COLUMBUS, Ohio — Give Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella credit for this much: He may be in his final days as the coach of the franchise, and this season may have lost all hope a few weeks ago, but he hasn’t let up on his own brand of coaching.
It’s only fitting that this season, which has been pockmarked by player benchings and noteworthy healthy scratches from the earliest days, should wind its way to the bitter end with yet more drama.
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The Blue Jackets have had their roster gutted by the NHL trade deadline (subtract Nick Foligno, Riley Nash and David Savard) and injuries (subtract Boone Jenner and Zach Werenski), meaning their already-small margin for error has become thinner than gossamer.
So Tortorella’s decision to make forward Max Domi a healthy scratch for the past two games resonates even louder. The Blue Jackets lost both games, including 5-1 on Tuesday in Sunrise, Fla., losing their seventh straight game (0-6-1) and falling to 2-12-2 since March 20.
Tortorella has refused to discuss his decision to scratch Domi with the media, but it was clear in comments he made to Blue Jackets radio voice Bob McElligott that he didn’t appreciate Domi’s two 10-minute misconduct penalties in a span of three games last week.
After Tuesday’s game, Tortorella said Domi remained a healthy scratch because he liked the way the Blue Jackets forwards played in a 4-2 loss to the Panthers on Monday.
When pressed on the matter, Tortorella said:
“I told you I’m not having conversations about that. I know you guys want to pick away at it, but I answered your question. I like the way we played as a team the other night, and they deserved a chance to play again tonight.
“Max doesn’t even get involved in this. I like the way the team played (on Monday). Didn’t play as well tonight, so we’ll see what our lineup is when we play our next Tampa game (on Thursday).”
Domi has declined to speak with The Athletic the past two days, as has his agent, Darren Ferris.
It’s been a rocky first season in Columbus for Domi, who was acquired last offseason in a trade with Montreal for forward Josh Anderson.
Domi was benched in the Blue Jackets’ season opener — not exactly a celebratory start with his new club. He was soon thereafter taken out of the center spot because Tortorella (understandably) couldn’t live with his defensive lapses.
But after a horrid start offensively — Domi had 3-4-7 with a minus-15 rating in his first 27 games — Domi started to play much better. He had 4-8-12 and a minus-3 rating in the 19 games before his healthy scratches.
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He has also moved back to center ice, where he started to show sporadic chemistry with left winger Patrik Laine.
“It’s tough,” Blue Jackets right winger Cam Atkinson said. “He’s a guy we need to be playing, playing his game. Especially in the offensive zone and on the power play. We definitely missed him out there.”
Domi lost his mind on Chicago’s Connor Murphy during a game on April 12, taking two minor penalties and then jumping Murphy when Murphy refused to fight.
There was a similar situation Saturday in Dallas, when Domi got into it with Stars forward Rhett Gardner, incurring two more minor penalties and a 10-minute misconduct. Domi’s 67 penalty minutes are by far the most on the team.
The Blue Jackets, specifically general manager Jarmo Kekalainen, desperately need Domi to work out in Columbus. They gave up Anderson, one of the NHL’s rare power forwards, to acquire Domi, whom they thought could bring an offensive spark from the No. 2 center slot.
But he’s cruising toward career lows in almost every offensive category, even if you adjust his numbers to fit an 82-game season. His 14:45 in average ice time is by far the lowest of his six-year NHL career.
It hasn’t helped that Anderson is second on the Canadiens with 15 goals or that Montreal is likely headed to the playoffs.
Spencer’s Knight
Florida goaltender Spencer Knight made his NHL debut Tuesday, stopping 33 of 34 shots and earning the game’s first-star honors.
Knight joined the Panthers out of Boston College earlier this month, and he joins a long string of goalies who have had successful NHL debuts against the Blue Jackets.
This is an incredible stat, really, and thanks to the magnificent database at Hockey-Reference for making numbers like this possible.
Knight is the 11th goaltender to make his NHL debut against Columbus since the Blue Jackets joined the NHL for the 2000-01 season, and he’s the 10th goalie in that group to earn a first-game win.
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Yes, the Blue Jackets are 1-10 against goaltenders making their first NHL starts. Those goalies have a collective .929 save percentage and a 2.18 goals-against average.
The list of winners: Colorado’s David Aebischer (2000), Montreal’s Jaroslav Halak (2007), Calgary’s Henrik Karlsson (2010), Toronto’s Ben Scrivens (2011), Pittsburgh’s Brad Thiessen (2012), Tampa Bay’s Kristers Gudlevskis (2014), New Jersey’s Scott Wedgewood (2016), Winnipeg’s Eric Comrie (2017), Vancouver’s Thatcher Demko (2018) and Knight.
The only goalie who made his first NHL start versus Columbus and lost?
Buffalo’s Jason Kasdorf, who signed with the Sabres out of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in March 2016 and was thrust into the starting lineup the following month when injuries struck the Buffalo netminders.
The Blue Jackets beat the Sabres 4-1 that day on goals by Matt Calvert, Nick Foligno, Dalton Prout and Brandon Saad.
It was the only NHL game of Kasdorf’s career. He was in the ECHL the following season and retired in 2019 after playing in Germany’s minor league.
Snacks
• Blue Jackets forward Jack Roslovic scored a power-play goal at 16:16 of the first period, cutting the Florida lead to 2-1 and giving Roslovic a career high in points (10-20-30) after just 40 games. His previous career high was set in 71 games last season (12-17-29).
• Roslovic scored another goal in the final minute of the first period, but the goal was disallowed because Blue Jackets forward Stefan Matteau was offside on the play just seconds earlier. “The refs … it seems like they’re out to get us now,” Roslovic said. “But I’m not going to sit here and blame them or place any of the heat on them.”
• Laine and Roslovic each made neutral-zone turnovers by trying to pass the puck through the feet of Panthers skaters and springing Florida on odd-man rushes and, ultimately, goals. Laine’s cough-up made it 2-0 just 14 seconds after the Panthers scored the game’s first goal. Roslovic’s helped make it 3-1 Florida at 7:04 of the second.
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• Blue Jackets forward Kole Sherwood and Florida’s Ryan Lomberg dropped the mitts on the ensuing faceoff after Florida went up 3-1. Full marks to Sherwood for trying to spark his club, but it didn’t end well. Sherwood threw a wild right early in the fight and got caught underneath by Lomberg. The fight was over seconds later.
• The top defensive pair of Michael Del Zotto and Seth Jones were both minus-3.
• The Blue Jackets have allowed an NHL-high 62 second-period goals so far this season in 48 games. They allowed 64 second-period goals all last season (70 games).
(Photo: Jamie Sabau / NHLI via Getty Images)
