Columbus Blue Jackets Lose More Than Game in 4-0 Loss to Jets

The Columbus Blue Jackets enter the All Star break two games under .500 and on the heels of a mini-losing streak, after falling flat in Winnipeg and losing 4-0 to the Jets.

The Blue Jackets held the Jets scoreless longer than in their last meeting – which was all of nine seconds – but Winnipeg still got on the board quickly, after a turnover in the defensive zone lead to a pretty impressive acrobatic goal from Blake Wheeler to slide past the skate of Sergei Bobrovsky to make it 1-0 Jets just 68 seconds after puck drop.

It was another turnover, this time in the neutral zone, that lead to the second goal, in which it looked like Mark Scheifele was going to walk the puck right up to Bob, but he instead dished it behind to Evander Kane who took a wrist shot from the point to barley squeeze through the five-hole of Bob to give the Jets a 2-0 lead.

The biggest deflation of those first two goals was the fact that they were scored on the first two shots of the game for Winnipeg. Outside of the turnovers leading to goals, the first period wasn’t a bad one for the Blue Jackets. They outshot the Jets (yes, you read that right) and even put together a couple of stretches of solid offensive-zone time

The second period saw two more Jets goals get scored but that was far from the story. Before the second period even began, Jeremy Morin was out for the rest of the game due to an upper body injury, and then Bob had to leave the ice after going down to the ice to make a save (on a puck that missed the net and slid to the boards behind the net, mind you). Bob did a butterfly-esque move, but came down awkwardly on his right leg, and immediately went to move his glove to the back of his leg, but quickly pulled back. Play was eventually stopped by the officials, and Bob had an incredibly hard time getting up to leave the ice.

It looked like he was doing pushups trying to get up after going down (which is the best way I can describe it – I feel like that somehow accurately explains how much Bob was struggling) and he needed help getting off the ice, putting no pressure whatsoever on it on his way down to the tunnel.

Curtis McElhinney, who has been playing really well over his last handful of appearances, had yet another strong outing, especially considering the circumstances – coming into the game in the middle period, already down three and on the heels of an injury to the starting goaltender. And, aside from one goal allowed just a few minutes into entering the game, Mac stood strong and made some good saves. His play continues to elevate every minute he’s on the ice, and tonight was no different. Stick taps to you, Mac.

On the other end of the ice, Michael Hutchison was outstanding for the Jets, and won his second game of the year against Columbus. I had a feeling he’d play well again, but I had no idea he’d play this well. His level of play is what we’ve seen out of the likes of Bob, and he made some incredible saves and didn’t allow a single Blue Jacket to reach the scoreboard. You hate to do so, but you just have to – stick taps to you, too, Hutch.

I want to say that I was expecting more out of the Blue Jackets tonight, but that really isn’t a fair assessment of the game. Columbus played much better than the 4-0 final score would indicate, but Winnipeg just took full and complete advantage when they needed to to get the final edge.

Well, here we are. We have reached the All Star break, a time not only for the city of Columbus to shine for the whole NHL world, but a time for the most injury-riddled team to get some R&R and ready for the season’s second half.