One that got away.
Daniil Tarasov made 29 saves including several big stops early. Still, despite a 2-0 second-period lead, the Columbus Blue Jackets couldn't overcome the typical demons that appear when playing the Nashville Predators, as Nashville won 4-3 in overtime on Saturday night at Bridgestone Arena.
Columbus, which hasn't defeated the Predators in Nashville since Mar. 30, 2019, a 5-2 win, has lost nine-straight games on Broadway and fell to 9-36-1-7 in 53 lifetime trips to Bridgestone Arena.
Columbus scored twice in 6:42 to lead the Predators 2-0 in the second period, getting goals from Kirill Marchenko and Zach Aston-Reese.
Tarasov limited Nashville to one goal through 40 minutes, making 19 saves. Filip Forsberg, the Predators' all-time leader with 291 career goals, beat Tarasov at 10:40 of the second period to cut the Jackets' lead to one. Forsberg leads Nashville with four goals and eight points this season and led the game with seven shots on goal.
Off since Tuesday's 6-2 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Blue Jackets entered Saturday's game rested. The Predators played Friday night at the Chicago Blackhawks, winning their second game of the season 3-2. Nashville started the year 0-5-0.
This was Columbus' fourth game this season in which their opponent played the second of a back-to-back stretch.
Cole Smith scored 26 seconds into the third period to tie the game 2-2. Zach Werenski scored to get the Jackets the 3-2 lead at 3:07 but Alexandre Carrier tied the game 3-3 at 4:09.
Huge free agent acquisition Jonathan Marchessault scored the overtime winner at 1:44. Steven Stamkos was kept off the scoreboard.
"We were unimpressed with how we played when we had a two-goal lead," head coach Dean Evason said after Saturday's loss. "We turned the puck over constantly. (We) gave them an opportunity to come back at us, and we have to manage the game a hell of a lot better than we did in those situations.
"The game should have been cleaner than it was and it wasn't clean here tonight."
As the Jackets fall to 3-3-1, they'll take the point but want to get back on track and play the right way for the full 60 minutes.
"We, for the most part, did the right things," Evason said. "When you turn the puck over at the blue line ... you give a team that has the talent level of theirs to have momentum and come at you freely, and not have to come 200 feet, now they only got to go three-quarters of the ice instead of the entire ice to make a play on us.
"It's not just playing brain-dead hockey and dumping it in every time. It's just simply not turning it over in those crucial areas on the ice where you give a team, any team in the National Hockey League, momentum to come back at you.
"For the most part, we liked our game. We liked how we played. When we didn't turn it over, we were a really good hockey club. When we did, we were very, very average."
Elvis Merzlikins, who had been out with an upper-body injury, served as the backup on Tuesday and again on Saturday.
Perhaps Merzlikins will be back in the net on Monday night when the Blue Jackets start a three-game homestand with the defending Western Conference Champion Edmonton Oilers.
Continuing the trend of Blue Jackets opponents playing back-to-back games, the Oilers will play the Detroit Red Wings on Sunday night before heading to Columbus for Monday's game.
