This may be rock bottom for the Columbus Blue Jackets. Then again, perhaps they haven’t reached that yet.
The Blue Jackets’ losing streak hit eight games, as they lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning by a final score of 7-4 on Saturday, and were essentially out of this one following a disastrous first period.
Columbus, which had qualified for the playoffs in the spring of 2014 and looked to be headed in a positive direction, found itself down 4-0 after the opening 20 minutes. That meant the end of the night for goalie Anton Forsberg. The Blue Jackets tried to fight their way back into the game, and while they found a scoring touch themselves, they couldn’t stop the offensively talented Lightning.
Afterwards, the Blue Jackets held a players-only meeting, according to Aaron Portzline of the Columbus Dispatch, as they search for answers as to how and fix a season that is quickly going off the rails.
“It’s not preparation. It’s a mentality. Sometimes you take things for granted, for whatever reason,” said forward Jack Skille, as per the Columbus Dispatch.
“Maybe we forgot how hard it is to win games. But if we play the way we did in the third period for a full 60 minutes, there is no chance that we’re in the same situation that we are today.”