
You can see Richards’ full presser below: