DALLAS _ Columbus coach John Tortorella took down his "Safe is Death" sign Monday in hopes of spurring the Blue Jackets out of a recent slump.
It worked, as Columbus took a 2-1 win and stopped the Stars' roll at home.
Tortorella, who rode the high-flying "Safe is Death" mantra to a Stanley Cup with Tampa Bay, has tried to preach an aggressive attacking style throughout his career, but after a 2-4-2 run started to drop the Blue Jackets in the standings, Tortorella resorted to some significant changes in style, and the Stars jumped right on board.
The two teams played a game of Monopoly at American Airlines Center, slowly gathering properties and trying to set up for the big move.
"I just took it to another level today, taking the sign down, because that's not what we can be as a team right now," Tortorella told reporters in Columbus on Monday. "A little bit has to do with personnel, but a little bit has to do with just our overall play. I think we need to get back to just our foundation, our structure, and I don't want to say, 'play safer,' but play smarter."
It shouldn't have been surprising with the two goalies in net. Ben Bishop has been on a roll at home, entering the game with a 13-3-1 record at AAC accompanied by a 1.95 GAA and .933 save percentage. Columbus goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, meanwhile, came in with a 9-1-1 career mark against the Stars with a 1.80 GAA and .944 save percentage.
So how could it not be a goaltender's duel?
Tortorella and the Blue Jackets helped that storyline along, as both teams played a "safe" game in the first and second periods. Bishop had a couple of nice saves in traffic, and Bobrovsky stopped Devin Shore, Dan Hamhuis and Tyler Pitlick on great chances.
Dallas, which falls to 22-16-3 (47 points) has been trying to play a smart, aggressive game, but they also wanted to be patient, coach Ken Hitchcock said. He has been proud in recent games that his team has not tried to "swing for the fences" in close games.
"I think what's satisfying is the fact that we had a lot of players who played well tonight," Hitchcock said of a comeback win over St. Louis last week. "I thought we gathered it in when we got down 2-1. There was a flurry of trying to hit home runs, but we stopped it and the guys went back to what we were doing well. That's the biggest thing for me is that we caught ourselves, without the coach catching us, trying to hit that home run. It's going to be tough when we had those three chances at the beginning of the third period to try to put the game away and or goalie made two great saves. Then they got those two quickies but I thought we gathered it in and put some pressure on them. It was a good game for us."
The Stars did the same thing Tuesday, pushing back in a controlled manner. However, the Blue Jackets (23-15-3, 49 points) played this one perfectly. They received a great game in net from Bobrovsky, who stopped 21 shots, and also got two goals from Oliver Bjorkstrand. After Dallas took a 1-0 lead 44 seconds into the third period on a Devin Shore tip of a John Klingberg shot, Bjorkstrand made two great plays.
Stephen Johns tried to catch a high flip into the defensive zone, and Bjorkstrand picked the puck out of his skates and sailed in alone on Bishop, beating him to the far post. Then, 1:18 later, Bjorkstrand got around Esa Lindell and lifted a puck over Bishop's shoulder for the game-winner.
Bishop, who had a shutout streak of 120:23 broken, took the loss when Dallas couldn't find a way to tie the game late. It was a tough defeat, but an interesting lesson in how an opponent can control the style of play.
"I hope we can put that thing back up on the wall," Tortorella said. "I told them today, 'I hate taking it down, because I believe that's the way you have to play in today's game.' But the situation we're in right now, it's going to go in the closet and hopefully it doesn't get dusty in there, and we can put it back up soon."
