November 13, 2025 • 10 mins
Brian Hedger of The Columbus Dispatch says it looks as though Columbus seems to be playing with a lack of energy. The key in a season is to get points any way you can
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, let's talk some Blue Jackets hockey.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
You want to I do Blue Jackets back home tonight
after this kind of the road trip. Let's check in
with Brian Hedger on the Legacy Retirement Group dot com
phone line. Brian covers the Jackets for the Columbus Dispatch.
Does a great job. I read you whatever I can. Brian,
Thanks for coming on. Good to talk to you again.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
Good to talk to you again. They for having me on.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Let's talk about We'll get to tonight's game and some
overall stuff here, and let's talk about the road trip.
Jackets come away with three points available ten points.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
They finished one to three and one on the road.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
I would have felt better if it was two, two
and one and they came home with five points, but
I guess it could have been worse.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Talk about the road trip, Well, they.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
I mean they actually had left about six points in
the table, about three wins that they I mean, arguably
they should have had these wins. You know, they were
in New York against the Islanders. It was the back
half of the back at the back. It was a
short turn around. It is like a twenty hour difference
between you know, puck drop between the first one they
(01:05):
beat the Blues, and the second one and they got
the game won. And you know, the Islanders scored two
goals in the last one minute and seven seconds of
regulation and and win. And they don't get a point
out of that one. At least when I get up,
like get to overtime and get a point there. Right
then they go on the road, you know, get blown
(01:25):
out in Calgary. But even though I mean the scoredd
matchup with them in that game wasn't great, but you know,
underlying numbers actually weren't terrible for the Blue Jackets in
that one. They just you know, it happened sometimes hockey.
Then you go to Vancouver and another one gets away
from them. You know, they're you know, they're tied, and
(01:48):
you know, they give up a late goal in third period.
Another game that's like I think it's five minutes to go,
they give up the winning goal five or six minutes.
Those games have to at least go to overtime. I mean,
that's from what I used to cover years ago. I
used to cover the Chicago Blackhawks when they were you know,
really good and going to the kind of like a final.
(02:08):
And one of the biggest things that that team learned
in their it was like their second or third Cup
run was how important it is just to get a point,
you know, just I mean, you want to get wins
for sure, but like just get the game to overtime
if you can be careful, be smart with the puck.
You know, when there's five minutes left in regulation, you
(02:31):
got to get a point out of that game at
least and then try and get a win. And you know,
they just kind of made some mental errors, some mistakes.
You know, guys got free and then Edmonton. You know,
so like the Edmonton this is kind of getting back
to what you're talking about, was the three points at
the end of the of the Western candidate trip. They
have the Oilers beat, you know, they have them down,
(02:54):
they're up a goal, they get a power play, and
then they end up I mean just unbelie believably bad
luck obviously plays into it. You know, puck deflex off,
Matthew Olivier stick, he's trying to play defense. But why
are you playing defense when you're on power play? You know,
and uh, and that's the question. The puck goes in
(03:17):
the net, you know, with like feeling of fifty eight
seconds left to tie it, and the of course, of
course Columbus's own Jack Rose, you know, former Blue Jackets,
get the breakaway in overtime and then and you know,
end that game and wins it for the Oilers.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
Yeah, I generally I root for Jack.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
I like him. He's a good guy.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
You know, my kid plays youth hockey. We see him
at the rink when he's in town. But in that case,
I was not happy at all. But speaking with Brian
Hedger covering the Jackets for the Dispatch, you know the
theme though, is this inability to close out these games.
I mean you're taking these leads into the third period
and in a couple of cases two leads. What's breaking down?
(04:02):
Is this a defensive breakdown? I mean do they miss
Erica Brandson that much? I mean he's been he's not
been playing. He didn't play in the West Coast trip.
Is this a goaltending problem? Is this just all five
players on the ice need to be more accountable late
in these games?
Speaker 1 (04:16):
What's going on? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (04:19):
I think it's it's kind of the ladder. I think
that all five players on the ice just need to
I just really think that they need to focus more.
