The Blue Jackets looked incredibly fast on Tuesday, a 5-2 rout in Winnipeg that sent the locals filing early out of Bell MTS Place. But the Jackets must have lost their legs somewhere between Manitoba and Ohio when they flew home on Wednesday.
How else to explain the first period on Thursday, when Tampa Bay played them like a cat with a flashlight?
“We were stuck,” John Tortorella said. “One guy was skating, other guys were watching. It was one of those periods for us. We have a fast team when we're ready to play. I don't think we were thinking quick.