Blue Jackets exit Olympic break with tough tests vs. Bruins, Islanders

By profitable 11 of their final 12 video games, the Columbus Blue Jackets have pulled to inside 4 factors of the Boston Bruins for the ultimate wild-card spot within the Eastern Conference.

And who do the Blue Jackets play Thursday of their return to motion following the Olympic break? That’s proper, the Bruins.

That scorching play, which features a seven-game profitable streak, has pulled the Blue Jackets to inside 4 factors of the New York Islanders for third place within the Metropolitan Division.

And who do the Blue Jackets play on Saturday, their first dwelling recreation because the prolonged break? You guess, the Islanders.

The Blue Jackets (29-20-7) have spent the previous week practising onerous beneath coach Rick Bowness, getting their legs and lungs again into taking part in form so that they are able to go — as a lot as doable, anyway — when the season resumes.

“The challenges are to get that competitive spirit back and get your reads down, the timing, the physical contact,” Bowness mentioned. “In practice, you’re going to take a guy out of the play (with a routine check). In Boston (on Thursday), you’re going to get hit. That’s a big difference, and you have to get used to it again.

“The depth that is approaching Thursday, hear, these are playoff video games for each groups. They (the Bruins) do not have a assured spot within the playoffs. We’re making an attempt to catch them. The depth needs to be there.”

Bowness had supposed to make substantive adjustments to the Blue Jackets’ techniques, not simply at even energy however on the ability play and penalty kill. However, the best way the Jackets performed main as much as the break satisfied Bowness to make small tweaks fairly than try an overhaul.

There had been intense skating drills in observe this week, but in addition time for the nice factors. The Blue Jackets labored on their six-on-five play — how one can each defend and play on offense when the goaltender is pulled — in addition to three-on-three drills, as a result of each single level the remainder of the best way goes to be essential.

The Blue Jackets are as wholesome as they have been all season. Actually, they’re as wholesome as they have been at this level of the season in a few years. It’s allowed Bowness to be ok with its depth and be ok with all 4 scoring traces.

Put one other means: Boone Jenner, a captain and their first-line heart simply two seasons in the past, is now centering the fourth line, though he is selecting up minutes through spot obligation and particular groups that give him taking part in time past a fourth-liner.

That’s a sign of the Blue Jackets’ playoff-worthy depth, but in addition an indication of how they need to play the remainder of the best way.

“For me, the biggest word for us right now is selflessness,” first-line heart Adam Fantilli mentioned. “It’s got to be everybody buying into the common goal of making the playoffs. Playoffs are all that matter, not our stats, not contracts, nothing like that.

“It’s all for the playoffs and it’s all for the team. When everybody commits to that, and we play our game, we’re going to get back to it right where we left off.”

It might be a bit ragged for both the Blue Jackets and Bruins tonight, and it could be for the Islanders game on Saturday as well. In the NHL, rust forms quickly.

However, as Bowness has stressed all week, the Blue Jackets aren’t the only club getting up to speed. The Bruins are in the same boat. For players coming back from the Olympics, like the Blue Jackets’ Zach Werenski, moving past the glow of the gold medal will be the challenge.

The last week of practice has been a bit like training camp — Bowness has called it a minicamp — but with one key difference.

“The difference would be the intensity of the game you’re going into after this break,” Bowness mentioned. “You go into a game after camp in October, they don’t have the same intensity that we’re going to see (on Thursday) and Saturday and every game after.

“Every game gets tougher from here on in. It will. We just have to be up for that challenge.”

The minicamp schedule was worth noting: Bowness skated them hard for two days, then gave them a day off. Two on, one off. That wasn’t just happenstance, either.

The Blue Jackets will play 26 games in 48 days to finish the season, including 17 games in 30 days in March. That’s intense, leaving almost no time for meaningful practice or extended rest.

It’s going to be a grind. The Blue Jackets have five back-to-backs the rest of the way. But only twice — March 15-16 and April 5-6 — do they have two days between games.

“It’s tough,” Blue Jackets heart Charlie Coyle mentioned. “But it is nearly good, since you get right into a rhythm. You’re going, going, going and you aren’t getting out of it. Everyone is in the identical boat, so that you roll with it.

“You just have to focus on recovery and focus on taking care of yourself and getting rest.”