COLUMBUS, Ohio — The best that can be said about the Blue Jackets’ latest lopsided loss on Thursday is that it brought them — limping, gagging and hacking — to the midpoint of a miserable season.
The details barely matter anymore, do they? The Blue Jackets gave up a back-breaking short-handed goal late in the second period, allowed a bizarre goal about eight minutes into the third, then collapsed in the closing minutes of a 6-2 loss to Carolina.
Every game is different, and yet so many of them the same.
Blue Jackets fans, bless them, tried desperately to elevate the home side during a few back-against-the-wall moments throughout the game, but to no avail. And by the end of the night, a smattering of boos could be heard in Nationwide Arena.
Through all of the seasons with Doug MacLean as general manager and both of the seasons with Scott Arniel as coach, the Blue Jackets have never had a worse first half of a season than the one you’re witnessing now.
The Jackets are 12-27-2 (26 points) with half a season to go. After Chicago’s 3-2 win vs. Colorado, the Blue Jackets have now settled into last place in the NHL’s overall standings.
#CBJ lowest point totals through 41 games:
2022-23: 12-27-2 (26)
2011-12: 11-25-5 (27)
2001-02: 11-25-5 (27)
2005-06: 13-26-2 (28)
2003-04: 11-23-7 (29)— Aaron Portzline (@Aportzline) January 13, 2023
The silver lining to all of this, of course, could be the NHL’s lottery draft in April. If the Blue Jackets remain in the basement of the league, they’d have a 25.5 percent chance to land the No. 1 pick and select the league’s latest franchise-altering wunderkind, center Connor Bedard.
But April is a long way away. Games like Thursday’s are a reminder of that.
The Blue Jackets got goals from Sean Kuraly and Johnny Gaudreau, but they made critical mistakes and suffered comedic misfortune in allowing the Hurricanes to pull away.
Let’s start late in the second, when the Blue Jackets were down 2-1 but playing kinda/sorta OK when Carolina’s Martin Necas (cross-checking) put them on a power-play at 13:53. The Blue Jackets’ power play was grossly ineffective, but it was so much worse than that.
Forward Emil Bemstrom turned the puck over near the blue line as the power play wound down, firing the puck at Carolina’s Jesper Fast along the wall. That fast-forwarded the puck to Jesse Chatfield, who took off down the ice in a blaze.
Chatfield skated past Bemstrom like he was standing still and had enough steam to zoom past defenseman Tim Berni for a clean look at Blue Jackets goaltender Joonas Korpisalo. And right like that, it was 3-1 Carolina.
“If you make a play at the blue line, you better be sure,” Kuraly said, noting that power-play turnovers have been a focal point of recent pregame meetings. “We’re going to get to a point where we’re going to get sick of it.”
Afterburners: engaged 💨
Jalen Chatfield flies in and scores the @canes third shorthanded goal in the past two games! pic.twitter.com/fsDmwWnMym
— NHL (@NHL) January 13, 2023
The Hurricanes made it 4-1 on a goal at 8:02 of the third period that required (for many) a quick leaf through the NHL rulebook.
Carolina defenseman Brett Pesce fired a puck from the left circle that rattled Korpisalo’s mask and knocked it out of place on his head, making it impossible, he said, for him to see clearly. Korpisalo shook his head and the mask was dislodged.
But the play continued. A half-second later, Blue Jackets forward Kent Johnson was trying to clear the puck out of harm’s way when he instead fired it directly into the net past a maskless Korpisalo, who was expecting to play to be blown dead.
The NHL rulebook states that play should continue if the opposing team has a scoring chance, but Johnson’s puck was in the cage way too quickly to make such a determination.
“The rule states it’s a continuation, and it’s so bang-bang,” Blue Jackets coach Brad Larsen said. “If it’s a quick play after it… when the helmet’s off, you want to get a call. But that’s how the rule states it.”
Asked if he thought the rule should be changed, Larsen responded: “That’s the least of my worries right now.”
Korpisalo was asked for the goaltender’s perspective: “If (the puck) hits you in the head you’re pretty much out for a long time. But I didn’t make the rule book.”
The Blue Jackets lost their starch the rest of the way. The Hurricanes scored at 14:55 and 16:45 of the third to push the margin.
Once again, the Blue Jackets were not kind to their goaltender.
Korpisalo estimated he had 10 hours of sleep over the last three days after welcoming his first child into the world with his wife, Anna. He probably would have had the night off, but Elvis Merzlikins is back on the shelf (day-to-day) with what Larsen called a “lingering illness.”
Carolina dialed up 41 shots on goal, including 17 in the third period when Korpisalo was running on fumes.
“We didn’t help Korpi out much tonight,” Gaudreau said. “He played great back there. There’s only so much he can do.”
(Photo of Joonas Korpisalo: Aaron Doster / USA Today)
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