Jackets ‘shocked’ in loss to Sharks

Just a mere 30 hours after losing team captain Adam Foote and veteran center Sergei Fedorov, the Columbus Blue Jackets would have to compose themselves to face the San Jose Sharks Wednesday night.

The team realized quickly it is tough to move forward without your veteran core.

Columbus Blue Jackets winger David Vyborny has faced trade rumors for the last several months was not traded in the slew of deadline deals on Tuesday. Good thing as he provided Columbus all the offense in their 4-2 loss to San Jose. His first goal came off of a long rebound on a Gilbert Brule shot he backhanded into the new. His second goal came eight minutes into the second period, this time Jan Hejda had the shot that Vyborny sticked in with his backhand. His goal even gave the Jackets a 2-1 lead. But San Jose would score three unanswered goals to close out the second period.

A turning point in the game was with the game tied at two with seven minutes left in the second. Blue Jacket forward Rick Nash got called for a roughing penalty even though he was being attacked by two Sharks. The result was a Jeremy Roenick goal which proved to be the game winner.

“There was a couple of calls that we thought were extremely poor,” Blue Jackets head coach Ken Hitchcock said. “Those are issues that when you’re whining and sniffling you complain about.”

With the loss, the Blue Jackets have now lost six in a row at home though they have won six of their last 10 on the road.

“We’re playing better on the road lately than have at home, we haven’t been bringing the effort that we want and expect so something has to change,” Nash said.

Columbus entered the game with the third best penalty kill in the league with an 85.1% kill percentage. Much of that can be attributed to the play of Foote and Fedorov. In their first game away from the team, the Blue Jackets only killed off three of the San Jose’s five penalties.

“They’re in shock,” Hitchcock said about his team. “They know the business. They know exactly what takes place. Scott was truthful with them… but they’re still shock, can you blame them? In an ideal world and I’ll write it down on paper, we would like to say ‘movin’ on’, but that is not how it works.”

So who will take leadership with Foote and Fedorov out of the dressing room. Vyborny and Nash are already alternate captains and will likely be even more vocal, however neither player has seen the playoffs, much less been in a race before. 33-year-old wingers Fredrik Modin and Michael Peca likely now have more of a leadership role with the team. Peca has played in 93 career playoff games, and Modin has a Stanley Cup ring.

“People are really disappointed that we subtracted a few pieces and left some holes in our lineup, but those will be filled by people who at this level should be able to compete and earn that responsibility,” Peca said. “From my perspective, from Freddy Modin, and David Vyborny, and Rick Nash we have got to inspire people by our play and try to move this thing forward and get everybody to still believe in what we got here.”

The team will travel to Vancouver for a Friday night match against the Canucks. After that the team will travel to Edmonton and Calgary hoping to put a dent into the five point deficit the team has behind eighth place Nashville.