Yet another meltdown on Sunday night for the Columbus Blue Jackets. To say another tough loss right after they brutally lost to the Toronto Maple Leafs with 5-0! What did the Blue Jackets hit on ice against the Ottawa Senators, then? Nothing but a crashing hope for bouncing back that just came with another 4-0. Not a single puck found its way back to the net, and Jackets faced a hard reality! “I’m very concerned that we’re not dialing in to keep it out of our net. So yeah, we’re very concerned about that, and it’s our job as coaches to systematically dial it back in and get them to play the right way,” the head coach, Dean Evason, revealed after losing to the Maple Leafs. But what did he do to improve the team’s defense, then?

“Columbus switches goalies 4.5 minutes into the game after allowing two goals 😬,” B/R Open Ice on X revealed! Just 4.5 minutes in, and we’re already switching goalies? Yes, it was during the early 2-0 deficit that Evason made the decision to replace goalie Daniil Tarasov with Elvis Merzlikins. But only to witness the Senators smashing the Jackets and grinding a win for themselves. Maybe Tarasov got pulled before he could even breathe, and boom! Enter Merzlikins, only to continue with the same chaos, breakdowns, and zero goals!

“Clearly, we’re not scoring goals,” Evason confessed, and it surely hit like a summary for all that is going wrong. While the Columbus Blue Jackets claimed to have kept hopes for bouncing back, facing the Senators narrated a different tale. A simple hope for the gritty win, but things changed when Adam Gaudette of the Sens scored at 2:24, and a clash of hope followed throughout the Jackets’ night. Evason’s frustration showed in his words, not just about the lack of offense but about how the team responds to adversity.

And in no time, the score climbed to 2-0 with Nikolas Matinpalo’s shot! “So, it just gets magnified when you get down because you’re pressing even harder, and when you’re not having success and you’re not scoring goals and you’re pressing, it’s not a good recipe,” the head coach further stated.

But for the Sens, the night was a glory! The crowd got a full-course feast with Ottawa strutting a second-straight shutout win. Well, all thanks to their goalie, Linus Ullmark, who wasn’t just the best but in beast mode to stop all 29 shots that came his way! Back-to-back shutouts and perhaps saying, ‘Hey NOT TODAY’ to every single puck! However, it was a tale of chaos for the Jackets, despite Merzlikins doing his best with 22 saves! And for Tarasov?

Well, he got the hook already, in just six shots after he got caught up with two quick goals. But what it really his fault? Not when the defenseman Ivan Provorov said, “I don’t think it’s ‘Tary’s’ fault, obviously. I think the whole team, as a team, we didn’t start on time once again on a back-to-back.” Perfectly calling the season a weaker one where the team, together, fell short to deliver their best. But wait, what’s for the playoff scenes then?

Columbus Blue Jackets Playoffs hopes paused

With the current slump, the playoff hopes for the Jackets seem to be fading away. After three consecutive losses, what started with a 7-3 loss against the Colorado Avalanche and ended up with the Sens, for the eighth time this season, the Jackets are shut down just like Evason called it—“It got away from us.” And it did! But what is it that’s actually keeping them behind? “That (finger-pointing) is exactly what we addressed (after the game),” the coach revealed.

As much as it’s not about the scoreboard, it’s also about the vibes! To say that there’s finger-pointing going on—the tension that seemed to have filled the air of the dressing room now. By allowing 10 unanswered goals in their last few games, the frustration seems to be pouring in, making the team stick together with pressure and negative situations. And honestly, when the goalie gets pulled out in just a few minutes with the game just starting and the offense on the other side disappearing like ghosts? The blame game starts that hits more than the losing streak with what causes the real breakdown!

Now, with only six games left, the team had dropped down the Eastern Conference standings alongside all the other teams, who seemed to be moving ahead. Throwing back to the time a little, the Jackets were tied with the Detroit Red Wings at 77 points, but then came the New York Islanders, leapfrogging both with 78 after a clean 4-1 win! And it didn’t stop until the Pittsburgh Penguins rushed with 74.

It’s straight up like vanishing dust. Nonetheless, it’s been a slow yet painful tumble for the Jackets now. Especially with the internal chaos, things don’t seem to be on the brighter side. But hey, let’s just face it and call it a sport, where things take no time to make a complete turn, and for the Jackets? Well, they still have five more to fight and prove their prowess!