In Columbus, the visiting Chicago Blackhawks picked off the Blue Jackets, 4-2, on Tuesday night, Alex DeBrincat hit for a pair of goals in the victory.
Marc-Andre Fleury made 24 saves in the Chicago win.
Calvin de Haan and Connor Murphy added single markers for the Hawks.
“We know the schedule is hard and tight, so it’s important to string some wins together to build our team game and not take nights off,” Murphy said.
The Blackhawks improved to 13-18-5.
“It’s huge for where we are,” King said. “Maybe some guys are not scoring right away, [but] you get contributions from other players and that’s what we need.”
Boone Jenner and Gustav Nyquist were the Columbus strikers.
“It’s not a setback,” Columbus head coach Brad Larsen said. “It’s disappointing we didn’t have the energy, that’s the one disappointment. We didn’t give up much. It’s not like we were getting peppered all night.”
The Blue Jackets dropped to 16-17-1.
“We are in the thick of it and we let this one slip away,” Nyquist said. “(I) thought it was a winnable game for us. It’s tough to lose this one. It was kind of a weird game. It started off with eight whistles in five minutes. No flow to it.
“The third [goal], that’s a tough one. That’s my guy rolling on the flank. That’s a breakdown on my part. Those are things that can’t happen. I put us down 3-1.”
Joonas Korpisalo made 16 saves in the Jackets loss.
“Myself and the other leaders, we have to lead by example and bring everyone into it,” Jenner said. “We have to up our level. It starts with us and goes through the lineup. It starts tonight, the battles and the energy and getting into the game a little bit more.”
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