This is beginning to get tiresome, both for their fans and I'm sure for the players of the Columbus Blue Jackets. Tuesday night against a team that was winless in their previous five, the Jackets controlled play for the most part, outshot the Sens 33 - 23 and had several good chances but all for naught as G Robin Lehner shot the door on all but one and the Jackets dropped a 4 - 1 decision to Ottawa. The loss highlights that the guys expected to score goals for this team simply aren't getting the job done right now.
Marian Gaborik has five goals on the season but is pointless in four straight.
RJ Umberger tallied the Jackets lone goal on Tuesday but it was just his second on the campaign.
Cam Atkinson hasn't recorded a point in five.
Artem Anisimov failed to net a point for the third straight contest.
Jack Johnson, expected to provide offense from the blue line, had two goals and three points after four games to start the year. Since then in 10 he has one assist.
Mark Letestu finished second on the team in scoring last season with 27 points in 46 games and led the club in goals scored with 13. This year he has just three points through 14 games with just one assist in his last eight.
That's just not going to cut it. Columbus needs production from those guys.
Ottawa entered the game Tuesday bitterly struggling to keep the puck out of it's own net. During their five game winless streak the Senators had allowed 20 goals (not including the two awarded to the winners of the Sens two shootout losses). Yet despite peppering Lehner with 33 shots on goal and attempting a total of 60, the Jackets could muster just one PP goal.
Some of the credit of course must go to Lehner, who was excellent in net. Lehner is a big goalie, 6'4", 223, and takes up a lot of the net when he stays square to the shooter. He did a terrific job of keeping himself in good position all game long. He did allow some rebounds but with the exception of the Umberger goal, the Jackets failed to capitalize on any of those second chance opportunities.
Erik Karlsson had two goals for the Sens, including the empty-netter capping off the scoring. His first goal came on a rush up the right side beating Curtis McElhinney over the left shoulder with a wrist shot.
All five defenders were back for Columbus and Ryan Murray probably should have pressured Karlsson more and gotten himself in the shooting lane to take away the shot. Instead he elected to force Karlsson wide and to take away a possible pass. With all five defenders back, Murray had the support to be more aggressive. The way Karlsson can shoot I'd want to take his ability to release the puck away whenever possible.
Clarke MacArthur tallied a crushing goal with 3.6 seconds remaining in the first. Bobby Ryan broke down the defensive zone coverage and found MacArthur all alone in front of the net for an easy tap-in.
After Umberger scored his PP goal, Chris Neil more or less put the game away with a little more than six minutes remaining. Neil entered the zone with speed and beat McElhinney with a nice wrist shot from the left circle.
Umberger's man-advantage tally was exactly the dirty type of goal Columbus needs more of. After Lehner stopped a point shot from Fedor Tyutin, Umberger, battling with Chris Phillips about 15 feet directly out in front of the Ottawa goal, wsa knocked down to his knees but swept the loose puck practically off the twig of the Sens defender and by Lehner.
Umberger seemed to gain a little extra jump in his stride after the goal. Often when a player breaks a long goal scoring slump, it's said that it's like removing a piano from the player's back. That sure seemed to be the case with Umberger Tuesday night.
Tonight the Jackets welcome the Rangers to town for their first meeting of the season. Obviously, this contest has multiple bylines with several former Jackets on the Rangers roster and likewise, many ex-Blue Shirts now playing for Columbus. Those players:
ex-Rangers
Marian Gaborik
Fedor Tyutin
Brandon Dubinsky
Artem Anisimov
In addition, John Davidson, Columbus' president of hockey operations, was a popular goaltender for the Rangers in the 1970's and a longtime TV analyst before leaving to take an executive position in St. Louis.
Last year's leading scorer, Vinny Prospal, also played for the Rangers prior to joining the Jackets.
RJ Umberger was once property of the Rangers when his rights were dealt from Vancouver to New York with D Martin Grenier in exchange for F Martin Rucinsky back in March of 2004. He didn't sign with the Rangers by the deadline and became an UFA. He ultimately signed with Philadelphia.
Springfield defenseman Tim Erixon is also a former Ranger and was part of the mega-trade sending Rick Nash to New York.
ex-Blue Jackets
Rick Nash (out indefinitely with PCS)
Derick Brassard
John Moore
Anton Stralman
Derek Dorsett
For Brassard, Moore, Dorsett, Dubi, Anisimov and Gaborik, this will be the first chance they've had to play against their former clubs.
The Rangers are coming off an impressive 5 - 1 win over Pittsburgh last night. The Blue Shirts have been playing much better of late after getting off to a rough start. At one point early this season, the Rangers lost consecutive games against San Jose and Anaheim by an aggregate score of 15 - 2. Now the Broadway Blue Shirts have won four of five after concluding a season-opening nine game road trip.
For the Jackets, a couple of lineup changes. David Savard is back in and Dalton Prout will sit. Nick Foligno returns to the ice and will take the place of Sean Collins. RJ Umberger is a game-time decision. Bob is in goal.
It's unclear as of this morning if Henrik Lundqvist or his backup, Cam Talbot, will get the start for the Rangers. Hank earned the win last night for the Rangers and was excellent keeping the Penguins off the board in the first half of period one with Pittsburgh buzzing and getting several Grade-A chances.
For more on the Rangers, check out my friend Jan Levine's
blog here on Hockey Buzz.
It should be a fun game with lots of reunions tonight in Columbus. The Jackets desperately need a win and it's time for their big guns, Gaborik, Anisimov, etc., to step it up.
Columbus Blue Jackets Blogger • 
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