It feels like a lack of focus, it really does,
you know, in these or confidence. I mean that's kind
of leading up to it. I mean it all kind
of plays together, right the Islanders game sort of you know,
(04:41):
the gut punch, and so then that kind of bleeds
into the next one, and then there's another gut punch
and another one, and I think when you have a
number of these, you start getting in those situations and
now it's like, oh boy, here we go again. You know,
they just have to like start finishing some of these off,
regain their confidence like that. They didn't have this problem
last year. They did have this problem two years ago
(05:04):
with Pascal Vinton, and it ultimately led to Pascal Vintent
being replaced at the end of the season. Everyone complained
about I mean it's two years ago. Everyone forgets, you know, yesterday.
But basically they we might still have Pascal Vinton as
a coach here, to be honest with you, if they
knew how to finish games two years ago. But two
(05:24):
years ago we said, well, this team's still growing. It's young,
you know, give them some time, give them a chance
to learn and mature. And you know, now we're two
years down the road, and we saw what they were
capable of last year, almost making the playoffs, and now
it's just like, okay, guys, enough of the learning, enough
of that stuff, Like it's time to get your confidence
back and just polish some of these games off. I
(05:46):
don't think it's goaltending necessarily. I mean, it's always you
can always fault the goaltender on a like pretty much
every goal right the job. But yeah, there's breakdowns and
stuff that are happening and dumb luck. I mean, like
you know a couple of those of the Islanders game,
puck the flex off back Warinsky stick and goes over
(06:07):
Elvis Morzikan's shoulder, and like I just said, Olivier in Vancouver,
I believe is what it was. So Arnolatt was actually Edmonton.
You're getting some bad luck. It's a little bit of
mix of all. But they just kind of have to.
You have to figure out ways to get these things done.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
Puck drops at seven thirty tonight nationwide Arena Edmonton, and
we're getting them for a little revenge game within about
four days, uh, and they're on the second half of
a back to back.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
They went into overtime with Philly last night.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
They got the win, but hopefully some some rubber legs
for the Oilers tonight. And I would like to see
them shut down mister McDavid. I mean the goal he
had the other night was just nasty. The little spin
arama pirowet move the back and in and you know again,
I root for Connor McDavid, arguably the best player on
the planet, but not tonight. I'd like to see them
(06:58):
shut him down. I mean that goal was just filthy.
He just broke my Tachuck's ankles on that one. And uh,
let's I don't know, how do you see tonight's game going.
I mean, the Jackets are back home, They're gonna be
a little tired themselves after you know what, five different
time zones.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
That's the thing, right, Like usually almost every time a team,
especially Blue Jackets, comes off a long West coast trip
where there's a bunch of time zones, that first game back,
even though you get you get back, and even though
you have a day off and data adjust your body
clock and all that stuff. I don't know what it is.
(07:35):
And and and the guys, if you ask him about it,
they'll be like, oh, there's nothing to it. It's just
you know, it's what but like the results of the
results and like pretty much almost every single time they
struggle in that first game back off a road trip.
So that's something to watch out for Tonite. That's gonna
that it's gonna be a slog it's gonna be kind
of tough. But as you mentioned with the Oilers going
(07:57):
to overtime last night, you know, the Oilers came from
the West Coast as well, and they had to go
play on the East Coast last night in New York
and then make another trip here. So hopefully the physical stuff,
hopefully that kind of like you know, washes out and
bounces out between the two teams, and like you said,
hopefully it takes a little bit of juice out of
Conor McDavid. You know, both goals he scored in those
(08:19):
in that game against the Jackets were just I mean,
they were classic Conor McDavid goals was crazy. But the
second one where he just basically hits the turbo boost
and goes right around the outside and scores on Jack
Grease before he even knows what happened. I mean, that's
just there's there's one guy on the planet in the
universe who can make that move, and he made it, and.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
It's like the Jackets are just are in awe.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
They were just pluck watching as he's skating down through
the middle of the in the neutral zone. But said
seven thirty tonight, the game is not on FanDuel, by
the way, It's on Hulu and ESPN Plus. So just
a note for fans watching this at home. I got
about a minute left. Brian Header from the Dispatch talk
about the schedule. I mean, it looks like the November schedule.
