The Best Players for the Columbus Blue Jackets Need to be Better

The Jackets dropped another frustrating loss last night, in a game that they could have won. We can debate the game quite a bit, but the common recurring theme in my opinion is: their best players need to play better.

It was an ugly start last night, one that harkened back memories of last year’s dismal performances. Ryan Lomberg kicked off the scoring for the Panthers just 2:19 into the game. Goals from Gustav Forsling (3:09) and Aleksander Barkov (6:09) seemed to put it well out of reach, just over six minutes in. Elvis Merzlikins was mercifully pulled from a game that seemed like it was heading towards a double digit loss.

After getting the game’s first shot on goal, the Blue Jackets were under siege from the Panthers for nearly the entire first period. The Cats put 21 straight shots on net, a number that doesn’t include the multiple posts they hit during that stretch of dominance. But Spencer Martin came in and helped the team stem the tide; eventually giving them a chance to get their legs going. The Jackets countered with goals from Sean Kuraly (15:41) and Boone Jenner (18:51), somehow getting back into this game before intermission.

Kirill Marchenko’s power-play goal just past the half way point of the second period tied things up. The Jackets and Panthers exchanged long shifts in the offensive zone for much of the balance of the game, but it seemed like it could be our night when Alexandre Texier scored the go-ahead goal 12:30 into the third period.

Unfortunately, it was not our night. An ugly clearing attempt from Ivan Provorov led to a Nick Cousins game-tying goal; then the Panthers dominated the overtime period, eventually getting the winner from Carter Verhaege just 1:26 in. The Jackets should feel really fortunate to come out of this one with a point; I don’t think that happens with the team from the past couple of years.

They battled back and kept working, getting goals from a couple of veteran role players, and then the young guns started to show out. But, I wanted to analyze what’s at the core of this team’s struggles right now. Let’s take a deep dive into things on the next page.