As the Blue Jackets have struggled to find firm footing early in this NHL season, our greatest fears were realized on Monday night in Washington.
During yesterday's morning skate, Kirill Marchenko left early due to an undisclosed upper body ailment. The team called it a "muscle issue" later in the day, but gave no timeline other than marking him out of the lineup last night.
We noticed his absence right away. The Jackets lacked pop against the Capitals last night. In fact, they lacked a lot of things, and were never really in the game to begin with.
Washington scored once in the first period, and that was really all they needed. They smothered the Blue Jackets defensively, comfortably sitting on the lead and waiting for the opportunity to strike again.
They got that opportunity late in the second. Three times, in fact; taking a cozy 4-0 lead into the third period.
The news only got worse for the Blue Jackets as the night went on. First, Mathieu Olivier left the game injured after an innocent looking body check in the first period.
Then, the team announced that Zach Werenski would not return after the second period, leaving the team short its top two scorers as they searched for any kind of pulse in this game.
It was never there, and Washington cruised to a 5-1 win over the Jackets for the second time this season.
Injury news could obliterate this team's season.
We all wait impatiently for any kind of news out of Columbus this morning. But, it goes without saying that if either Marchenko or Werenski - let alone both - are going to miss any significant time; this team will be difficult to watch.
It's been talked about quite a bit this season that this team is very top heavy, especially offensively. Unfortunately, they don't have a proper structure in place to find their way through these injuries in any positive way.
There is nobody ready to step in and do what Marchenko does. There is no depth on the blue line that will cover for Werenski's value to this team.
That was evident last night, as this team barely threatened to put up a fight against a Capitals team that has owned them so far this year.
Not only did they lack offensive punch, they also didn't have their energetic spark plug on the third line. So, we can't even point to this game and say that they put up a fight. They didn't.
With leaders Boone Jenner and Erik Gudbranson already on IR, this season may very well go down the drain if these guys can't make it back soon. Fingers crossed.