Columbus Blue Jackets blow 4-1 lead in OT loss to Vancouver Canucks: 4 takeaways
VANCOUVER, British Columbia — It’s uncanny by this point.
More: Columbus Blue Jackets forward Patrik Laine leaves road trip after injury setback
No matter how much improvement the Blue Jackets make in how they play, no matter how many times they build leads going into the third period, they just can’t shake the meltdowns that continue to haunt them while they’re leading in a game’s final 20 minutes.
It happened again Saturday night at Rogers Arena with another mind-numbing 5-4 overtime loss to the Vancouver Canucks in which the Blue Jackets led 4-1 starting the third — after they scored four goals in the second to take the lead.
“It’s gotten us too many times this year, where we let up on the gas in the third period,” captain Boone Jenner said. “Our second (period) was much better than the first, and we wanted to have our best period in the third. Obviously, they took it to us and tied the game up. We let them right back in it. So, it’s something we focus on, but we need to get a lot better. It’s on us. It’s unacceptable.”
The Blue Jackets (15-23-10) coughed up a third-period lead for the 13th time this season, and this time it vanished on three straight power-play goals ― including the final two as part of Brock Boeser’s hat trick on his 28th, 29th and 30th goals.
“We’re in this position, and no one’s going to feel sorry for us,” defenseman Zach Werenski said. “We’ve got to work our way out of it. I don’t even know if the third period was even necessarily bad outside of our penalty kill, which just didn’t get the job done.”
There’s not much left to say about the Blue Jackets' penchant for finding ways to lose while ahead in third periods. Every ounce of confidence from their impressive four-goal second disappeared thanks to three straight penalties on Damon Severson, Dmitri Voronkov and Jenner ― the latter two following Elias Pettersson's goal early in the third to make it 4-2 just 1:11 into the period.
Voronkov was called for tripping 1:11 after Pettersson’s goal, leading to Boeser cutting it to 4-3 on his second goal, and Jenner was whistled for slashing at 4:35 to set up Boeser's tying tally — which he netted seven seconds before the Jackets’ captain could exit the box.
Bing, bang, boom. Another lead gone. Another tied game that shouldn't have been. Another OT loss after Boeser fed Pettersson with the winner at the right post with 58.7 seconds left.
Alexandre Texier, Sean Kuraly, Jake Bean and Kirill Marchenko scored for the Blue Jackets, all in the second period, which finished with goalie Elvis Merzlikins (28 saves) getting a three-goal cushion that disappeared in the span of 6:28 to start the third.
“It’s tough,” Texier said. “You hate losing, but at the same time, it’s a learning process, I guess. Let’s call it that, for us, for the young guys (and) I think for everybody. We’ve got to learn, and it’s tough when you’re up by three and this happens. But you’ve got to stay positive. You’ve got to move on, try to get better, try to learn from this and do it the (next) game for 60 minutes.”
The Jackets’ next game is Sunday night against the Seattle Kraken at Climate Pledge Arena.
Here are four takeaways:
Columbus Blue Jackets' penalty kill continues to sputter in loss to Vancouver Canucks
The Blue Jackets started this season as one of the NHL’s most airtight penalty-killing teams.
That’s no longer the case despite recently getting Jenner, Kuraly and Werenski back from multi-week injuries. Since Dec. 8, when Jenner had his jaw fractured against the St. Louis Blues, the Jackets are last in the NHL at a frigid 66.7% success rate while shorthanded. That's in stark contrast to the way they began the season, ranking fifth in the league at 86.3% in their first 28 games. After going 1 for 4 against the Canucks, the Jackets are tied at 21st overall with a 78.1% success rate.
Against Vancouver, the main issue was allowing seam passes through the middle of the ice that forced the Blue Jackets — including Merzlikins ― to scramble out of their defensive setups. Pettersson and Boeser ate them alive with those passes in the third.
“That’s a good power play unit on their team,” Werenski said. “I think it’s probably one of the top in the league, and when a team is that good on the power play ... one, you can’t give them opportunities on the power play and two, when you do, you definitely can’t let them ‘seam’ us like that.”
The Canucks' propensity to look for seam passes was addressed during pre-scout meetings led by assistant Steve McCarthy, but they still got through.
“We watch the (opposing power play) before every game and we kind of know what they’re doing, but I think tonight’s game we’ve got to do a better job,” Texier said. “For the PK, they can’t go ‘seam’ a couple times, especially when we knew it and we watched the tape. It cannot happen, but it’s a process.”
