| 1 | 2 | 3 | F | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
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0 | 4 | 1 | 5 |
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CBJ GOALS: |
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All good things must come to an end.
For the Columbus Blue Jackets, that good thing was the first period Tuesday night against the Seattle Kraken.
And it came to an end when the teams came out for the second period.
The Blue Jackets gave up four goals in a woeful middle frame, turning a 2-0 lead after one into a 4-2 deficit they couldn't bounce back from en route to a 5-2 victory for the Kraken.
"It seems like for the last string of games, we're just taking one period off," said Zach Aston-Reese, who had one of the two goals in the first period and assisted on the other. "It's these one-period lapses where we just give up five, six odd-man rushes, couple of grade-A's (opportunities), and we just shoot ourselves in the foot and make it really hard for us to win."
During the losing streak, those lapses seem to lead the Blue Jackets to spiral.
"It's just something that we have to learn as a team. There are a lot of young guys in this room, and it is a bit of a learning process. Sometimes we just have to get the cuteness out of our game," said Aston-Reese.
Head coach Dean Evason echoed the sentiments of Aston-Reese.
"We'll watch that first period and we figure out exactly how we need to play — but we need to do it for 60 minutes, not 20," said Evason.
"When things go bad, we can't compound it by (making) another mistake," he added.
The loss completes a winless five-game road trip for Columbus, with the Jackets managing just one point — in an overtime loss to the San Jose Sharks on Election Night.
They've now lost six straight games after a 5-3-1 start.
Here's how it went down in Washington state:
1st Period:
(7:59): It took eight minutes for the Seattle Kraken to register their first shot on goal — Jared McCann's wrister from the near the left face-off dot at 7:59. The Blue Jackets had eight already on net at this point. Columbus came out with a sense of urgency
(13:46 — CBJ Goal): Good work here from the fourth line of Aston-Reese, Kuraly, and Labanc. Kuraly gets the goal after Seattle goalie Joey Daccord gives up a rebound on a shot from Aston-Reese, who took the puck after some good disruptive defense from Labanc. This is textbook bottom-six goal: get in, get rough, get dirty, and get in front of the net.
The first of two goals in 22 seconds for the #CBJ. This one goes to Kuraly, with Aston-Reese and Labanc picking up the assists.
— 1st Ohio Battery (@1stOhioBattery) November 13, 2024
pic.twitter.com/zmQ6105VK8
(14:08 — CBJ Goal): Same forward line, different goal-scorer. This time it's Aston-Reese getting the goal from Kuraly and Labanc. Seattle turns it over in the neutral zone after some good stick-work from Labanc. He dumps it in and the puck takes a nice bounce off the boards to Kuraly, who instantly dumps it right in front of the net. That's where Aston-Reese was waiting and has no problem doubling the Columbus lead.
...and here's the second goal, this one coming from Zach Aston-Reese. Kuraly and Labanc with the assists here. Second point on the same shift for all three players. Impressive.
— 1st Ohio Battery (@1stOhioBattery) November 13, 2024
The 22 seconds between goals is the fastest this season from the #CBJ. pic.twitter.com/WaHgRKKbkb
Unfortunately, this would be the pinnacle of the night for the road team.
2nd Period:
(2:50, 7:13, 7:23, 13:34 — SEA Goals): For as good of a first period as the Blue Jackets played, it was equally bad in the second period — and then some. Seattle scored four times, including a pair of goals ten seconds apart with Columbus taking a penalty in between. Goals came in a myriad of ways: defensive miscues, sub-par goaltending, unnecessary penalties. Coming off arguably their best period of the road trip, the Blue Jackets second period was arguably their worst of the five-game stretch.
3rd Period:
(18:42 — SEA Goal): Columbus was able to generate a few chances in the third, but Seattle went into a safe defense and with just less than two minutes in the game, would get an empty-netter to give us the 5-2 final. The goal was from Jared McCann, his team-leading 8th goal.
| CBJ | GAME STATS | SEA |
|---|---|---|
| 40 | SHOTS | 33 |
| 56% | FACEOFFS | 44% |
| 0/1 | POWER PLAY | 1/3 |
| 2/3 | PENALTY KILL | 1/1 |
| 24 | HITS | 14 |
| 14 | GIVEAWAYS | 18 |
| 1 | TAKEAWAYS | 4 |
| 13 | BLOCKED SHOTS | 16 |
| ALL SITUATIONS ADVANCED STATS | ||
| 3.98 | EXPECTED GOALS | 2.49 |
| 77 | SHOT ATTEMPTS | 58 |
| 34 | SCORING CHANCES | 24 |
| 18 | HIGH-DANGER CHANCES | 13 |
|
DATA VIA: NHL.COM NATURALSTATTRICK.COM |
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Stat Talk:
-
Columbus' first period was amongst the best they've had this period. They outshot the Kraken 19-8, and had big margins of victory on shot attempts (30-12), scoring chances (15-2), high-danger chances (8-1), and expected goals (1.59-0.16). There was a total shift in the second period, with the Kraken owning an advantage in all categories, including doubling up the Blue Jackets (10-5) in high-danger chances.
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The 22 seconds between the Kuraly and Aston-Reese goals was the shortest time between goals for Columbus this season, but not the fastest in the game: the Kraken scored ten seconds apart for the second and third goals of the four-goal second.
- With the 40-33 shots on goal advantage, the Blue Jackets outshot their opponent in all five games of the road trip — by a huge margin: 192-135, an average of +11 shots on goal per game.
Up Next:
For the first time in two weeks, the Blue Jackets are back in Nationwide Arena for the next one. That'll come Friday night against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Puck drop is 7:00 p.m.
