COLUMBUS, Ohio — Before the Columbus Blue Jackets played host to the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday in both teams’ return to NHL action, Zach Werenski was asked whether league play would seem like “slow motion” compared to the frenzied 4 Nations Face-Off.
The Blue Jackets defenseman balked at that idea.
“I don’t expect an NHL game to feel like slow motion,” he said. “It’s the time of year right now, teams are fighting for points, so I’m expecting a pretty good game tonight.”
To be fair to Werenski, he hadn’t played against the Hawks since early December.
The Hawks looked sluggish coming out of the gate and finished that way in a 5-1 loss in front of a sellout crowd of 18,809 at Nationwide Arena. It was their fifth straight loss to the Blue Jackets dating to Dec. 31, 2022.
“We had flashes of some decent hockey,” Hawks defenseman Alex Vlasic said. “In the second period, we kind of jumped on them. But they’re an opportunistic team, and any time we kind of fell asleep or made a mistake, they capitalized.”
Hawks interim coach Anders Sorensen acknowledged the Hawks struggled at times to recover from the leaguewide two-week break for the 4 Nations tournament.
“The first (period), so and so, a little rusty,” he said. “The second period we did some really good things. Unfortunately, (we) come out of that one still down two (goals).
“In the third we made a push. (Blue Jackets goalie Elvis Merzlikins) made some big saves there when it was 3-1, and then they come right back and get the fourth one and the wind (was taken) out of our sails a little bit.”
Werenski looked like he carried some juice from his standout performance in the 4 Nations, in which he posted six assists for the U.S. and had a tournament-high six points.
On Saturday, he had a goal and two assists, extending his home point streak to 22 games.
Kent Johnson, who had five goals and five assists in his previous 10 games, continued his hot hand against the Hawks, scoring a goal in each of the first two periods — with both assists coming from Werenski.
After Johnson’s power-play goal 1 minute, 12 seconds into the second, the Hawks finally found a spark, thanks to their third power play. Craig Smith tipped in Vlasic’s point shot 3 minutes, 41 seconds after Johnson’s goal.
Denton Mateychuk closed out the frame with an unassisted goal.
The Hawks had an early third-period sequence in which they had two misses and two shots on goal but couldn’t get a goal to land.
The Blue Jackets all but closed the door late in the third when Werenski scored on a breakaway and Adam Fantilli followed with his 16th goal of the season 53 seconds later.
“You said it. All five guys were caught deep,” Sorensen said. ”We had opportunities to shoot, we didn’t, we passed it off, we got our shot blocked and then we ended up with basically all five guys below them, and then Werenski just takes off.
“We have to have better layers there and better recognition of where we are on the ice in that situation. Especially when it’s only a 3-1 game, right, at that point? We had some opportunities there, so let’s be a little bit smarter.”
Here are three takeaways from the loss.
1. Craig Smith’s postgame address should be read as an undressing of the Hawks.
Usually it’s Nick Foligno’s job to wag his finger at the Hawks’ various shortcomings, but Smith took a pretty good crack at it himself Saturday.
“Frustrating,” Smith replied when asked about the Hawks’ performance. “Especially coming out the break there and a couple days of practice, what we prepared ourselves to do. …
“It’s getting embarrassing. We have to dig deep personally before every game. That preparation starts the day before the game, what we’re doing, how we practice, things that are said, how you eat, how you get up. You can’t just turn it on when you get to the rink.
“It’s a 48-hour game and whoever’s prepared the most coming to the rink, you do what it takes to win. That’s the mindset.”
2. The second power play showed a little more urgency.
If Seth Jones packs his bags for greener pastures, who would take some of his workload? As far the power play is concerned, Alex Martinez is an option, but so is Vlasic.
Vlasic slogged through a 14-game point drought but has had an assist in three straight games (four overall).
He connected with Smith on the Hawks’ only goal, partly because — playing on the second unit — he didn’t have much time for indecision, the undoing of many a Hawks power play.
“He walked the blue line before and we had eyeball contact there,” Smith said of Vlasic. “He just wanted to see how much would open up when he walked the line.
“When he came back the other way, he was on his forehand and he was able to get a clean look.”
Smith just angled it in.
“Great tip by Smitty,” Vlasic said. “I just think for our unit, we’re out there for 30 seconds or less, so we have a big emphasis and just kind of throwing things to the net and try to create some havoc there.”
3. It wouldn’t have mattered, but Elvis Merzlikins’ baseball-style catch was fun to watch.
The Blue Jackets netminder already caught one break earlier in the first period when Connor Bedard’s goal was waved off for interference.
But Merzlikins made another stop that looked quite spectacular.
He ventured far out of the crease to swat back a potential breakaway. And when the puck found Smith in the neutral zone, the Hawks forward launched a shot from 93 feet at what he thought would be an open net.
Merzlikins made a leaping catch while falling backward, like a baseball outfielder.
“I was pretty excited when I got the puck because he was way out of the net,”Smith said, “but he made a good grab.”
Vlasic didn’t seem impressed: “(Lukas) Reichel was offside, so I don’t think it was going to count anyway.”
Smith also wondered whether the launch angle was too high for the net.
“Was it going in? I don’t know,” he said. “At that point, there (were) a lot of bodies in front of me that were trying to get the puck in, and just send some crap to the net and see what happens.”
