In Columbus, the Blue Jackets showed signs of life for 20 minutes on Thursday night.
For the last 40 minutes of their match with the Anaheim Ducks, they should have been asked for proof of life.
Mathieu Olivier, Jack Roslovic, and Nick Blankenburg scored for the Blue Jackets in the first period for a 3-0 lead headed to the middle frame.
That was it for Columbus. The Ducks rallied with five unanswered goals in a 5-3 win to end a five-game skid.
“We just stopped playing,” Olivier said. “We played one of our best periods, I believe, in the first period and we got away from it. It wasn’t pretty. We let them come back. This loss is on us. We left the door wide open.”
Anthony Stolarz got the start for the Ducks and faced 15 shots in the first period, yielding the three markers to Columbus.
John Gibson took over the met after the first intermission.
“The guys played really well for me out there those two periods, so I’ve got to give a lot of credit to them,” Gibson said.
The Ducks moved to 13-28-5.
Adam Henrique scored 22 seconds into the middle frame to start the Ducks rally.
“It was a basic, simple play that gave them some life and they ran with it,” Blue Jackets coach Brad Larsen said. “This is a hard league; you can’t give an inch. They’ve got some skill and you give them some room, and that’s what happens. To give them that life early in the period, it puts you on your heels.”
The Blue Jackets dropped to 13-30-2.
By 15:02 of the second, the Ducks had tied the game on markers form Cam Fowler and Simon Benoit .
“Obviously, we didn’t get off to the start that we wanted to,” Fowler said. “But at this point in the season, how tough things have gone for us, we still continue to fight and claw our way back in the game, and then a big third period. It’s something we should be proud of.”1
Trevor Zegras [put the Ducks up, 4-3 at 5:07 of the third.
Max Jones‘ marker at 15:01 of the third stretched the Ducks’ lead to 5-3 for the final.
Elvis Merzlikins made 28 saves in the Columbus loss.
“We talked about learning this year and the process of being a better team,” Olivier said. “You play a good game then you take a step back, which has been the trend of our team recently.”
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