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After a great start, the Blue Jackets are experiencing a hiccup as of late that has fans and even players wondering where they stand.
After a four-game winless streak (0-3-1), Columbus has dropped from second in the Central Division to fourth.
Forward Rick Nash realizes the team’s recent slide could not come at a worse time.
“We have to start competing again,” Nash said. “Other teams are getting better and we are staying the same.”
The Nashville Predators won both games of a home-and-home series against Columbus, defeating the Jackets 4-3 in a shootout Saturday and 4-1 Monday night.
Monday’s loss showed how tired the Jackets were after returning home from a three-game road trip.
“Our execution today was very poor. We struggled to make 10-foot passes,” Jackets coach Ken Hitchcock said. “We had a lot of tired looking players out there. It’s disappointing for everybody and we have to step back up.”
Despite the overall fatigue of the team, Hitchcock did notice the effort from some of his players.
“We had some people that tried hard today, but we had some very poor performances by some people that normally give us pretty consistent performances,” he said.
Nashville opened the scoring in Monday’s game at 6:39 of the first period on a goal from J.P. Dumont, who finished with two goals and an assist.
Columbus forward David Vyborny tied the game 15 seconds later, netting his first goal after a 31-game scoring drought.
Nashville went ahead for good at 12:33 of the first period on a goal by Martin Erat, who had a career-high four points in a game, with two goals and two assists.
“He was by far the best skater on the ice tonight,” Dumont said. “When Marty is playing that way, it’s real easy to play with him.”
The Predators added two more goals in the third period, one of which was the result of Jackets defenseman Ole-Kristian Tollefsen falling to the ice and giving the puck away.
When asked if it was a case of “bad ice,” Tollefsen rejected the notion.
“You can’t blame the ice,” he said. “It was us … I simply fell.”
Tollefsen has an unspecified hand injury but did take part in a scuffle during the second period that included Jared Boll pummeling Nashville’s Scott Nichol. Tollefsen and Predators forward Jordin Tootoo received matching 10-minute misconduct penalties despite not fighting.
“Tully can’t fight right now, otherwise he would have fought,” Hitchcock said.
The Blue Jackets are now 8-6-3 and are in the middle of an eight-game stretch of matchups against division opponents.
The two losses to the Predators come after a 4-1 loss to Detroit on Friday and a 5-2 loss to Chicago Nov. 7.
Notes
Pascal Leclaire is 7-4-0 and Hitchcock said he will be the primary goaltender from now on.
Columbus hosts Chicago and young stars Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews tonight at 7 p.m. The Jackets will then travel to St. Louis for a game Friday at 8:30 p.m. before returning home to face the Detroit Red Wings Sunday at 5 p.m.
James Crepea can be reached at [email protected].
