Blue Jackets breakdown: Slew of mistakes turn home-opener into Lightning rout

Other than scoring the first goal again, the Blue Jackets’ second game of 2022-23 was nothing like the first.

Instead of putting up a fight for two periods, as they did Wednesday in a 4-1 loss at the Carolina Hurricanes, the Blue Jackets fell apart much quicker in a 5-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning played before a sellout crowd Friday night at Nationwide Arena.

The Jackets started fast in their home-opener, taking a 1-0 lead 2:21 into the game on Johnny Gaudreau’s first goal in a Columbus uniform, but they scored just one more goal. Gustav Nyquist netted it, pulling the Blue Jackets even at 2-2 in the first, but Tampa Bay scored the next three.

Steven Stamkos scored two goals for the Lightning (1-1-0), who got three more from Corey Perry, Ross Colton and Cal Foote. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 26 saves for the win in net. Rookie goalie Daniil Tarasov took his second straight loss while facing 39 shots for the Blue Jackets (0-2-0).

“It’s a great hockey team we just played,” said Blue Jackets coach Brad Larsen, who was not happy with his team’s effort or execution. “We played a great hockey team in Game 1 too, in their building. We’re out-chancing (Carolina) after two periods. We’re in real good shape. … Tonight’s game? We’re giving up ‘Grade As’ all over the ice, and that, to me, that’s a lack of focus. That’s a lack of competitiveness.”

Here’s a breakdown:

Columbus Blue Jackets vs Tampa Bay Lightning key moments

— Gaudreau’s goal was one of the few bright spots for the Blue Jackets, who took the early 1-0 lead thanks to a nifty no-look pass by Justin Danforth from behind the net to Gaudreau’s stick. The newest star for Columbus buried the shot and instantly pumped his fist with a big smile on his face.

It was one of the few reasons for Gaudreau or the Blue Jackets to smile.

“It was nice to score and get one there,” said Gaudreau, who had 40 goals and 115 points last season for the Calgary Flames. “I thought we had a lot of good looks tonight on our line. Even in the second, toward the end of the second, I thought we were getting looks. We’ve just got to bear down and put the puck in the net.”

— Nyquist’s goal was the other reason for Blue Jackets fans to cheer. His shot beat Vasilevskiy cleanly past the blocker and inside the left post, but rookie Kent Johnson’s pass to create the 2-on-1 scoring chance was just as pretty. Johnson flipped the puck off the glass with a backhanded from deep in his own zone and it plopped down right near Nyquist for the rush up ice.

— The Lightning scored two goals that went into the net after glancing off skates of Blue Jackets defenseman.

The first was scored by Stamkos off a centering pass that hit Adam Boqvist’s left skate and slid inside the left post, making it 2-1 Tampa Bay 1:15 after Perry tied it 1-1 in the first. Foote scored the second one to make it 4-2 late in the first, deflecting the puck off Jake Bean’s right skate into the net.

There wasn’t much either defenseman could do about either bounce, but it was still added help the Lightning didn’t need.

“Tonight, we had some bad bounces, but that’s not why we lost,” Larsen said. “We lost because they were the better team.”

Quotable: Columbus Blue Jackets vs Tampa Bay Lightning

“It’s execution, it’s sloppiness. How many times did we turn the puck back (to them)? We’re turning the puck back and … we’re feeding a line is what we’re doing. And they were just coming right back at us. That’s what I’m talking about. The missed assignments and stuff, that wasn’t there in Game 1.”

— Larsen on the difference between the Blue Jackets’ loss Wednesday to the Hurricanes and Friday against the Lightning.

“We dealt with it the first game. I think within that game it (affected us). You look up, you’re going for your first power play and it’s different and you’re adding guys in and out, so there’s that short-term effect. But these guys are pros. You deal with what happens and you can’t dwell on it. You move on.”

— Blue Jackets coach Brad Larsen on whether there might be a negative psychological affect from losing Patrik Laine to injury.

“We all make mistakes out there. It doesn’t matter if you’re young or old. I’m sure I had a few mistakes tonight too. We just all need to be better. We’ve got to play better in front of our goaltender. (Tarasov) played well tonight and kept us in this game for a majority of the night.”

— Gaudreau on having patience with a young team in a mistake-laden effort against the Lightning.

“It’s good to play these teams right now. They’re a benchmark for us and we know that we eventually need to get to that level. I think playing a full 60 minutes, plugged in, will help us.”

— Blue Jackets center Cole Sillinger on learning from losses to two of the NHL’s best teams. —

Columbus Blue Jackets vs Tampa Bay Lightning takeaways

— Much of this game looked like a team that nearly won its third straight Stanley Cup last season toying with a young group that happens to be missing its top goal-scorer. The only Blue Jackets forwards who looked comfortable with the Lightning’s torrid pace were Gaudreau, Justin Danforth, Nyquist and Kent Johnson, who made impressive plays on the Jackets' goals.

Danforth’s no-look pass to Gaudreau for the game’s first goal was high level, Johnson’s backhand clearing pass off the glass and straight to Nyquist for the goal off a 2-on-1 was elite and Gaudreau put the Lightning on their heels several times after scoring his first goal of the season.

Tarasov also made a number of excellent stops despite allowing five goals. Otherwise, there wasn’t a lot else for the Blue Jackets to feel good about.

— After going 0 for 4 on power plays, including 1:36 of 5-on-3, the Blue Jackets are now 0 for 6 through their first two games.

Facing two of the best teams and goalies in the league has something to do with it, along with Patrik Laine getting injured before the Jackets even got their first man-advantage against Carolina, but they’re already scuffling on the man-advantage.

