The Columbus Blue Jackets enter the week leading into Christmas with three games in five nights starting with Tuesday night’s tilt against the Buffalo Sabres. The three-goalie rotation takes another turn.
It will be Daniil Tarasov who gets a second-straight start on Tuesday night. But this time it will be Elvis Merzlikins who will dress as the backup. Spencer Martin will be a healthy scratch.
The Blue Jackets also have some game-time decisions in their lap. Most notably, Alex Texier will be one of those decisions. He skated at the optional but coach Pascal Vincent had to check afterwards to see if he could play. If he can’t, expect to see Brendan Gaunce draw in after being called up from the Cleveland Monsters.
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We have a lot to get to this week. Zach Werenski stopped by and gave an honest assessment of his defensive game. We’ll also discuss why coach Vincent sees growth on the defensive side despite some of the numbers. It’s also Eric Robinson’s first game against the Blue Jackets since the trade. And what does Merzlikins think of the goalie rotation and his relationship with coach Niklas Backstrom? Read on to find out.
Werenski/Vincent on Team Defense
We wrote in our piece on Sunday about how the Blue Jackets are giving up a lot of shots and giving up the second-most goals per game in the NHL. It’s a clear area of improvement.
Both Werenski and Vincent discussed where the team is at on the defensive side. Werenski an honest assessment of where he thinks his game is at.
“I think we can do a better job,” Werenski said. “We still have good players and guys on our team that can play defense and doing a better job of keeping the puck out of our net.”
What in particular has stood out to Werenski as to why the high shot totals?
“I think we spend a lot of time in our D-zone. Ultimately, that’s going to lead to shots and chances and goals. Teams are too skilled nowadays. It seems like we have that pack it in (mentality.) We’re not supposed to play that way.”
“It seems like we just spend too much time in our zone. That obviously leads to you get tired. You quit playing in the D-zone and you’re flipping pucks out and you’re hopping to the bench and then they’re coming again. I think our system is fine. Boston plays a similar system. Vegas plays a similar system. But they’re just more aggressive with it. I think for us, we get too passive.”
“We have a lot of new guys, a lot of young guys, some new systems. I…
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