That was...not fun.
The Blue Jackets have given up at least three goals in each of their last nine games, and they're clearly missing Seth Jones (along with others). Tonight, the team doing the scoring was the Minnesota Wild, who took down the Blue Jackets, 4-0.
In the first period, Joel Eriksson Ek made it 1-0 Wild just 6:12 into the game. 34 seconds later, Jared Spurgeon picked his spot on an odd-man rush and, just like that, it was 2-0. The first period would end with the Blue Jackets *only* down two goals, despite being thoroughly outplayed.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | F | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BLUE JACKETS | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| WILD | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
The second period brought more of the same. Ryan Hartman buried a feed from Mikka Koivu to give the Wild a 3-0 lead at 10:52 of the second. One minute and 38 seconds later, Zach Parise found himself alone in front of the net and made it 4-0, Wild.
After Parise's goal, Matiss Kivlenieks replaced starter Joonas Korpisalo in the net. Korpisalo allowed 4 goals on 15 shots. Kivlenieks was able to close the second period strongly, but the Blue Jackets still faced a 4-0 deficit heading into the final frame.
The third period brought only more pain. Kevin Fiala scored a power-play goal at 12:20 of the period to grow the Wild lead to 5-0. Mercifully, the horn sounded before the Wild could run it up any more.
Injury Update
Riley Nash drew back in after missing Tuesday's game against the Wild in Minnesota. Alexander Wennberg drew back in after missing nearly a month with an upper-body injury.
Next Up
The Blue Jackets will host the Vancouver Canucks on Sunday night at Nationwide Arena. Puck drop is slated for 7:00 p.m.
