from Tom Reed of the Columbus Dispatch,

John Tortorella waited weeks for adversity to appear over the horizon. As the 16-game win streak unfurled like an open stretch of highway, the Blue Jackets’ coach kept warning folks the top-down, wind-through-the-hair joy ride could not last forever.

It ended last night at 9:35 inside a stunned Nationwide Arena. It ended with backup goalie Curtis McElhinney unable to make key saves and reliable defenseman Seth Jones turning over the puck to the fastest skater on the ice, Michael Grabner, who scored a breakaway goal with 16.5 seconds remaining.

The Blue Jackets, arguably the NHL’s best third-period team, surrendered three goals and lost 5-4 before a standing-room-only sellout crowd of 19,001 fans.Having the win string snapped in Washington with a 5-0 defeat on Thursday is one thing. Blowing a 4-1 lead in a game the Blue Jackets were dominating is quite another.

“This one stings,” captain Nick Foligno said. “The last game, you can say it was the streak and we have to put it behind us, but this one really bothers us because we had enough goals to win the game.”

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