Blue Jackets' back-to-back woes surface again in loss to Senators

New York Times

30-03-2025

One bad habit has been with the Columbus Blue Jackets since the start of the season. The other is a new, unfortunate development, especially at a time — their first playoff push in five seasons — when they should be building good habits.
The Blue Jackets once again trailed for most of the game, losing to the Ottawa Senators 3-2 before 17,758 in Canadian Tire Centre. It's the first of three meetings in 11 days between the two clubs that started the night as the two wild-card entries in the Eastern Conference.
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The loss dropped the Blue Jackets to 1-9-0 in the second game of back-to-backs, one of the worst such records in the NHL this season. Only Seattle (0-11) and Philadelphia (1-10-1), whose playoff hopes faded weeks ago, have been worse in second games.
The other bad habit? The Blue Jackets allowed the game's first goal for the ninth consecutive game, a truly distressing number, and a surprising one, too. Before this run of 1-0 deficits began on March 11, the Blue Jackets were leading the league by scoring first in 38 of 63 games.
'We knew it was going to be a tight game, back and forth,' Blue Jackets captain Boone Jenner told reporters. 'I think both ways it was tight. Not many chances. These are the type of games you're going to get this time of year.
'We battled all night. Great effort by us, but we came up one short.'
Jenner and Kirill Marchenko scored goals for the Blue Jackets, while Zach Werenski had two primary assists. Goaltender Daniil Tarasov, playing his first game in two weeks, finished with 24 saves, including 11 in the second period, when the Jackets' energy started to lull.
It was Marchenko's goal midway through the third period — a slicing and dicing move through three Senators after he was sprung in the neutral zone by a Werenski feed — that appeared to energize the Blue Jackets, who turned the third period into their best period.
WHAT A RELEASE! 🚨@FanaticsBook | #CBJ pic.twitter.com/SfR7DLOLOg
— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) March 30, 2025
Marchenko, who scored off a wrister in the slot, now has 28 goals this season, moving him closer to becoming the Blue Jackets' first 30-goal scorer since Cam Atkinson had 41 goals during the 2018-19 season. Marchenko has a goal in three straight.
'We had a lot of chances,' Marchenko said. 'We pushed really well (in the third). My goal helped, but it's not my goal. We all worked together, all five guys, to create the moment for me. It's a good game. It's a back-to-back game, but we can beat these guys, for sure.'
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The Blue Jackets played the final 2:30 of the game with an extra skater after sending Tarasov to the bench. They had plenty of looks, but none better than Kent Johnson's sprawling backhand whack at a puck in the low slot that Ottawa goaltender Linus Ullmark gloved.
To their credit, the Blue Jackets have created a sense in several recent games that they're on the verge of pulling off amazing comebacks. They actually did it on Friday, when they responded to 3-0 and 5-3 deficits against Vancouver to win 7-6 in a shootout in Nationwide Arena.
But chasing the game is no way to go through a playoff stretch.
The Senators took a 1-0 lead at 7:24 of the first period when Ridly Greig got his paddle on a Thomas Chabot shot and directed it past Tarasov.
The Blue Jackets quickly responded, though. Jenner, who now has five goals in his last four games, scored off a rebound from a Werenski shot only 31 seconds later to tie the score at 1. The Senators scored later in the first to reclaim the lead and again midway through the second to push it to 3-1.
That @UNDmhockey connection 💥#GoSensGo pic.twitter.com/naPZezgypf
— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) March 30, 2025
From there, the Blue Jackets needed a tremendous individual effort or a beneficial bounce to get back into the game. Marchenko delivered it, but they couldn't get the equalizer.
'That was a great game,' Blue Jackets coach Dean Evason said. 'Hey, both teams played hard, played fast. Certainly, the start was fantastic. The pace of the game. Everybody was playing their butts off. We had a lot of chances, obviously, to tie it.
'That whole third period, we pushed pretty good. It went back and forth a little bit. They're a really good hockey team, and so are we. It was a good battle.'
The Blue Jackets knew they were up against it when they saw this back-to-back on the schedule. They emptied the tank on Friday versus Vancouver, then flew after the game to Ottawa. After clearing customs and busing to their hotel, it was nearly 1:30 a.m. before they arrived.
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Making matters worse, defenseman Dante Fabbro, who plays on the top pair with Werenski, was unable to play because of 'bumps and bruises,' Evason said. That caused a wholesale switching of defensive pairs.
Werenski moved to the right side of the top pair and was joined by rookie Denton Mateychuk on his left, while Ivan Provorov and Erik Gudbranson formed the second pair. Jake Christiansen, who had missed the previous six games with an undisclosed injury, went back into the lineup on the third pair with Damon Severson.
By the end of the game, the Blue Jackets were down to five defensemen, even though Christiansen remained on the bench until the final buzzer. He didn't play after the 5:22 mark of the third period, though no explanation was provided by Evason.
The loss dropped the Blue Jackets out of the final wild-card spot in the East despite being tied with Montreal (and the Rangers) at 75 points. Montreal jumped over them because both teams have played 72 games (the first tiebreaker during the regular season) and the Canadiens have an edge (24-23) in the second tiebreaker, which is regulation wins.
By the end of the night, however, the New York Rangers could jump both the Blue Jackets and Canadiens if they were to win late in San Jose.
(Photo of Boone Jenner: Marc DesRosiers / Imagn Images)