(09:01):
There's a lot of points, a lot of available points
to be had this month with teams that are either
equal to or a little less then as far as
the standings are concerned to the Jackets, So seems like
a month where we could get some points going.
Speaker 3 (09:12):
Yeah, they're they're out there for them, and I guess
that's another one of the frustrating parts about the rough
patch they just hit. If you look at these teams now,
the Oilers, obviously they're the past two years, they're Stanley
Cup runner up, you know, but we're looking at this
season and we're looking at how teams are playing this season,
(09:33):
and pretty much every one of those teams that they
lost to are not doing great the standing. So it's
just like it just really makes it kind of doubles
this thing a little bit that you didn't beat those teams.
So looking forward, it is a pack schedule, a missus
an Olympic year. It's the first time and I don't
even know how many years the NHL is going back
to the Olympics. So because on the you know, before
(09:55):
the Olympics and after them the Olympics, the schedule is compressed.
And so what that means is you've got a ton
of games out there on each side of the Olympic break.
And it said, is there gonna come at you one
after another. We're already you know, seventeen games in the season.
So the points are out there. This is a pretty
good team, this Blue Jackets team. They just have to
(10:16):
kind of you know, right the ship here and uh
and start you know, racking up points.
Hey, let's talk some Blue Jackets hockey.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
You want to I do Blue Jackets back home tonight
after this kind of the road trip. Let's check in
with Brian Hedger on the Legacy Retirement Group dot com
phone line. Brian covers the Jackets for the Columbus Dispatch.
Does a great job. I read you whatever I can. Brian,
Thanks for coming on. Good to talk to you again.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
Good to talk to you again. They for having me on.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Let's talk about We'll get to tonight's game and some
overall stuff here, and let's talk about the road trip.
Jackets come away with three points available ten points.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
They finished one to three and one on the road.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
I would have felt better if it was two, two
and one and they came home with five points, but
I guess it could have been worse.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Talk about the road trip, Well, they.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
I mean they actually had left about six points in
the table, about three wins that they I mean, arguably
they should have had these wins. You know, they were
in New York against the Islanders. It was the back
half of the back at the back. It was a
short turn around. It is like a twenty hour difference
between you know, puck drop between the first one they
(01:05):
beat the Blues, and the second one and they got
the game won. And you know, the Islanders scored two
goals in the last one minute and seven seconds of
regulation and and win. And they don't get a point
out of that one. At least when I get up,
like get to overtime and get a point there. Right
then they go on the road, you know, get blown
(01:25):
out in Calgary. But even though I mean the scoredd
matchup with them in that game wasn't great, but you know,
underlying numbers actually weren't terrible for the Blue Jackets in
that one. They just you know, it happened sometimes hockey.
Then you go to Vancouver and another one gets away
from them. You know, they're you know, they're tied, and
(01:48):
you know, they give up a late goal in third period.
Another game that's like I think it's five minutes to go,
they give up the winning goal five or six minutes.
Those games have to at least go to overtime. I mean,
that's from what I used to cover years ago. I
used to cover the Chicago Blackhawks when they were you know,
really good and going to the kind of like a final.
(02:08):
And one of the biggest things that that team learned
in their it was like their second or third Cup
run was how important it is just to get a point,
you know, just I mean, you want to get wins
for sure, but like just get the game to overtime
if you can be careful, be smart with the puck.
You know, when there's five minutes left in regulation, you
(02:31):
got to get a point out of that game at
least and then try and get a win. And you know,
they just kind of made some mental errors, some mistakes.
