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The Columbus Blue Jackets played one more playoff game this season than last Zach Hyman Jersey , but itâs all the same to general manager Jarmo Kekalainen and coach John Tortorella. Not good enough.
And apparently thereâs plenty of blame to go around.
âEverybody has to give skin here, from the coaches right on through, as far as what happened,â Tortorella said in his exit interview with reporters Thursday.
The Blue Jackets promising season fizzled out in the end. They overcame injuries to key players and finished the regular season strong, making the Stanley Cup playoffs for the second season in a row. They won the first two in the first-round playoff series on the road against the Washington Capitals, only to drop the next four straight.
It ended with a thud in a 6-3 loss in Game 6 on home ice Monday night.
Despite how all that sounds, the team didnât implode, Tortorella said.
âWe were a good enough team to beat Washington this year,â he said. âWe just did not make that big play and or get that big save at key times, and they did.
âI like our team, I like our personnel,â he said. âThe biggest thing is we need to change our mindset here Juuse Saros Jersey , (so) that we feel we belong in the playoffs. We need to think stronger in how to find a way. I want us to be more aggressive in our thinking and expect some more.â
The Blue Jackets undoubtedly will have some different faces next season. Just how many remains to be seen. Kekalainen was coy when asked if the team needs more talented players to get deeper into the playoffs.
âWeâre always looking to upgrade, one way or another,â he said. âI think weâre going to get better again from inside. Itâs going to be the same approach.â
Kekalainen cited the surprise trade last summer that brought star winger Artemi Panarin to town and the swift emergence of rookie center Pierre-Luc Dubois. But he wonât talk strategy.
One the goals likely will be to sign Panarin and goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky â the teamâs biggest stars â to contract extensions. Both will be unrestricted free agents in 2019, and the team would like to lock them up before that.
Defenseman Jack Johnson and forward Matt Calvert will be unrestricted free agents on July 1, so the Blue Jackets will have to make a decision on whether to sign them to new contracts. The 28-year-old Calvert, the longest tenured Blue Jacket at eight seasons but never more than a bottom six player, tied his career-high season point total with 24 and had three playoff goals.
The Blue Jackets also will have to decide whether to re-sign forwards Thomas Vanek and Mark Letestu and defensemen Ian Cole, all of whom were added at the trade deadline.
Columbus finished with 97 points, second most in franchise history after last seasonâs 108, and qualified for the playoffs as a wildcard. The team punctuated a furious comeback down the stretch with a 10-game winning streak in March.
But the playoffs were a bust. Again.
âWe expected more out of ourselves this year,â defenseman Zach Werenski said on his way out this week. âGo up 2-0 on the road, come back home we donât get a win. I just think we have higher expectations Milan Lucic Jersey Kids , and we should. We are a good hockey team and we fell short of our goals this year. At the end of the day, if you are not holding the Stanley Cup, itâs kind of a failed season. This one definitely stings.â
â
Injuries prevented the Texans from finding out exactly what their team could have been last season.
Star defensive end J.J. Watt, linebacker Whitney Mercilus and quarterback Deshaun Watson were among 21 Houston players that spent time on injured reserve during the 2017 campaign. The season predictably imploded, ending with six straight losses.
But before the avalanche of injuries, the Texans gave the eventual AFC champion New England Patriots all they could handle during a Week 3 visit to Gillette Stadium.
Despite having a rookie signal caller in Watson, the Texans' offense matched touchdowns with the Patriots. Houston was headed for an improbable victory before Tom Brady rescued his team with a 25-yard touchdown pass to Brandin Cooks in the final minute to give New England a 36-33 victory.
Now healed and with a revamped defense, the Texans return to New England on Sunday, hoping to put their misfortunes in the past as they open the 2018 season.
That is particularly true in the case of Watt, who has had parts of the past two seasons derailed by injuries .
He played just three games in 2016 before being sidelined with a herniated disc. The three-time Defensive Player of the Year then appeared in five games last season before having his year ended by a fractured left tibia.
"I'm just looking forward to playing football again," Watt said. "Obviously the last two years have been very rough for me. You want to play and everything that I've had to go through in the rehabs and the recoveries and all that it took and then, obviously Youth Jamie McGinn Jersey , (Hurricane Harvey) as well.
"But I'm just looking to getting back out on the field, playing football, flying around with the guys, doing what I love."
Meanwhile, the Patriots begin yet another season as the favorite in a conference they have dominated for nearly two decades thanks to Brady. He's now 41, but has yet to show any signs of diminished capacity coming off an MVP season.
He'll have a new-look receiving corps following the offseason departures of Danny Amendola and Cooks, as well as the four-game suspension of Julian Edelman for violating the NFL's policy on performance enhancers.
Though he's already secured his place in the Hall of Fame and may possibly end his career as the most accomplished quarterback in league history, Brady reiterated this week in the final installment of his Facebook Watch series "Tom Vs Time" that he wants to play five more seasons .
"I think I can do it," he said. "It'll be a challenge for me. I don't think it's going to be easy. It's going to be hard to do. I think it's going to be very hard to do. But I think I can do it. And once you stop you're done. And I think I'm not ready to say I'm done, because I don't feel like I am."
Here are some other things to know about Sunday's matchup between the Texans and Patriots:
CLOWNEY COMING: After having the best season of his career in 2017, Jadeveon Clowney is looking to do even more this year as part of a line that also features Watt.
The top overall pick in the 2014 draft finished last year second in the NFL with a career-high 21 tackles for losses, and his 9 1/2 sacks http://www.officialkings.com/authentic-adidas-alex...llo-jer sey , 21 quarterback hits and two forced fumbles were also career bests. He started all 16 games for the first time after struggling with injuries through the early part of his career, and his 59 tackles in 2017 were the most of his career.
"My goal is to make more plays than I did last year ... improving my sacks and tackles for loss and everything," he said. "I just want to do that again. With everybody back this year the sky's the limit for this defense and myself. I just have to come out and put it all together."
SPOTLESS RECORD: Houston is one of four teams New England has an undefeated regular-season home record against (4-0). The Patriots are 5-0 against Baltimore, 4-0 against Chicago and 4-0 against Jacksonville.
The Patriots also have won the last five regular-season meetings with the Texans overall.
HAVING HIS WAY: Aside from his late-game heroics last season, Brady has been equally steady against the Texans during his career. He has an 8-1 record against Houston, passing for 22 touchdowns and 2,565 yards (regular season and playoffs).
CONTAINING WATSON: Patriots linebacker Dont'a Hightower will be playing in his first regular-season game since suffering a season-ending shoulder injury last October. He said he's excited about the challenge of trying to contain Watson, who had his way with the Patriots in their meeting last season, passing for 301 yards and two touchdowns. Hightower said putting pressure on Watson early will be key to trying to slow him down.
"I think that's the biggest thing ... just not letting those guys get comfortable inside the pocket," Hightower said. "Hopefully we'll do a good job this week containing him in the run and pass game."
AP Sports Writer Kristie Rieken contributed to this report.
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