The Blue Jackets scored the first goal, played a solid opening period, and appeared to be on their way Tuesday night.
After that, well, it gradually went downhill.
Once again, they trudged through the second period and came out on the wrong end of it, trailing 2-1 after 40 minutes with very little in the way of positives to take from the period. They were outplayed and spent most of their time defending, and the dam broke for the Islanders early in the third period.
Sergei Bobrovsky was pulled after Jason Chimera wired a shot from distance to make it 4-1, the second of back-to-back goals he would probably like to have back. Joonas Korpisalo mopped it up the rest of the way as the Blue Jackets left Brooklyn with another loss at Barclays Center, a building that hasn’t been kind to them since the Islanders began calling it home.
They have one game remaining before the NHL’s All-Star break and it comes Thursday in Nashville against a Predators team playing with a ton of confidence. Not much needs to be said for the locals in this case: the Blue Jackets’ defensive game has to tighten up, and it needs to happen quickly.
“We have to play with more desperation as a group,” Brandon Dubinsky said. “We’ve got to play better, step up, and pick up our game. That’s important right now.”
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