The Columbus Blue Jackets were humbled on Thursday night. Playing at Nationwide Arena for the first time in 16 days, they welcomed one of the NHL's perennial contenders for their visit of the season, the Vegas Golden Knights.
After coming out storming and taking control of the game early, the Jackets saw the Knights score the game's first goal at the 12:00 mark of the first period - one their first shot on goal. By the end of the period, the shots were 14-6 in favor of the good guys; but Vegas held a 2-0 lead.
Unfortunately, it was mostly downhill from there. Or, we could say, it was mostly Hill from there. Knights goaltender Adin Hill stopped 27 shots en route to his fourth shutout of the season, while his team played stingy defense and seemed to score in transition at their will. The end result: a 4-0 loss.
The dominant first period by the Blue Jackets seemed to deflate them once they went into the intermission down two goals. For the balance of the game, they managed just 13 shots on the Vegas net, rarely threatening to score as the Knights played a near perfect road game; silencing the crowd at Nationwide.
Last night's loss is the fourth Blue Jackets defeat in their last five games, leaving them desperately clinging to the final wild card spot in the Eastern Conference. On Tuesday, we were talking about possibly catching the New Jersey Devils for third in the division. Now, just three days later, the Devils are 8 points clear of the Jackets, who suddenly have to pay a lot more attention to their rear-view mirrors.
They have to dig deeper and find a way to win these games.
At this point in the season, everyone starts talking about the intensity of games heating up. That's certainly become evident in the last couple of weeks; and it certainly doesn't help that the Jackets are playing some of the true Stanley Cup contenders over that stretch of time.
The issue is, this team convinced Don Waddell ahead of the trade deadline that the solution was in the locker room. They thought that, as constructed, they could win these battles and push this team into a playoff spot for the first time in five years. So far, the results aren't reflective of that.
In the five game stretch since their Stadium Series game, the Jackets have been outscored 21-12. They've been shutout twice in that span, while their power-play has done way more harm than good. Playing games against Tampa Bay, Florida, the New York Rangers, New Jersey, and Vegas doesn't help; but if you want to play in the playoffs, you have to prove you can play with playoff teams.
The bad news is, it doesn't get any easier down the stretch. The Jackets play the Rangers, Devils, and Panthers in their next three games. After the Florida game is a back-to-back with travel into Pittsburgh, where they have won just once in the last decade.
Essentially, after this stretch of bad hockey: every game from here on out is the most meaningful game of the season for this team. At this time of year, every team is playing at its best. While they definitely won't win every night, they need to dig a lot deeper and start winning more of their share. Otherwise, this is going to be a wasted season where they won't even have a high draft pick to help in the future.
I still think this group can get it done. They control their own destiny, and they have avoided long losing streaks for much of the year (really, since early November). Hopefully they can figure it out quickly and get back to their winning ways.