Interim Manager:Some Perceived Reasons Why We Lost.
A two-game winning streak hardly bears mentioning for most NHL teams.
For the Blue Jackets, it’s been a monumental hurdle since before Thanksgiving.
Eleven consecutive times since Columbus won on November 22 and 24 heading into Friday night’s game against Buffalo, the Jackets had followed a victory with a loss.
Make it 12 in a row. A standing-room-only crowd of 18,943 at Nationwide Arena saw the Blue Jackets lose to the Sabres 2-1. It was only the Jackets’ second home game in 11 games.
You’ve got to try to find a groove and keep rolling every single game,” left wing Johnny Gaudreau said, “and once you feel comfortable and confident and you’re playing well as a team, you’ve got to do it again the next night and the next night. Obviously, we’re not there yet.”
Buffalo defenseman Connor Clifton had the game-winner barely three minutes into the third period with his first goal of the season and first in 71 games overall. His routine shot from the blue line deflected off goalie Daniil Tarasov’s left arm and dropped into the net.
The Blue Jackets opened the scoring eight minutes into the game on a power-play goal. Defenseman Ivan Provorov made a nice pass to Kirill Marchenko, who made a deft touch pass to Dmitri Voronkov, who beat Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen.
Three minutes later, Blue Jackets right wing Jack Roslovic had the puck on a 4-on-2 but flubbed a pass/shot. Buffalo turned that into an odd-man rush and eventually scored after maintaining possession on a goal by Zemgus Girgensons past Tarasov.
The Blue Jackets almost took a 2-1 lead late in the period. Defenseman Damon Severson made a beautiful pass in traffic to Yegor Chinakhov, whose shot appeared to beat Luukkonen into the top of the net off the crossbar. But replays showed the puck didn’t cross the goal line.