As the Blue Jackets drop their fourth straight, it's time for a shakeup in Columbus

In 25 years of NHL hockey in Central Ohio, you would be pretty hard pressed to find a more frustrating result than last night's Blue Jackets loss in Edmonton.

Okay, maybe that's an exaggeration. After all, this franchise has been the dumpster fire of the NHL since their inception at the turn of the millennium. Surely, there were more embarrassing losses than this, right? Right?

It doesn't feel like it this morning.

We knew last night's game would be an extremely difficult challenge. In fact, we mentioned it yesterday. The Oilers were embarrassed on home ice in their last game, and had also lost three in a row.

They have two of the best offensive players in the world, so despite the fact that the Blue Jackets had a lot to play for; it seemed like this was going to be a tricky one. To top it off, there were some key CBJ players missing the game due to illness.

However, to our pleasant surprise, our team played a near perfect road game for more than 57 minutes. Sure, it wasn't a dominant performance, but it was about as close as you can get against the high flying Oilers.

The Jackets smothered them defensively, played "keep-away" in the offensive zone, and entered the third period with a two goal lead. They even struck back after the best player on the planet scored a highlight reel goal, regaining that two goal lead.

Then, late in the game, Central Ohio native Jack Roslovic gifted them a 2-minute man advantage with an errant stick. There was only 2:18 left on the clock. Surely, the losing streak was about to come to an end. Things were finally lining up for us.

Only, that wasn't the case at all. The Oilers found the tying goal with less than a minute on the clock. While shorthanded. They almost won it with another shorthanded goal just a few seconds later. In spite of the man advantage, the Jackets were damn lucky to even get to overtime.

We knew where this was heading, and it took only 56 seconds of overtime for Roslovic to score the winner. Because of course it was going to be a former Jacket. We've seen this all play out before. Too many times.

Again, for the third time in four games, the Jackets found a way to lose. And in that other game, they weren't even close. What went wrong last night?

What went wrong?

All the Blue Jackets had to do was hold onto the puck. The Oilers sent out penalty killers, who were playing in a passive box at the beginning of that power-play.

The Jackets wisely kept it on the perimeter, tiring them out and draining the clock away. Until they didn't. They eventually forced the puck into the middle, allowed the Oilers to get it out of the zone and get their best players onto the ice. Once that happened, they scored very quickly.

This loss falls directly onto the shoulders of the coaching staff. The Jackets looked like a well oiled machine (excuse the pun) for almost 58 minutes. All four lines were contributing, and the chemistry was there on defense.

But, instead of using his #1 power-play unit to try to score, or putting a checking line on the ice to grind it out; Dean Evason mixed up his lines and tried to play it safe.

Sean Monahan went onto the ice between Kirill Marchenko and Dmitri Voronkov. Zach Werenski and Ivan Provorov were separated, with the former rolled out with Denton Mateychuk.

Now, I'm as big a fan of Mateychuk as you will find. But, he struggled last night, especially against the speed the Oilers were bringing. He wasn't the right guy to throw onto the ice in this situation.

Provorov and Werenski should have played the entirety of the last 2:18 of this game. There is no excuse to break this pairing up late in this situation, unless you're going for the jugular, trying to score. In that case, a fourth forward should have gone over the boards.

But they didn't need to do that. They just needed to continue to play this power-play as if it were a 5 on 5 situation. Get the puck into the corner and outnumber the Oilers. Keep a third forward high to protect the rush.

They didn't even have the right personnel out to do that. They had two forwards who were looking to score, and a third who stayed in the high slot.

All of this points to a lack of a plan. What were the instructions? Why was this particular group sent out? None of it makes any sense, even looking back this morning.

Then, topping it all off, Evason started overtime in the same fashion. Monahan, Marchenko, and Werenski. What direction were they going for here?

Monahan would be the guy to shut down Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. But, if your goal is to win the game, why put your two best offensive players out there against the top line, with a defensive center?

Why was the next shift *checks notes* uh ... Charlie Coyle and Yegor Chinakhov? Where's Adam Fantilli? Kent Johnson? Are these guys not options in overtime?

It's the same situation. Coyle is going to look to stay above the puck and play defense first. Chinakhov is trying to jump ahead and score the winner. Our old friend John Tortorella put it best: safe is death.

You can't have the best of both worlds in overtime. You only get 3 guys on the ice, so either put out guys who can work together to score, or put out guys to eat up the clock until your offensive weapons can go out in the right situation.

Where's the talent?

One final thought here: Adam Fantilli scored two points last night, and had ridiculously good underlying numbers. He did not play in the final 4 minutes of this game, and apparently wasn't one of the two best centers for overtime.

Adam has 4 points in his last 2 games and definitely looked the part last night. But he's still getting benched in favor of Charlie Coyle? Mathieu Olivier goes over the boards before him on that late power-play? Make it make sense.

We're seeing the guys drafted around Fantilli in the same year-and the next year-starting to really take off. But Mo is riding the bench when the games are on the line. What is the plan here?

We're definitely starting to have doubts. This team was rolling until Evason decided to pull Chinakhov out of the lineup in place of Zach Aston-Reese. Why change anything at that point?

They have not won a game since that decision. Last night certainly doesn't help with our doubts.

This team can not afford to finish this season with a lottery pick. There is too much talent here, and too much at stake if these guys start deciding they would rather play for a team that isn't the laughing stock of the league.

So, it feels like time for a shakeup of some sort. Maybe Don Waddell can swing a hockey trade. Maybe he needs to make an adjustment to his coaching staff. Either way, they need to right the ship soon, before it's too late and another season slips away.

The Jackets will be back on the ice tonight in Seattle. I legitimately have no idea what to expect.