The effort was a lot better Friday with more time spent in the offensive zone, but going 0 for 9 on shots during power plays doesn’t do much for the Jackets’ confidence without Laine. If they’re going to tread water without their star goal-scorer during a brutally difficult early schedule, the power play has to improve.

“It was way better than Wednesday, but I mean, we’ve got to execute,” Gaudreau said. “We’ve got to score goals. When you’re down a goal or two there in second and you have power plays, you’ve got to make it a one-goal game going into the third.”

— Mathieu Olivier only played three shifts in each period for a total of nine. He’s a fourth-line winger acquired from the Nashville Predators for a fourth-round pick in the offseason to add bite into the lineup, but he’s also expected to contribute offensively.

Through the first two games, Olivier hasn’t been noticeable and his ice time in this game dropped about three minutes, from 11:18 against Carolina to 8:03 against the Lightning. The Blue Jackets have a lot of young forwards, so Olivier needs to add something other than a willingness to fight if he wants to become a lineup fixture with Sean Kuraly and Eric Robinson.

— Jake Bean and Erik Gudbranson, the Jackets’ third defense pairing in the first two games, didn’t get a lot of time playing with each other in the preseason.

Gudbranson had a lower-body injury that kept him out of the final two preseason games, but it was considered minor enough that he’s played the first two games. Facing one of the NHL’s best teams exposed the pairing’s unfamiliarity with each other and they each had a rough night.

According to Natural Stat Trick’s game analysis, the Lightning had a 15-2 edge in scoring chances while Gudbranson was on the ice for 5-on-5 play and 13-2 against Bean. Tampa Bay also had a dominant 9-1 edge in high-danger chances during Gudbranson’s shifts and 8-0 for Bean’s. All of the Blue Jackets’ defensive pairings struggled, in fairness to the third pairing, but Bean and Gudbranson are clearly still searching for chemistry.

Columbus Blue Jackets vs Tampa Bay Lightning notes

— Elvis Merzlikins is healthy enough to play and might get the start Saturday night in St. Louis. Merzlikins missed a couple practices with the illness that kept him out of the season-opener Wednesday in Raleigh. That was the reason Tarasov made his second straight start.

— Johnson entered the lineup because of Laine’s injury and played the right wing on the third line with Cole Sillinger at center and Gustav Nyquist on the left. Johnson spent most of his time at the University of Michigan at left wing, but played right wing sparingly for the Wolverines. He also played right wing, his off side with a lefty shot, for Canada in the 2022 Bejing Winter Olympics.

“I like the right,” Johnson said. “Some of my favorite players, like Patrik Kane and (Artemi) Panarin, they play their off-wing, so I can see how guys like that do it and I can do it too.”

— Larsen saw enough of the Jackets’ second line struggling to get out of their own zone and turning pucks over. Yegor Chinakhov, Jack Roslovic and Jakub Voracek got trapped in their own zone too often, including a pair of goals against, and Larsen finally flip-flopped Chinakhov at left wing with Nyquist to add more stability.

— The game had an emotional start after a video on the scoreboard detailed the battle of 5-year old Zavier Sexton, of Westerville, who was struck by a vehicle in the spring and needed extensive surgery and recovery time at Nationwide Children's hospital. Zavier and his parents were honored at center ice before the game, where he dropped the ceremonial first puck with Blue Jackets captain Boone Jenner and Stamkos, the Lightning captain.

Columbus Blue Jackets vs Tampa Bay Lightning: analysis

Gaudreau, Nyquist and Tarasov kept the Blue Jackets in the game as long as they could, but the Lightning’s aggressive forecheck pressure created a tidal wave of attempts and shots that broke the game open in a dominant second period. The final numbers weren’t even close.

Here’s a look at a statistical breakdown via Natural Stat Trick:

Shots: Lightning 39, Blue Jackets 28 (58.2%)

Shot attempts: Lightning 66, Blue Jackets 44 (60%)

Power plays: Lightning 1/2 (50%), Blue Jackets 0/4 (0%)

Scoring chances: Lightning 36, Blue Jackets 21 (63.7%)

High-danger chances: Lightning 16, Blue Jackets 7 (63.7%)

Expected goals: Lightning 3.1, Blue Jackets 2.4

Faceoffs: Blue Jackets 40/56 (71%), Lightning 16/56 (29%)

Hits: Blue Jackets 22, Lightning 18

Blocked shots: Blue Jackets 13, Lightning 4

Columbus Jackets vs Tampa Bay Lightning three stars

First star

Steven Stamkos, Lightning, center

Tampa Bay’s captain did what he often does against Columbus by scoring two goals that first gave the Lightning a 2-1 lead in the first and then polished off the victory by making it 5-2 in the third. Stamkos now has 15 goals, 16 assists and 31 points in 28 career games against the Blue Jackets.

Second star

Ross Colton, Lightning, left wing

Colton is more of a recent thorn in the Blue Jackets’ side, but he’s definitely become a thorn on the Lightning’s third line. Colton’s goal to make it 3-2 in the first was his fourth career goal against Columbus in nine games. He also assisted on Foote’s goal to make it 4-2 in the second.

Third star

Corey Perry, Lightning, right wing

The Blue Jackets are used to watching Perry do damage against them regardless of what uniform he’s wearing. His goal and assist in this game were his third goal, second assist and fifth point in four games against Columbus since joining the Lightning last season. He added to his career scoring total against the Blue Jackets, which is now 20-21-41 in 45 games with four different teams.

Up next for the Columbus Blue Jackets

Columbus will complete its first of 16 back-to-back sets Saturday (8 p.m.) at the St. Louis Blues.

bhedger@dispatch.com

@BrianHedger

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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus Blue Jackets roasted by Tampa Bay LIghtning