On the positive side, Texier scored the game’s first goal with his second short-handed goal in as many games. His two “shorties” are the only two short-handed goals the Jackets have scored thus far.
Columbus Blue Jackets’ power play falls flat during key moment in overtime loss to Vancouver Canucks
Thursday night in Calgary, the Blue Jackets capitalized on a five-minute boarding penalty on Flames forward Jonathan Huberdeau in the third period with a power-play goal that secured a 5-2 victory. Saturday night against the Canucks, they couldn’t repeat it with the game knotted at 4-4. Tyler Myers was given elbowing major and game misconduct with 8:05 left in the third, but the Blue Jackets couldn’t capitalize.
They struggled even entering the Canucks’ zone and get set up in their 1-3-1 strategic formation. It was an ugly five minutes that could’ve been their salvation had it gone better. Vancouver’s aggression on the penalty kill deserves its fair share of credit, but the Blue Jackets also needed to be more dangerous in that scenario – especially after losing the lead that period on three straight Canucks power play goals.
“It’s a big moment in the game,” Werenski said. “You’d like to get one there and get us back in the lead with, I think it was three minutes left after that. Our power play in Calgary was good. We got one tonight (by Marchenko), but it would’ve been nice to get one on that five-minute power play.”
Columbus Blue Jackets forward Kent Johnson forced to wait another year to upset Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena
The Blue Jackets’ third line started the game, which was a nice touch to get Kent Johnson onto the ice for the national anthems in front of his family and friends.
Johnson is from Port Moody, British Columbia and grew up a Canucks fan. In fact, his dad’s company purchased season tickets in section 318 as perks for employees and Johnson watched several games each season from that location. Last year’s game at Rogers Arena, which was played exactly one year to the day prior to Saturday’s game, was Johnson's inaugural game there as an NHL player.
His hope this time was to leave with a better outcome than last season’s 5-2 loss to the Canucks, and things looked good for that until the puck dropped in the third.
“I love playing in all the big Canadian cities, for sure, especially this one,” Johnson said at the Jackets’ morning skate. “The last game here didn’t go great, and we lost bad ... and I felt like I didn’t even get the puck that much. It was just one of those nights, so I was immediately like, ‘I’m looking forward to next year here already. Hopefully I can put on a good show.”
Johnson finished with two shots, one hit and a -1 plus/minus rating in his 16:15 of ice time. The loss split in the two-game season series between the Blue Jackets and Canucks, which means Johnson’s next opportunity to win at Rogers Arena won’t happen until next season.
Adam Boqvist injury clears path for Nick Blankenburg’s return to Columbus Blue Jackets
Adam Boqvist was placed on injured reserve Saturday with an undisclosed upper-body injury and will be out until at least Feb. 10 against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Boqvist, who’s dealt with some flukish injuries in his brief NHL career, lost some teeth after being struck in the face by the puck while seated on the Jackets’ bench Thursday in Calgary. It was an errant clearing attempt by teammate Cole Sillinger that knocked Boqvist off the bench and onto the floor like a duck in a shooting gallery.
Unlike injured forward Patrik Laine, who has returned to Columbus after experiencing a “setback” of some sort in his effort to get off IR, Boqvist is still with the team. His placement on IR, however, created a roster spot that will be filled by defenseman Nick Blankenburg – who will join the Blue Jackets after being recalled from the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters.
Blankenburg got the nod over rookie defenseman David Jiricek, who was assigned to Cleveland on Thursday and made the long trek back to Ohio after being informed of that decision at the Jackets’ morning skate in Calgary. Making Jiricek rejoin the Blue Jackets while they’re in the Pacific Northwest would’ve been quite an excursion, but Vincent said that wasn’t the reason he stayed in Cleveland and played for the Monsters on Saturday night.
“We want him to play,” Vincent said. “That’s the most important thing to us as an organization is making sure we develop our young players the proper way. Cleveland has a good team. They’re expected to make the playoffs, hopefully have a run in the playoffs. He’s going to be expected to play heavy minutes. He needs that.”
An argument can be made that Blankenburg should’ve been on the Jackets’ roster from the outset of the season, rather than starting in Cleveland. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see him play Sunday in Seattle and/or Tuesday in St. Louis.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Blue Jackets stumble again with lead in third, fall in OT to Canucks
