The Blue Jackets fell to 1-3-0 with a 4-1 home loss to the Colorado Avalanche last night. They were simply unable to keep pace with one of the NHL's best teams, who steamrolled them and seemingly won every puck battle.
It's hard to glean many positives from a loss like this one. But, we were able to come up with a few. First, let's talk about some of the things that went wrong.
Three negatives:
1. The Jackets failed to rise to the occasion. On what should have been an emotional night, the team simply didn't show up and play their game.
Cam Atkinson took his final lap around Nationwide Arena, and even though only a few of his former teammates were taking part in this one, it still should have been a lift for this team. The building was excited. They had a high flying opponent to match up against.
Instead of riding that emotional wave into a hot start, they came out pretty flat and registered only 7 shots on goal in the first period. Four games into the new season, does this team really need to search for a spark? I hope they can find one before their next game.
2. Disallowed goals. The Jackets did actually score three goals in this one, but two of them were waived off.
The first one was deemed to be gloved into the net. I've watched the replay about a dozen times, and I still don't see it. Dmitri Voronkov tries to swat the puck out of the air, but he misses and it goes off of his chest and in. That one should have counted.
The second goal that was disallowed, was the correct call. It was a clear hand pass. We've already seen three Blue Jackets goals taken off the board this season. Just our luck, I suppose.
3. Where has the offense gone? Last season, the Blue Jackets had one of the most productive offenses in the entire NHL. They could only muster one goal last night. So far this season, they've only scored 11 goals through 4 games - and 7 of them came in Minnesota last Saturday night.
Kirill Marchenko has taken part in almost half of those goals. He has 5 points on the season, and his line-mate (Voronkov) has 4. Outside of those two, this team has rarely looked dangerous aside from the occasional rush opportunity.
There has been very little second or third chances in front of the net, and when those have come about, generally, this team has scored goals. They need to find some way to generate in-zone offense, and very quickly.
Three positives:
1. They stayed disciplined and killed off a penalty. Last night against an elite skating team, the Jackets managed to stay out of the box for almost the entire game.
Just one minor penalty on the night, and it was to Voronkov for holding Cale Makar. The Jackets were able to kill off the penalty. For the first time this season, they did not allow a power-play goal against.
Small victory, but a victory we will take.
2. Nathan MacKinnon did not register a point. Another small victory here. The Jackets are the first team to keep Nathan MacKinnon off of the scoresheet this season.
Through Colorado's first four games, he had 4 goals and 8 points. In three of those games, he had multiple points. This may be one of those "choose your poison" victories since Makar had a 2 point night, but it's still a victory.
3. How about Elvis Merzlikins? I wasn't sure what to expect in goal. Elvis was making his second start of the season, and though he played very well in Minnesota, the team still gave up 4 goals.
Allow me to be the first to point out: he was absolutely terrific for his team last night.
Interesting comments and responses to this one, but I'll stand by it.
— Union and Blue (@UnionAndBlue) October 17, 2025
81 saves on 87 shots in his first two starts (.931%). Has the team's only win. I'll take that.
It's only two games, but this is the best #90 we've seen in years. #CBJ https://t.co/FJmbuOlIAw
Elvis made 14 saves in the first period, with many of them being high danger chances. He made 32 saves on the night and somehow kept this team in a game where they were vastly outplayed. What more can you ask out of your starting goaltender?
All three of the goals that beat him were long shots through traffic. He never saw the first one, and the other two were both deflected on the way in. Not much he can do on those. Elvis may very well be finding his game, and that is terrific news for this team.
Conclusion:
It's pretty simple. This team has to dig a lot deeper and get to their game, if they are going to start playing like the playoff contender we believe they can be.
Even without the disallowed goals, no matter how we feel about those calls, they did not deserve to win last night. They were beaten to almost every puck, out-shot, out-chanced, and simply out-played.
They get a chance to bounce back tomorrow night, at home against the Tampa Bay Lightning. It's going to be another very difficult challenge, and at some point, they need to find a way to play in those kinds of games. No better time than the present.