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ScriptOhio
Everybody is somebody else's weirdo.
Blue Jackets gaining belief in the Bowness era | Columbus Blue Jackets
The new head coach has repeatedly said he's in charge of a good team, and the results are showing it
www.nhl.com
Blue Jackets gaining belief in the Bowness era
The new head coach has repeatedly said he's in charge of a good team, and the results are showing it
When Rick Bowness took over as head coach of the Blue Jackets, one of the key factors why he came out of retirement and accepted the team's offer was he thought he could win hockey games and do it quickly.
Columbus needed to vault up the standings to get back in the Eastern Conference playoff race, but when Bowness looked at the roster and reflected on what he had watched on the ice this year, he saw the bones – no pun intended – of a team that had potential.
“I look at that team and I said, ‘I think I can help that team. They’re better than their record looks,’” Bowness said at his introductory press conference. “I did feel like Columbus is one of the teams I honestly feel I could help, so I'm here.”
Six games in, he’s been proven right. The Blue Jackets have won five of those contests since Bowness took over, and the early days of his tenure have been marked by a few changes to the team’s philosophy. He’s preached playing a pressure game and being more defensively responsible, and the Blue Jackets have responded by allowing just eight 5-on-5 goals in the last six games while being harder to play against.
But perhaps the biggest adjustment has come between the ears – or at least on their torsos. A new shirt with the words “Raise the bar, Expect to win” has been delivered to players, and it’s that last part in particular that Bowness has wanted to instill in his new squad.
“You better walk into the rink expecting to win,” Bowness said. “That’s the only way to do it, man. You don’t walk in with having so much respect for the opposition, you don’t play your game. To hell with that. You walk in, you have swagger, you have confidence in your team and the way you play.”
The Blue Jackets still have work to do to make it where they want to go in the standings, as they sit eight points behind the final wild card spot and six behind the Islanders for third in the division, but that confident mind-set seems to have them on the right track. As evidence, the team’s last three wins – at Pittsburgh and at home vs. Dallas and Tampa Bay – came against teams that are currently in the top 10 in the NHL in points percentage.
In the Blue Jackets dressing room, the belief never seemed to waver, but hearing someone come from the outside to deliver the message seems to have had an impact.
“First and foremost, we believe that with this group,” Mathieu Olivier said. “We still believed it when Dean (Evason) was coach, but you have another coach come in, he becomes part of the family, right, and kind of leads our way and says the same things (we believe). It just validates what we thought originally.
“We knew we were a better team than our record. For some reason, we couldn’t get it together, but we’re in a little bit of a good run here. Overall, we’re getting the results, but the way we’re playing is a lot more suited to what we should be doing out there.”
In fact, Bowness has delivered the message not just in the press – where he’s spoken a number of times about how much he believes in the quality of his squad – but in the dressing room.
“If I’m coming back, I wanted a chance to win,” he said in his first meeting with the squad Jan. 13, as detailed in Behind The Battle presented by PNC Bank. “I’ve watched your games enough this year, and I believe in you guys.”
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Just sayin': They are currently 10 points away from a wild card spot with 30 games to play.
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they won again tonight and are 7-3 in their last 10.
I was checking this site out: https://moneypuck.com/teams.htm
It has a bunch of graphs that show different metrics. The Blue Jackets are a bit unlucky and tend to be slightly "bad" 5 on 5. I think if they make any more moves, they'll do something to bolster their front line scoring more than anything else at this point - but it wouldn't shock me to see the team stand pat too.
I was checking this site out: https://moneypuck.com/teams.htm
It has a bunch of graphs that show different metrics. The Blue Jackets are a bit unlucky and tend to be slightly "bad" 5 on 5. I think if they make any more moves, they'll do something to bolster their front line scoring more than anything else at this point - but it wouldn't shock me to see the team stand pat too.
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ScriptOhio
Everybody is somebody else's weirdo.
No lead is safe for the Blue Jackets. Last night they had a 2 goal lead (3-1) in the 3rd and blew it (3-3). Luckily they did still win 5-3; which isn't the norm. The Columbus Blue Jackets have 9 losses after having the lead in the 3rd period, which is the most of any team in the 2025-26 NHL season.
The I found this chart: https://champsorchumps.us/records/most-nhl-blown-leads-in-2026
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