Blue Jackets breakdown: Another home letdown hands Arizona Coyotes blowout win
All the hopeful enthusiasm the Blue Jackets grabbed with an impressive victory in New York two days earlier fizzled Tuesday night at Nationwide Arena.
Rather than carrying momentum from a 5-1 victory over the high-powered New York Rangers into a matchup against the rebuilding Arizona Coyotes, the Jackets received a bitter dose of their own medicine in a 6-3 loss to one of the NHL's worst teams. They outshot the Coyotes 33-19 and controlled the puck, but Arizona won going away by getting into dangerous scoring areas, capitalizing on fewer opportunities to score and potting two power plays (2 of 6).
Shayne Gostisbehere paced the Coyotes with two goals, Clayton Keller had two assists and Arizona’s other three other goals were scored by Zack Kassian, Dylan Guenther and Jack McBain. Connor Ingram earned the win in net, making 30 saves.
Johnny Gaudreau, Kent Johnson and Andrew Peeke scored in the third period for the Blue Jackets, who went 0 for 5 on power plays. They’re the only team in the NHL without a power-play goal, extending a run of futility to 0 for 20 on the season. Patrik Laine didn't record a point in his return from an elbow sprain that cost him six games, but put five shots on net and led all players with 12 attempts.
Daniil Tarasov started in net for the Blue Jackets and allowed four goals on 12 shots before being replaced by Elvis Merzlikins late in the second.
Columbus Blue Jackets vs Arizona Coyotes: key moments
— Arizona built a 2-0 lead in the first period despite being outshot 10-4 and the Blue Jackets getting some of their longest shifts of the season in the offensive zone. Gostisbehere made it 1-0 on a power play at 9:24 with his first of the game and third of the season. Kassian pushed it to 2-0 with 4:08 left by pushing the puck under Tarasov’s left skate and into the net inside the right post.
— The Coyotes made it 4-0 with two more goals in the second to chase Tarasov from the net after Guenther’s power-play goal from long distance put the Blue Jackets down four goals with 4:38 left in the period. Gostisbehere scored the first one off a brilliant diagonal feed from Clayton Keller from the right point found his stick just outside the left post.
— Gaudreau, Johnson and Peeke provided the lone highlights for the Blue Jackets by scoring in the third. Gaudreau cut it to 5-1 on his fifth goal of the season, scored at 6:45, Johnson scored for the third straight game to make it 5-2 with 2:36 to play and Peeke rounded out the scoring with nine seconds left. All three were far too little, too late to matter.
Columbus Blue Jackets vs Arizona Coyotes notes
— Laine’s injury forced a tough lineup decision with rookie forward Liam Foudy, who made a strong impression on the coaching staff with two assists Sunday against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden. A healthy scratch the first six games, Foudy was forced back to the press box Tuesday. The wait might not be as long this time.
— Nick Blankenburg was also injured in the weekend back-to-back, sustaining an upper-body injury in New York that has him out on a day-to-day basis. His departure cleared a path back into lineup for Adam Boqvist, whose struggles in the first three games resulted in him being scratched the previous four games.
Blankenburg quickly seized a role on the top defense pairing in his season debut, which means Boqvist – an eighth overall pick by the Chicago Blackhawks in 2018 – needs to make his own statement to remain in the lineup longer than a few games.
“Obviously, it’s tough,” Boqvist said. “This is my fourth year. I don’t want to miss any games, either healthy scratch or injury, so I want to stay healthy, play every game and help the team whenever I can. ‘Blanks’ was awesome when he came in, but it’s good to be back and get going here.”
— Elvis Merzlikins is slumping, which helped clear the way for Tarasov to get a second straight start in net after earning his first NHL victory Sunday in New York. Tarasov also had a chance to extend it to three-or-more games with another solid performance against Arizona.
— Johnson is the latest forward to get a crack at playing in the middle of the Blue Jackets’ 1-3-1 power-play setup. The rookie was put with the top unit going into this game after scoring goals in both games this past weekend. His most comfortable power play position is along one of the walls, but Johnson did get some time in the middle as the University of Michigan’s “bumper” during his two-year collegiate career.
Quotable: Columbus Blue Jackets vs Arizona Coyotes
“You always learn that the game is much slower from up top, so I’m going to try to calm my mind a little bit when I go out there. But it’s such a fast game and I’m going to have to be on my toes.”
— Blue Jackets defenseman Adam Boqvist on returning to action after watching the previous four games as a healthy scratch.
“In my head is, ‘We’ve got to win the next game.’ It doesn’t matter as far as (our) record. If you pile up enough wins, we’ll get above (.500), so we enjoyed the win (Sunday in New York). Had a day off, now we’ve got to get back to work here. There’s no easy games in this league and if you take a breath, it doesn’t matter who it is (you’re playing).”
— Larsen, who was asked at the morning skate whether reaching a .500 record could be used as a fresh starting point for the Blue Jackets after a challenging start.
Up next for the Columbus Blue Jackets
It doesn’t get any easier with the Boston Bruins and former Blue Jackets captain Nick Foligno paying a visit Friday to Nationwide Arena.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus Blue Jackets blown out by Arizona Coyotes
