from Michael Arace of the Columbus Dispatch,

What are the Blue Jackets to do? Their personnel losses are no longer on paper, they are holes on the ice. You could feel what an ordeal it was for them to score. They got pucks to the net. They generated some traffic. Leafs goaltender Jonathan Bernier was pretty good. Yet, with $29 million in prime talent unavailable, the lack of finish is palpable.

The Jackets (4-6) have lost four in a row by an aggregate of 18-6.

“No matter who is in or out, if you’re not doing the little things … this league is just too good,” center Ryan Johansen said. “The big thing to me, though, is we’ve got to score goals. I had seven shots on goal tonight, and I’ve got to bury some of those. We’ve got to find a way to get more pucks in the net.”

Columbus fell in love with the Original Jackets because they left all they had on the ice almost every night. That is what coach Todd Richards must demand of his club as it treads water until help arrives. That is what the youngest players on the youngest team in the league must embrace. And if a prized prospect such as Alexander Wennberg is not ready, well, next man up.

Columbus can root for this team. We love underdogs, especially those of the junkyard variety. One might suggest, though, that they cut down on the blue-line turnovers and odd-man rushes against, the sorts of things that vaporized their small margin for error against the Maple Leafs — who, by the way, are no powerhouse.

more