Meh!

Losses aren't fun. Losses against Detroit are worse. Losses against Detroit in Nationwide Arena are worse still. And finally 4-0 losses against Detroit in Nationwide Arena are pretty much dreadful. That's pretty much how I feel right now. The feel was just never there during the entire game. When the first period closed to an end with the Jackets down 2-0, I made the comment to Sam that the two-goal deficit felt like a wide chasm. Boy, was I right.

The Jackets failed to piece together many scoring opportunities and when they had the puck, they seemed to treat it like a piece of frozen turkey. I didn't think that the effort was awful, per say. I felt that the legs looked fine and they looked like they were trying, but nothing was working.

One thing the Jackets definitely failed to do was dump the puck into the offensive zone, which has been their bread-and-butter (sorry for the cliche) since Hitchcock came to Columbus. For a while, as I was learning the sport of hockey, I questioned the sanity of dumping, but I fully realize the advantages now. As Jason Chimera said on the radio broadcast today, they were playing "an east-west game, rather than a north-south game". This was crucial because Detroit was able to stand up at the blue line and prevent the Jackets from getting any odd-man rushes, therefore limiting any good opportunities the Jackets may have had.

Steve Mason was, unfortunately, human again today. The first goal against Marian Hossa should never have happened. Mason had the pads stacked, but Hossa, guarded by Rusty Klesla, fired the puck between the pads to give the Red Wings the lead, ultimately being the game-winning goal.

I will give him props, however. He made a dandy glove save early in the first period that was pretty much one of the most beautiful saves he's made this season. Unfortunately, those were in short order today.

The defense was not good in front of Mason either. The fourth goal was evident of this. Johan Franzen scored as he went post-to-post on Mason with no pressure from the D. Franzen did a great job of bringing the puck around Mason's leg to pretty much finalize the outcome with ten minutes left in the game.

So now we move onto Wednesday's game against Chicago. The game is here at NWA, so that's good. The team will also have a couple of days to rest, as the schedule will start to relax a little bit in terms of how many games they will play in the few coming weeks remaining. I look for the Blue Jackets to completely dismiss this game as an aberration and come out strong against the Blackhawks. Here's hoping the fans do as well

BK out!