The Blue Jackets turned in plenty of good minutes in Tuesday night's 4-1 loss at Pittsburgh, but it wasn't enough as the veteran Penguins were able to score three times in the opening 10-plus minutes of the second period to overturn an early 1-0 CBJ lead and pull away.
Afterward, if there was a consistent message from the Blue Jackets players, it was that sticking with their game throughout an entire contest is something this young team has to learn.
"The good teams are never done after one period," Sean Kuraly said. "I hate to say it, but (one good period) doesn't mean (anything). You have to move on. After good and bad periods, you gotta move on and you have to play for 60 minutes in this game or you're not going to win games."
"It seems to me the story here is we just have to play a full 60 minutes, play consistent," Cole Sillinger echoed.
It's something any team has to learn as it tries to move up the ranks in the NHL, and it's a particularly difficult thing for the Blue Jackets to achieve at the moment. Columbus has one of the youngest lineups in the league, and the group got even younger with the NHL debuts Tuesday night of wing Kirill Marchenko and defenseman Tim Berni.
Seven of the 18 skaters in the lineup for the Blue Jackets on Tuesday night have played less than 100 career NHL games, which means there's going to be ups and downs as players experience new things. It's not an easy process to get through, but it is one the Blue Jackets have to live with at the moment.
"It's the stuff that we hurt ourselves with, that's the frustrating part," head coach Brad Larsen said. Postgame. "We're asking a lot of some guys. We know (Pittsburgh is) a good team, but some of the simple stuff when they get it to 2-1, I could run through it all, but yeah, we hurt ourselves a lot. They're going to get their opportunities, and we just find a way to sting ourselves."
