The margin for error is thin for the Blue Jackets at the moment, so the last thing the team needs is to make it harder on itself.
Yet that's exactly what happened Saturday night, as turnovers and other self-inflicted wounds doomed the Jackets to a 6-1 loss against Detroit.
"We just hurt ourselves," head coach Brad Larsen said. "Quite simple. The turnovers in the second period were glaring. … We're trying to force plays. We talked about it -- 'Can't do it, can't do it, can't do it.' Kept trying to do it. That's what happens."
Columbus actually got off to a solid start, and Emil Bemstrom's finish of a nice move to the net by Boone Jenner tied the game at 1 in the opening minute of the second period. But from there, Detroit took over by scoring five consecutive goals, including Filip Hronek's tiebreaking goal off a CBJ turnover that allowed him to score from all alone in front of the net.
The floodgates opened from there, with the Jackets unable to muster much in the way of consistent offense the rest of the way and Detroit given too many scoring opportunities.
"They did exactly what they wanted to do in this building tonight, and we fed into that," CBJ defenseman Erik Gudbranson said. "We turned over a lot of pucks tonight, and it just kills your momentum. You do that consistently for two periods, it's going to be really hard to win a hockey game that way."
The good news is Columbus can wash the bad taste out of its mouth pretty quickly with a chance for redemption tonight against the Panthers.
"We gotta learn from it," Jenner said. "We can't play that way, giving the opponent so many chances. It's right back at it tomorrow, and a good test to come back with an effort tomorrow."
