Morning Musings: Blue Jackets can't find the gas pedal against Coyotes

Presented with a chance to get back to the .500 mark on the young season, the Blue Jackets instead never could get going while absorbing a 6-3 loss to Arizona on Tuesday night in Nationwide Arena. The Coyotes (2-4-0) led 2-0 after a period, 4-0 after 40 minutes and 5-0 early in the third before cruising home in a game that dropped Columbus to 3-5-0. Johnny Gaudreau, Kent Johnson and Andrew Peeke scored for the Blue Jackets, while Shayne Gostisbehere's two goals led Arizona.

Game In Five Minutes

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1. It was a weird game in that Arizona never really had a territorial advantage -- at 5-on-5, the Blue Jackets had 63.8 percent of the shot attempts and 71.9 percent of the expected goals -- but felt like the Coyotes were in command for most of the night.
   But Arizona did what it had to do to get the win, scoring first on the power play, then adding a second goal against the run of play later in the opening frame. Columbus could have steadied itself after holding a 25-9 edge in shot attempts in the first period, but instead the Jackets dipped a bit in the second and the Coyotes added two more goals including a power-play marker.
   By the time it was 4-0, it was pretty clear it wasn't going to be the Jackets' night.
   "We get behind," head coach Brad Larsen said. "The third goal is a killer. We get down three, and then it was a funny game as far as we never got traction. We were icing the puck at the wrong time. You couldn't get your lines rolling. It just had a bad vibe to it the whole game. We couldn't find our game tonight."
   In many ways, it felt like the polar opposite of Sunday night's game, in which the Jackets went into Madison Square Garden and earned a 5-1 win over the high-flying Rangers. In that one, Columbus took a 1-0 lead in the first, extended it to 3-0 in the second and protected the advantage from there by playing good defense and never letting the Rangers get going in transition. It was a similarly effective game plan for the Coyotes.
   "That was just a team that was playing with a lead tonight," Zach Werenski said. "They weren't doing anything crazy. They were getting pucks in. We had our chances, but we really didn't have too many grade-A's. It's just a tough game."
   2. Coming in, you could rationalize the fact the Blue Jackets were the only team left in the NHL without a power-play goal. The Blue Jackets had been put on the man advantage just 15 times in seven games and had the lowest power-play time per game in the league. They also were working without Patrik Laine, whose shot from the left side adds danger to any power play that it's on.
   But on this night, Columbus got five chances to score on the man advantage and still went without a goal, pushing the team to 0-for-20 on the year. Laine returned to the ice and ripped three shots of at least 90 mph at Arizona goalie Connor Ingram, but there were times the power play couldn't even get into the zone to get set up let alone threaten.
   "Our power play has to be something that helps our team, and it hasn't yet this year," Werenski said. "It's easy to go back and say we've had some good chances and good looks, but at some point we have to put the puck in the net. If we do that tonight, maybe it changes the outcome of the game."
   Having Laine back will surely help in the long run, and Larsen pointed out the Finnish sniper didn't even go through a practice with the team before getting back in the lineup, so chemistry will take some time to build. Against the Coyotes, special teams played a huge factor in this game.
   "The power play sucked the life out of us," Larsen said. "I'm not surprised at the last of chemistry right now. We have to get together and start getting some chemistry fast because we're gonna need it."
   3. You can point to any reason why the Blue Jackets lost the game, but it all drew back to a simple fact -- they simply weren't the better team on this night from tip to tail.
   "This came out of nowhere," Larsen said. "Who did you like tonight? I'm looking at my lineup. I don't know if we were gassed. I don't know if it's the five games in eight days. I have no idea. Maybe they all have the flu I don't know about, but we had not enough gas tonight."
   It's kind of weird to say that in a game where
   Natural Stat Trick
   had 12 of the 18 CBJ skaters above 60 percent in xGF% at 5-on-5, but it was also a game where Arizona didn't have to score for most of the contest. The Coyotes took an early lead, won the special teams battle and frustrated the Blue Jackets from there, and Columbus couldn't find the necessary response once behind.
   "It's tough," Gaudreau said. "One good game, one bad game. Can't do that all year. We just came out flat-footed. They took the lead on us and we never got back into it."

Quote Of The Game

Larsen when asked if he understood the fans who booed the team -- and particularly the power play -- at times during the game: "Oh yeah, of course I understand it. Are you kidding me? Yeah, we don't want to play like that. Yeah, 100 percent I understand it."

Nerd Stuff

• In his return from injured reserve after missing six games, Laine played 24:31 and had a game-high 12 shot attempts (five on net).
• Johnson's goal extended his goal streak to three games in a row and his point streak to four games (3-1-4).
• Peeke's goal was the seventh on the year for CBJ defensemen, tying the Islanders for the most in the NHL. Peeke also tied his total for all of last season and has tallies in two straight games for the first time in his career.
• Gaudreau now has points in all five home games on the season (5-2-7) and goals in four out of five.
• With an assist on Johnson's goal, Nyquist is now a point away from 100 (35-64-99) in his CBJ career.
• Boone Jenner played in his 597th game with the Blue Jackets, tying David Savard for fourth all-time in franchise history.
• One game after earning his first NHL win, Daniil Tarasov wasn't quite as sharp, allowing four goals on 12 shots against before being lifted for Elvis Merzlikins (five saves).
• Adam Boqvist did not play the final 16:24 after blocking a shot by Gostisbehere.

Being Social

Not much to say after that one, but we are digging Matt's drawings.

Also, shout out to CBJ digital media intern Athena Markowski, whose reaction to Laine's pregame fit helped her become social media famous during the game.