The Blue Jackets are stuck in a familiar place after Thursday night: searching for goals, searching for answers, and staring at a third straight loss after a 3-1 defeat to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Columbus fell to 7-10-0, and the story was painfully simple. The Jackets didn’t get enough offense, and Jet Greaves had a rough outing in net, surrendering two goals he’d likely want back. The lone Columbus goal came from Matthew Knies, with Kent Johnson and Sean Monahan drawing the assists.
Ivan Provorov didn’t dress it up.
“It's not our attitude, it's not how we come out or anything like that. We just have to find a way to put the puck in the net.
I mean, we scored one tonight, we scored one the game before, we scored only two the game before that. So, we got to find a way to put the puck in the net.
It sounds dumb, but if you score more goals than the other team, then you win, and if you don't, you don't.”
That’s been the issue in plain view. Columbus hasn’t been buried by effort so much as by the scoreboard, and the margin has been thin enough to make every missed chance sting a little more.
Greaves, for his part, pointed back to the team’s routine and the need to keep moving.
“Yeah, I think it's just staying in our process. You know, there's times where that's really easy to do when things are going your way, and sometimes it's a challenge.
But it doesn't change our jobs. We have to stick with it, put it behind us, wake up tomorrow and just have a good practice, and then just keep moving forward.”
Knies took responsibility for the play that helped swing the night Tampa Bay’s way.
“That's all on me, really. I had the puck on my stick before they got it.
Tried to make a pass up to KJ, it got intercepted, and again can't do that kind of hockey when their best players are on the ice, or they're going to make you pay. Yeah, it sucks that I felt like I ruined the momentum there for the guys, but we were getting chances late too, and we just again didn't capitalize.
But yeah, just a really crappy third period by us.”
There was also an injury concern for Columbus. Sean Monahan left with an upper body injury and did not return. Assistant coach Don Granato said there was no update yet and that the team would know more tomorrow.
The Blue Jackets did have a few statistical bright spots. They went 1-for-2 on the power play, and they won 60.3% of the faceoffs, going 35-for-58.
Zach Werenski finished with five shots and three blocks, while Mathieu Olivier logged a fight and two hits. Ryan Lomberg also had a fight.
From a team perspective, Columbus has now scored on the power play in three straight games against Tampa Bay, going 4-for-8 in that stretch for a 50.0 percent clip. The Jackets also dropped their first game against the Lightning since the 2024-25 season on Mar. 4, 2025, after sweeping the three-game season series in 2025-26.
The bigger trend around the matchup was just as stark. The winning team in the all-time series has now won by multiple goals in 14 of the last 16 overall meetings, with 11 of those decided by three or more.
Columbus returns home Saturday to face the Philadelphia Flyers at 7 PM.
In Other News...
Blue Jackets Suddenly Face Bench Uncertainty On Game Night
Rick Bowness was absent from the Blue Jackets game against the Tampa Bay Lightning because of an illness, leaving Columbus to adjust on the fly for a night when the bench looked a little different than usual. In his second season with the club, Bowness has brought plenty of experience to a young roster, and his presence behind the bench is usually part of the teams nightly routine.
Don Granato handled the coaching duties in Bowness place, giving Columbus a different voice in a game that already carried the usual stakes of an Eastern Conference matchup. For a team trying to keep its footing, any late change behind the bench adds another layer to manage, especially when it involves the NHLs oldest head coach being out of action on game night. [Read more 🡒]
Blue Jackets Let Another Home Game Slip Away In Brutal Third Period
Another home game got away from the Blue Jackets on a night when they had chances to settle in and build something against Tampa Bay. Columbus managed just one goal, from Matthew Knies, while Brandon Hagel powered the Lightning attack with two goals and an assist and Nikita Kucherov set the table with two helpers in a 3-1 loss that left the building with the familiar feeling of a missed opportunity.
Dennis Hildeby backed up the win with 28 saves, and the game stayed within reach long enough for Columbus to believe it could still turn. Instead, the third period tilted the wrong way, and the Blue Jackets were left to sort through another frustrating finish against a division opponent that did enough in the key moments to leave Columbus searching for answers. [Read more 🡒]
Blue Jackets Suddenly Need Answers On Sean Monahan
Sean Monahans night ended early in Tampa, and the Blue Jackets suddenly have another injury situation to sort through. The veteran forward had one assist in 9:58 of ice time before leaving the game against the Lightning with an upper-body injury, a development that came in a 3-1 loss Columbus could ill afford as it tried to keep pace.
The immediate concern now is how long Monahan might be unavailable and what it means for a lineup that already had to adjust on the fly. Columbus did not have him back for the rest of the game, and with the team looking for stability up front, any absence from a center with his experience would force another round of shuffling at a time when the Blue Jackets need answers more than they need another question. [Read more 🡒]