Blue Jackets' groggy start costs them dearly in lopsided loss to Lightning

New York Times

05-03-2025

TAMPA, Fla. — It only makes sense that the Columbus Blue Jackets suffered a let-down.
The buildup to Saturday's NHL Stadium Series was massive, and the atmosphere and emotions coming out of the Blue Jackets win in Ohio Stadium were overwhelming. At least that's how players and coaches described it over the last 48 hours.
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The Blue Jackets returned to reality on Tuesday, and the Tampa Bay Lightning delivered a hard, cold slap in the form of a 6-2 win before 19,092 in Amalie Arena. The Lightning scored on their first two shots of the game, before Blue Jackets coach Dean Evason had made a third line-change.
'Did we try to do everything to not have a hangover, yeah,' Evason said. 'Were we worried about it? No. It happened, obviously.
'They score those two goals. It sucked, obviously, but we hung in there. We made it 2-1 (later in the first period) and we thought we were going to gather. That's a real good team with a lot of energy. Maybe we did have a hangover, but we can't make an excuse. We should have been better. We should have started better. We didn't.'
The loss snaps a four-game winning streak by the Blue Jackets, including a rousing 5-3 win over the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday before nearly 95,000 fans, the second-largest crowd to ever watch the NHL game.
When the Blue Jackets returned to practice on Monday, players and coaches both talked about how mentally and physically fried they were during an off-day on Sunday. Only six players in the Blue Jackets' lineup on Saturday had played in an outdoor game, which is a truly unique experience.
Some hangovers last multiple days.
That was fast…Lightning fast 😏 pic.twitter.com/mDkxAWM5tf
— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) March 5, 2025
The Lightning went ahead 1-0 only 30 seconds into the game when Mitchell Chaffee redirected a shot a few feet in front of Blue Jackets goaltender Elvis Merzlikins. Only 1:07 later, Tampa Bay's most lethal offensive player snuck behind rookie defenseman Denton Mateychuk for a breakaway.
Two shots, two goals. It marked the fifth time in Merzlikins' career that he's allowed goals on the first two shots, but neither could be hung on him this time,
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When the Blue Jackets and Lightning met for the first time this season — on November 21 in Nationwide Arena — the Jackets fell behind 3-0 in the first period, but came roaring back the rest of the way to win 7-6 in overtime. That's obviously not a proper game plan.
'When you start down 2-0, it's tough to come back from,' Blue Jackets defenseman Zach Werenski said. 'I know we're capable of it, but you don't want to start the game that way, especially right now when you're fighting for points (in the standings) and teams are fighting for positioning in the playoffs.
'They have some players who can make you pay, and they did that tonight. We're in a spot now where we can't dwell on it.'
Despite the loss, the Blue Jackets held on to the first wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. New Jersey and Detroit both lost, so Columbus remains four points behind the Devils for third place in the Metropolitan Division and two points ahead of both Detroit and the New York Rangers in the wild-card race.
Werenski scored both goals for the Blue Jackets, giving him 20 on the season, which matches his career high set during the 2019-20 season.
At 17:20 of the first, Werenski skated the puck out of his own zone and found very little resistance, carrying it through the left circle and beating Lightning goaltender Jonas Johansson to the far post. That pulled the Jackets to within 2-1 and sent them into the first intermission feeling OK.
But the Lightning's Jake Guentzel made it 3-1 only 1:37 into the second when he redirected a puck past Merzlikins while standing right in his kitchen. It was 4-1 at 6:36 of the second after Victor Hedman's wrist shot deflected off Yegor Chinakhov and sailed past Merzlikins.
There was a brief flicker of life when the Blue Jackets scored a short-handed goal to make it 4-2. Werenski made a break to the net front and got his stick on a perfect pass from Adam Fantilli, giving Werenski his second short-handed goal in 546 career games.
Z GETS HIS 20TH OF THE SEASON! 🚨 @FanaticsBook | #CBJ pic.twitter.com/IfFKUfZhky
— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) March 5, 2025
But that was it. Hedman scored again in the third, and so did Guentzel. It was an empty net by Guentzel, but him scoring against Columbus is nothing new. He now owns a 15-game point streak against the Blue Jackets, one that dates back to his days with the Pittsburgh Penguins and Carolina Hurricanes. He has 9-13-22 in those 15 games.
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It's tied for the second-longest point streak by one player against a single opponent. The only player with a longer streak is Leon Draisaitl, who has a point in 22 straight vs. Chicago.
Werenski acknowledged last month that it was difficult to get back into an NHL rhythm after he returned from playing for Team USA at the 4 Nations Face-Off. For other players in the room, Tuesday's game may have had a similar feel.
'It definitely feels a little bit different when you're walking out for warm-ups and the start of the game and your energy isn't quite the same,' Werenski said. 'It's not an excuse. We're in a spot where we can't let that be an excuse.
'Once the puck drops, no matter what you have to do to get into the mindset to win a hockey game, you have to do it. Maybe we were a little slow at the start, down 2-0 and then 4-1. I don't think there's any excuses. Even if it did affect some guys, you have to simplify your game, or take shorter shifts, or block shots … whatever it takes, you have to find a way to impact the team the right way.'
(Photo of Zach Werenski: Nathan Ray Seebeck / Imagn Images)