You know, guys got free and then Edmonton. You know,
so like the Edmonton this is kind of getting back
to what you're talking about, was the three points at
the end of the of the Western candidate trip. They
have the Oilers beat, you know, they have them down,
(02:54):
they're up a goal, they get a power play, and
then they end up I mean just unbelie believably bad
luck obviously plays into it. You know, puck deflex off,
Matthew Olivier stick, he's trying to play defense. But why
are you playing defense when you're on power play? You know,
and uh, and that's the question. The puck goes in
(03:17):
the net, you know, with like feeling of fifty eight
seconds left to tie it, and the of course, of
course Columbus's own Jack Rose, you know, former Blue Jackets,
get the breakaway in overtime and then and you know,
end that game and wins it for the Oilers.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
Yeah, I generally I root for Jack.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
I like him. He's a good guy.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
You know, my kid plays youth hockey. We see him
at the rink when he's in town. But in that case,
I was not happy at all. But speaking with Brian
Hedger covering the Jackets for the Dispatch, you know the
theme though, is this inability to close out these games.
I mean you're taking these leads into the third period
and in a couple of cases two leads. What's breaking down?
(04:02):
Is this a defensive breakdown? I mean do they miss
Erica Brandson that much? I mean he's been he's not
been playing. He didn't play in the West Coast trip.
Is this a goaltending problem? Is this just all five
players on the ice need to be more accountable late
in these games?
Speaker 1 (04:16):
What's going on? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (04:19):
I think it's it's kind of the ladder. I think
that all five players on the ice just need to
I just really think that they need to focus more.
It feels like a lack of focus, it really does,
you know, in these or confidence. I mean that's kind
of leading up to it. I mean it all kind
of plays together, right the Islanders game sort of you know,
(04:41):
the gut punch, and so then that kind of bleeds
into the next one, and then there's another gut punch
and another one, and I think when you have a
number of these, you start getting in those situations and
now it's like, oh boy, here we go again. You know,
they just have to like start finishing some of these off,
regain their confidence like that. They didn't have this problem
last year. They did have this problem two years ago
(05:04):
with Pascal Vinton, and it ultimately led to Pascal Vintent
being replaced at the end of the season. Everyone complained
about I mean it's two years ago. Everyone forgets, you know, yesterday.
But basically they we might still have Pascal Vinton as
a coach here, to be honest with you, if they
knew how to finish games two years ago. But two
(05:24):
years ago we said, well, this team's still growing. It's young,
you know, give them some time, give them a chance
to learn and mature. And you know, now we're two
years down the road, and we saw what they were
capable of last year, almost making the playoffs, and now
it's just like, okay, guys, enough of the learning, enough
of that stuff, Like it's time to get your confidence
back and just polish some of these games off. I
(05:46):
don't think it's goaltending necessarily. I mean, it's always you
can always fault the goaltender on a like pretty much
every goal right the job. But yeah, there's breakdowns and
stuff that are happening and dumb luck. I mean, like
you know a couple of those of the Islanders game,
puck the flex off back Warinsky stick and goes over
(06:07):
Elvis Morzikan's shoulder, and like I just said, Olivier in Vancouver,
I believe is what it was. So Arnolatt was actually Edmonton.
You're getting some bad luck. It's a little bit of
mix of all. But they just kind of have to.
You have to figure out ways to get these things done.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
Puck drops at seven thirty tonight nationwide Arena Edmonton, and
we're getting them for a little revenge game within about
four days, uh, and they're on the second half of
a back to back.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
They went into overtime with Philly last night.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
They got the win, but hopefully some some rubber legs
for the Oilers tonight. And I would like to see
them shut down mister McDavid. I mean the goal he
had the other night was just nasty. The little spin
arama pirowet move the back and in and you know again,
I root for Connor McDavid, arguably the best player on
the planet, but not tonight. I'd like to see them
(06:58):
shut him down. I mean that goal was just filthy.
He just broke my Tachuck's ankles on that one. And uh,
let's I don't know, how do you see tonight's game going.
I mean, the Jackets are back home, They're gonna be
a little tired themselves after you know what, five different
time zones.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
That's the thing, right, Like usually almost every time a team,
especially Blue Jackets, comes off a long West coast trip
where there's a bunch of time zones, that first game back,
even though you get you get back, and even though
you have a day off and data adjust your body
clock and all that stuff. I don't know what it is.
