Morning Musings: Blue Jackets can't get it going against Sabres

The Blue Jackets' struggles continued Wednesday night in Nationwide Arena as the team dropped a 9-4 decision to Buffalo that pushed the team to 1-5-1 in its last seven. The Sabres led 6-0 after the first and cruised home, but the Jackets did get two goals apiece from Gus Nyquist and Patrik Laine in defeat. Tage Thompson's five-goal outburst led the Sabres.

Game In Five Minutes

Three Topics

1. Well, Woody Hayes said nothing cleanses the soul like a good butt-kicking, and there's not much else you can call a hockey game that starts with one team taking a 6-0 lead on the other in the first period.
   As such, the Blue Jackets were admittedly disappointed in how Wednesday's game unfolded.
   "I've lost a lot of games, but I don't think I've ever been a part of a game like this," Laine said. "It's 6-0 after the first, definitely not ideal. But they score six in the first, we could have scored six in the second and third. But we just weren't good enough again tonight. It's just embarrassing how we played tonight. That's all I have to say."
   "It's a tough feeling," defenseman Erik Gudbranson said. "Yeah, we're going to have to chew on that one. You don't really sleep this one off. You definitely don't wake up tomorrow and feel good about yourself. And you shouldn't either."
   2. There's no hiding from that one, but there's also the reality that when you lose such a game, some things must go wrong strategically.
   Johnny Gaudreau used the term "flat footed" multiple times to describe how the Blue Jackets played while suiting up for the third time in four nights. There clearly wasn't that much jump there, as the Jackets committed crucial turnovers, messed up a few defensive reads, lost some one-on-one battles and took five minor penalties in the first period, including two tripping and two hooking calls. Buffalo scored three times on the five first-period power plays.
   "Taking five penalties, we're one of the lowest penalized teams in the league," head coach Brad Larsen said. "It's uncharacteristic. They're all penalties. There's nothing to argue -- they're all penalties. The refs made the right call. We never had a chance tonight."
   From there, Buffalo entered second in the NHL with 3.80 goals per game and showed why, with the young talent taking over. Thompson led the way with five goals, four of them in the first and two of those on the power play. Alex Tuch had a 1-3-4 line, Jeff Skinner had four assists and both Dylan Cozens and Rasmus Dahlin had 1-2-3 showings.
   "We didn't come out sharp," Gaudreau said. "We took too many penalties and left our goalies out to dry."
   3. And sometimes, you have to just tip your hat to someone like Thompson. The Arizona native was taken 26th overall by St. Louis in the 2016 draft, largely -- no pun intended -- because he's 6-6, 220 pounds.
   Not every big centerman works out, and there were times where it was fair to wonder what would become of Thompson. He showed he could put the puck in the net in two seasons at UConn, but in his first four full pro seasons, he never totaled 10 goals for any squad he played for either in the minors or the NHL.
   St. Louis sent him to Buffalo in 2018, and the reward finally came a season ago when he posted 38 goals in a breakout campaign. With five tonight, Thompson has 21 in 26 games this year, and it's fair to say he looks like a superstar at age 25.
   "It's one of those nights things are going in for you and a lot of good linemates set me up. So, it was a fun game," Thompson said. "It's definitely a rewarding feeling. You've spent a lot of years working to get to this point, and to be rewarded for it is a pretty good feeling and it just leaves you hungrier.
   "You want more from yourself. You know you're capable of it now, and I think it's just something I'm excited for, to get a night like this, and you just want to continue to grow and continue to test yourself."

Quote Of The Game

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Larsen: "I said (in the locker room), 26 years pro, never seen that. … Tonight, you start like that and it ends up being a shinny hockey game. It's an awful game."

Nerd Stuff

• Laine's two-goal game was his second in four contests, while Nyquist had his first multigoal game of the year.
• In a game of quirky stats, three CBJ players -- Vladislav Gavrikov, Jack Roslovic and Yegor Chinakhov -- were all plus-1. Meanwhile, eight players had all the points for the Sabres, with six of them posting multipoint nights.
• With an assist on Nyquist's first goal, Gaudreau extended his points streak to a season-high six games (2-8-10. The wing also improved to 4-15-19 in his last 12 contests overall and 8-14-22 in 17 home outings.
• With an assist on the same goal, captain Boone Jenner has an 8-7-15 line in the last 15 games.
• With his eighth assist of the year, Chinakhov now has set a new career high.
• Sean Kuraly skated in his 100th game as a Blue Jacket.
• Thompson's four goals in the first 16:40 of action was the second fastest such start in NHL history and the fastest since 1921. He has a 20-17-37 line in the last 19 games.

Being Social

Not the result anyone wanted, but Gaudreau did have a nice chat about Columbus on the way into the game with TNT and NHL Network's Jackie Redmond.