Coach Dean Evason, growing impatient with the Columbus Blue Jackets’ approach offensively, changed not only his top two forward lines but also his top defensive pair before Sunday’s game against the Anaheim Ducks in Honda Center.
Ultimately, it didn’t work.
The Blue Jackets’ scoring slump lives on, as does their losing streak — now at five games (0-4-1) — following a frustrating 4-2 loss. During the five-game skid, the Blue Jackets have held the lead for only 10 minutes, 50 seconds of 300-plus minutes.
The fact that the Blue Jackets dialed up 42 shots on goal and spent long stretches in the Ducks’ zone provided little solace.
“It’s unacceptable, to be honest,” Blue Jackets defenseman Zach Werenski said. “Enough of the moral victories. We’ve played well enough in a lot of games this year to win, and we end up losing them and that’s on us.
“We have to find a way to win hockey games. I don’t care if we outshoot them 50-20 or if we get outshot 50-20, at the end of the day we have to find ways to get points in this league. We have to win hockey games, and we haven’t done it.”
Yegor Chinakhov, who ended an eight-game goal drought, and Kirill Marchenko scored for the Blue Jackets, while goaltender Daniil Tarasov had 26 saves.
Werenski, playing in his 500th NHL game, had 18 shot attempts — eight shots on goal, six that were blocked, and four that missed the net. He also played a game-high 27:57 and assisted on Chinakhov’s first-period goal.
“We had 42 shots on the net … and some unbelievable looks,” Evason said. “We have to stay after it, stay in it, continue doing what we’re doing to generate those opportunities. We have to get a couple more dirty looks, or greasier looks, to combine with the good looks that we’re getting.
“Goal scoring is funny. It goes in streaks. A few weeks back we couldn’t miss, we were finishing, we were getting bounces. Now it’s gone the other way a little bit.”
Marchy finds the back of the net 🚨@FanaticsBook | #CBJ pic.twitter.com/wRzXQLCVQQ
— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) November 11, 2024
Evason did some overnight tinkering to the Blue Jackets’ lineup after a 5-2 loss down the road in Los Angeles on Saturday.
The big change was moving second-line center Adam Fantilli up to left wing on the top line, joining center Sean Monahan and Marchenko, the right winger.
That forced Chinakhov to right wing on the second line, while Cole Sillinger moved back to center and Dmitri Voronkov was moved higher in the lineup to join them. Voronkov’s promotion forced winger Mikael Pyyhtiä’s demotion to the third line.
Meanwhile, Werenski got a new playing partner on the Blue Jackets’ top pair, with Damon Severson moving up from the second pair to replace Ivan Provorov. That dropped Provorov to the second pair on the right side of Jake Christiansen.
It’s not that Evason’s maneuvers didn’t work. The Blue Jackets were too comfortable trying to score off the rush, Evason said after Saturday’s loss, and he wanted to see them following pucks to the net and battling for rebounds in the most heavily protected spot on the ice.
They did a better job against Anaheim, but to be fair, the Ducks are neither as talented nor as physically imposing as the Kings. But once again, the Blue Jackets made an opposing goaltender look like a Vezina Trophy candidate.
On Sunday, it was Anaheim’s John Gibson, making his season debut following off-season abdominal surgery, who finished with 40 saves.
“Of course, it’s frustrating for everybody here,” Marchenko said. “The important goal for us is to win. We played well the last three games, but lost all three. Five minutes after the game, you’re frustrated. But we have to keep going to the next game. Heads up, look to the future.”
With Tarasov off for an extra skater, Marchenko scored his sixth goal of the season with 3:03 remaining to pull the Blue Jackets to within 3-2. But the Ducks iced it with an empty-net goal by Isac Lundestrom with 1:40 remaining to cap the scoring.
The Blue Jackets, who are 1-4-2 on the road so far this season, finish this five-game road trip on Tuesday in Seattle. It’s the first of two five-game road trips this season: they open December with games at Chicago, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver and Winnipeg.
Tuesday’s game against the Kraken should be a desperate affair for Columbus.
“I had a lot of Grade-A chances tonight and I didn’t score,” Werenski said. “It’s on everyone. We have to find a way to score goals and win hockey games. If we have to win 2-1, that’s fine, too.
“We have to find a way to get into the win column on this trip, and Seattle is our last chance.”
(Photo: Mike Goulding / NHLI via Getty Images)
