If the games were 20 minutes, the Columbus Blue Jackets would have picked up two points Saturday night.
But they're not, and the last 40 minutes were particularly awful as the Blue Jackets were outscored 6-1 in the final two frames in a 6-3 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Here are three things from the loss:
Kent's First Goal
It took a little longer than expected, but in the 14th game of his NHL career, Kent Johnson picked up his first professional goal — a sneaky backhanded shot that went five-hole through the pads of Pittsburgh goaltender Tristan Jarry.
#CBJ Johnson (1) goal pic.twitter.com/OB5ACW7vYr
— Coby Maeir (@CobyMaeir) October 23, 2022
Johnson had been so close on multiple occasions, so to see him hit pay-dirt was a relief and it was clear that it was a weight off his shoulder as well. It seems that with each game, Johnson feels more comfortable and more confident. Bold-ish prediction: goal number two comes either Sunday against the New York Rangers or back at home Tuesday against the Arizona Coyotes.
Elvis Must Be Better
Elvis Merzlikins seems to get a free pass more than your average netminder, but it's time to acknowledge that his struggles from last season have carried into this season. At the very least, two of the three second-period goals are ones that Elvis has to shoulder most of the blame for — and an argument could easily be made that all three shouldn't have found the back of the net.
For the game, the Penguins had an expected goal total of 3.62. They also had eight second-chance shots on goal off rebounds. The folks at MoneyPuck categorize scoring chances and goals into low, medium, and high danger. Three of the goals in Saturday's loss were on high-danger chances, but the other three came on low-danger chances. For the season, nine of the 17 goals allowed by Merzlikins have been on low-danger chances. That's not good. The defense needs work, absolutely — but great goalies bail the blue line out at least occasionally, and that just isn't happening right now. Through four starts, Merzlikins has a goals against average of 4.20.
Weaknesses Exposed
With expectations for the first time in a few seasons, the Blue Jackets are being given reminder after reminder that this is a dramatically incomplete team. Be it the above-mentioned poor play between the pipes, defensive breakdowns and turnovers at the worst possible time, or the now 0-for-14 power play, it needs to be stated that this team is still young, still trying to gel together (or in some cases, still trying to learn how to play at an NHL level), and still trying to find their way. They'll get there, but in the meantime, there's going to be plenty of long nights like Saturday.
Quick Turnaround
The Blue Jackets travel to the Big Apple for a late afternoon affair with the New York Rangers on Sunday. The puck drops at 5:00 pm ET.