(07:35):
And and and the guys, if you ask him about it,
they'll be like, oh, there's nothing to it. It's just
you know, it's what but like the results of the
results and like pretty much almost every single time they
struggle in that first game back off a road trip.
So that's something to watch out for Tonite. That's gonna
that it's gonna be a slog it's gonna be kind
of tough. But as you mentioned with the Oilers going
(07:57):
to overtime last night, you know, the Oilers came from
the West Coast as well, and they had to go
play on the East Coast last night in New York
and then make another trip here. So hopefully the physical stuff,
hopefully that kind of like you know, washes out and
bounces out between the two teams, and like you said,
hopefully it takes a little bit of juice out of
Conor McDavid. You know, both goals he scored in those
(08:19):
in that game against the Jackets were just I mean,
they were classic Conor McDavid goals was crazy. But the
second one where he just basically hits the turbo boost
and goes right around the outside and scores on Jack
Grease before he even knows what happened. I mean, that's
just there's there's one guy on the planet in the
universe who can make that move, and he made it, and.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
It's like the Jackets are just are in awe.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
They were just pluck watching as he's skating down through
the middle of the in the neutral zone. But said
seven thirty tonight, the game is not on FanDuel, by
the way, It's on Hulu and ESPN Plus. So just
a note for fans watching this at home. I got
about a minute left. Brian Header from the Dispatch talk
about the schedule. I mean, it looks like the November schedule.
(09:01):
There's a lot of points, a lot of available points
to be had this month with teams that are either
equal to or a little less then as far as
the standings are concerned to the Jackets, So seems like
a month where we could get some points going.
Speaker 3 (09:12):
Yeah, they're they're out there for them, and I guess
that's another one of the frustrating parts about the rough
patch they just hit. If you look at these teams now,
the Oilers, obviously they're the past two years, they're Stanley
Cup runner up, you know, but we're looking at this
season and we're looking at how teams are playing this season,
(09:33):
and pretty much every one of those teams that they
lost to are not doing great the standing. So it's
just like it just really makes it kind of doubles
this thing a little bit that you didn't beat those teams.
So looking forward, it is a pack schedule, a missus
an Olympic year. It's the first time and I don't
even know how many years the NHL is going back
to the Olympics. So because on the you know, before
(09:55):
the Olympics and after them the Olympics, the schedule is compressed.
And so what that means is you've got a ton
of games out there on each side of the Olympic break.
And it said, is there gonna come at you one
after another. We're already you know, seventeen games in the season.
So the points are out there. This is a pretty
good team, this Blue Jackets team. They just have to
(10:16):
kind of you know, right the ship here and uh
and start you know, racking up points.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Ruthie's Table 4
For more than 30 years The River Cafe in London, has been the home-from-home of artists, architects, designers, actors, collectors, writers, activists, and politicians. Michael Caine, Glenn Close, JJ Abrams, Steve McQueen, Victoria and David Beckham, and Lily Allen, are just some of the people who love to call The River Cafe home. On River Cafe Table 4, Rogers sits down with her customers—who have become friends—to talk about food memories. Table 4 explores how food impacts every aspect of our lives. “Foods is politics, food is cultural, food is how you express love, food is about your heritage, it defines who you and who you want to be,” says Rogers. Each week, Rogers invites her guest to reminisce about family suppers and first dates, what they cook, how they eat when performing, the restaurants they choose, and what food they seek when they need comfort. And to punctuate each episode of Table 4, guests such as Ralph Fiennes, Emily Blunt, and Alfonso Cuarón, read their favourite recipe from one of the best-selling River Cafe cookbooks. Table 4 itself, is situated near The River Cafe’s open kitchen, close to the bright pink wood-fired oven and next to the glossy yellow pass, where Ruthie oversees the restaurant. You are invited to take a seat at this intimate table and join the conversation. For more information, recipes, and ingredients, go to https://shoptherivercafe.co.uk/ Web: https://rivercafe.co.uk/ Instagram: www.instagram.com/therivercafelondon/ Facebook: https://en-gb.facebook.com/therivercafelondon/ For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iheartradio app, apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com