SvoNotes: Blue Jackets facing big bunch of adversity after latest loss

In hockey, there are errors of execution and mental mistakes, and the Blue Jackets have problems in each realm right now after a 6-0 loss to Nashville on Tuesday night.
There was little for Columbus to hang its hat on this night during a second straight loss in which the team gave up six goals. The Blue Jackets were down from nearly the get-go, falling into a 1-0 hole just 4:56 into the game and a 3-0 deficit when the Predators tallied twice in nine seconds almost 13 minutes into the game.

Columbus did turn things around some in the second period, but the lone tally the team did manage to score was overturned because of an offsides review. A few minutes later, Nashville made it 4-0, and that was pretty much lights out.
"We just got outskated and outworked in the first period," veteran forward Jakub Voracek said. "They were on us. We didn't have any time to make any kinds of plays because we weren't moving our legs. They took advantage of it. It's a good team, it's a big team, a physical team. We got outcompeted, outworked and outskated in the first period in our D-zone. When that happens, usually you give up a lot of chances.
"They score three, it's really hard to come back from 3-0, especially in this building. The second period was better. I think we were a better team. (Nashville goalie Juuse) Saros stood on his head, made a lot of huge saves. I think if we score one or two there, the game could be a little bit different, but as soon as they scored the fourth one it was kind of over."

Now the question becomes, which is the more important issue facing the Blue Jackets -- is it the mistakes the team is making in its structure and the X's and O's of the game, or are bigger things at play?
Remember, the Blue Jackets entered the year as the youngest team in the league, and that's especially true at key spots down the middle of the lineup and on the blue line. At some point in an 82-game schedule, that fact was bound to catch up with the team, but the Jackets have shown remarkable poise through the first quarter of the schedule given their youth and the amount of players occupying new roles on the team.
It's been a relatively charmed start for the team in that a lot went right as the Jackets got off to a 12-6-0 record, one of the best beginnings in franchise history. Blessed with a bevy of home games early in the slate, the team won all five overtime games it played, is yet to lose three in a row, and has found multiple ways to win throughout the season even when its game hasn't been at its best.
But back-to-back losses -- especially the way these games have unfolded -- on top of Friday night's difficult win over Vancouver have now put the team in a spot where adversity truly is hitting for the first time this year, especially with tough games left on this road trip at Dallas on Thursday night and against Washington on Saturday.
"I know there is a formula (to regain our confidence), and it is a total team effort," Larsen said. "When you go through these stretches, now we're three games into this where I feel we haven't been at our best. You remember there's other teams playing and they played well, they capitalize, but now we get to see, how do we get this together?
"Practice is important. Every rep is important. Every faceoff is important. Every play is important. That urgency has to go up. For our group, now we're going to have to manage this on the road. We have a lot of road games coming. We know that. So we'll look at some tape, we'll try to teach, we'll help them through this, and we'll get right back at it against Dallas."
Added Voracek: "The schedule is only going to get tougher, right? We are on the road a lot. We have to find a way, let's say if we don't have it, how to manage a game better. It comes with experience. It comes with adjusting. You know, we don't have that much experience on the team, but I think so far we have done a pretty good job in the season that we always stop the bleeding, so hopefully we are going to do it in Dallas on Thursday."
Then there are the execution issues, which is what Larsen pointed to as the biggest problem early against Nashville. After some of the recent inconsistencies of the team, the coaching staff chose to break up lines that had built some chemistry in an effort to find a spark, but the Blue Jackets were discombobulated from the word go.
Turnover after turnover ended up going back toward the Blue Jackets net, as passes simply failed to connect and pucks bounced the wrong way repeatedly. CBJ goalie Elvis Merzlikins didn't have his best effort but was replaced 12:53 into the game as the Predators scored three times on their first nine shots, twice on giveaways by the Jackets' defense.
"To me, the lack of execution affected us," Larsen said. "There were passes in the skates, passes too far in front. Two of the goals are just blatant turnovers, right on their stick. It puts you on your heels, there's no question. And when you're not executing, you can't play fast, you can't be on your toes, you can't be assertive."
And as forward Sean Kuraly noted, once the mistakes start building, they seem to compound on one another. Through the first 15 games or so, the Blue Jackets were adept at getting out of their defensive zone, showing confidence and noise on the puck. It's a piece of their game that appears to have gone missing in recent contests.
"I think a couple of them go in the back of the net, maybe we're second guessing a little more than we should be," he said. "It's not as clean as it was. We were coming out a little cleaner out of our zone. Now maybe for whatever reason it's not going as well. The way you kind of get back to it is make the play you can see and you know is there. It's definitely something I think we'll as a team look to get better at."

Stats and Facts

• Filip Forsberg scored four goals for Nashville, giving him eight in his last nine games against the Blue Jackets dating back to last season. He is just the second player to notch four goals in a game against the Blue Jackets, joining Winnipeg's Blake Wheeler, who did it March 3, 2019.
• Forsberg, who reached 400 career points in the game, has 12 goals in 21 career games against Columbus.
• Mikael Granlund had the primary assist on all four of Forsberg's goals. It marked the 12th time in NHL history that one player had the primary assist on each of a teammate's four or more goals in a game.
• It is just Columbus' second shutout loss on the year, joining a 4-0 setback at the New York Rangers on Oct. 29. The Blue Jackets had scored at least three goals in four straight games, but Saros finished with 27 saves in the win for the Predators.
• Things got a little physical in the third given the lopsided score. Gavin Bayreuther earned the second fighting major of his NHL career when he dropped the gloves with Tanner Jeannot, while there was another scrum later that ended with roughing minors assessed to Kuraly, Eric Robinson and Mark Borowiecki after the Nashville defenseman's open-ice hit on Kuraly.
• Zach Werenski finished with a team-high six shots on goal despite playing just 19:48, his first game of the season with less than 20 minutes on the board.
• The Blue Jackets were 0-for-2 on the power play, while Nashville was 1-for-4. The CBJ goal taken off the board was scored by Jack Roslovic one second after a Jackets' power play ended, but review showed Cole Sillinger was offsides on Max Domi's zone entry.
• This was the 50th game between the franchises in Nashville; Columbus has won just nine of those contests (9-34-1-6). The Blue Jackets are 0-5-1 in their last six in Bridgestone Arena.