2 Takeaways From the Blue Jackets’ Collapse Against the Penguins

It was an all too familiar and deflating scene inside Nationwide Arena on Sunday night. A 4-1 lead slipped away, and the Columbus Blue Jackets fell 5-4 in overtime to the Pittsburgh Penguins. Only making things worse, it was filled with Penguins fans, who erupted after Sidney Crosby’s overtime winner.

The Blue Jackets still picked up a point and now sit at 18‑16‑7, five points back of the final Eastern Conference wild card spot held by the Washington Capitals.

Here are two takeaways from this extremely frustrating loss.

Rough Start, Good Response

The Blue Jackets opened the game with a rough start. They gave up the early Ville Koivunen goal and did not record a shot on goal until the first TV timeout. After that break, they finally started spending more time in the offensive zone and playing their style of hockey, getting pucks in and getting after it on the forecheck. The push eventually paid off when Dimitri Voronkov tipped in a Denton Mateychuk shot to tie the game 1-1. Three more unanswered goals came after the Voronkov goal: from Mason Marchment, Kirill Marchenko, and Zach Werenski.

Head coach Dean Evason addressed the opening minutes.

“The start was as bad as we have been. If there had not been a timeout coming, we might have called one. The guys were saying the right things, so we did not chime in. Then we caught ourselves and got some energy. But the momentum shifted in the second/third, and we made more unintelligent plays that ended up in our net.”

Same Old Story

The unraveling actually began late in the second period this time around, starting with Adam Fantilli’s attempted clear, which was intercepted and turned into Pittsburgh’s second goal.

“We turned it over three times, and it ended up in our net. Three minutes left in the period, we could have gone into the room up 4-1. Instead, we gave them life with very unintelligent decisions,” said Evason. “They went into the locker room with belief, and we went in with doubt. As much as you talk and try to settle things, they had momentum, and they rode it. A special player made special plays.”

Captain Boone Jenner was asked whether the Blue Jackets got away from their game.

“Yeah, for sure. For whatever reason, our energy dropped. When your energy drops, your play drops, and you sit back. That is what happened. We just kind of watched them take it to us. That is on us in here. We can control our energy, and it dropped in the third. We gave them chances to get back in the game. When you are up 4-2 at home, you have to close it out. That is on us.”

Jenner also spoke about the season-long pattern of blown leads.

“Obviously it has hurt us in a number of games. To get where we want to go, we need to find a way to close those games out. Lately we have had some really good third periods to build off, but tonight the energy dropped and our play followed. We sat back, and when you give them that many looks in our zone, they are going to score. It is something we need to be better at.”

After tripping former Blue Jacket Yegor Chinakhov, Voronkov was off early in the third period, and Tommy Novak made him pay for the mistake to make it 4-3. Later on, the tying goal came with 12 seconds left in regulation. A completely exhausted group was stuck on the ice after a few failed clears, and Rickard Rakell tied the game 4-4. The Blue Jackets were just 12 seconds away from a massive two-point swing in the division.

Evason described the baffling final sequence.

“We extended our shift at the end. We should have had more jump. We had opportunities to pressure and did not, probably because the shift was too long.”

The numbers tell the story of this one. The Blue Jackets outshot Pittsburgh 12-9 in the first period. After that, the Penguins outshot them 34-13 over the final 40 minutes. The final shot total was 43-25 in favor of the Penguins. Even with the Blue Jackets blocking 19 shots, Pittsburgh still put 43 on net. That shows how often the Penguins were in the offensive zone compared to the Blue Jackets on the attack.

Turnovers were a major issue. The Blue Jackets finished with 21 giveaways. Ivan Provorov and Werenski each had three. Two of Werenski’s were in the defensive zone, and all three of Provorov’s were in the defensive zone. The Werenski and Mateychuk pairing was on the ice for three goals against, while the Provorov and Severson pairing was on the ice for one.

Werenski explained the lack of puck support and the defensive breakdowns.

“It all works together. It starts on the forecheck. If we are not playing with energy or confidence, our gaps are bad, we are not keeping pucks in, and it comes through the neutral zone into our end. We get disconnected. If I go back for a puck and the forwards are not near, it is probably because they think we are going to rim it or flip it out. It is for the right reasons, but we need to be more connected and play our game for three full periods. When we are on, we are connected through all three zones. When we are not, things break down.”

Jet Greaves deserved better as he stopped 38 of 43 shots on goal. He kept the Blue Jackets in the game for long stretches and made several strong saves on many grade-A looks given up. According to MoneyPuck, he faced 53 low-danger attempts, nine medium-danger attempts, and four high-danger attempts. All four high-danger attempts beat him, along with one medium-danger attempt. The support in front of him was not good enough in the final 40 minutes.

At times in the third period, it felt like the Blue Jackets were playing down a man even during five-on-five. It eventually cost them in overtime.

It is hard to know exactly where to place the blame, on the players or the coaching staff, but I’d say both.

On moving forward, Evason put it simply.

“We have to move on. It is disappointing and frustrating, but we are getting points lately and need to keep doing that. We have to keep teaching and making the group aware of what caused the momentum swing.”

Looking ahead, the Blue Jackets now begin a four-game road trip that may give them a chance to regroup. The trip starts Tuesday night at 10:00 PM EST against the San Jose Sharks, followed by stops in Vegas, Colorado, and Utah in that order.