COLUMBUS, Ohio _ They were on the right road.
At least that's how the Blue Jackets felt after a 4-3 overtime loss Friday night in St. Louis. After shaking off a funk that followed their two worst games, back-to-back, the Jackets felt recharged before facing the Calgary Flames on Saturday night at Nationwide Arena.
"We got on the right road, yeah," coach John Tortorella said before the game. "We got on the right road (Friday) night."
Then, about 75 minutes later, the puck dropped and took those good feelings with it. The Flames built a 2-0 lead through two periods, staved off the Jackets' 43-29 margin in shots and leaned on goalie David Rittich's 43 saves in a 3-0 shutout.
"Our start was terrible," Tortorella said. "There's no question our start was terrible. After that, I thought we played hard. Did we make a lot of plays? No. Were there some plays to be made? Yes. We just did not execute, but it's unacceptable how we started the game."
Sean Monahan scored the game's first goal 3:44 into the game, Sam Bennett made it 2-0 at 8:20 of the second, and Matthew Tkachuk completed the scoring with an empty-net goal at 17:21 of the third.
"I think the real tale of this game is honestly our start," Blue Jackets captain Nick Foligno said. "For whatever reason, we have a difficult time in our own rink setting the tone of how we want to play, and I think that's the difference in the game."
Monahan's goal opened the scoring with a shot from the slot that clipped the glove of Blue Jackets goalie Joonas Korpisalo (26 saves). Bennett then made it 2-0 in the second, when Columbus outshot Calgary 18-10 _ a little more than three minutes after tempers boiled over into a heated scrum behind the Flames' net.
A chaotic scene unfurled, with players from both teams entwined in headlocks and a couple trading gloved punches in the aftermath of an overreaction by Calgary's Milan Lucic to set the whole thing off.
Lucic lost his cool at 4:52 of the second period, after Kole Sherwood picked the puck off him and created a 3-on-1 rush. Rittich made the save, Sherwood _ a Blue Jackets rookie from New Albany making his season debut _ took a poke between the pads and then was hit with a gloved punch in the face by Lucic, who got a double minor for roughing.
The scrum followed and the building came to life, but the Jackets couldn't capitalize. Rittich made 18 stops in the third, as well, and that was it for the Columbus comeback. The Blue Jackets are now in a winless skid of four straight games (0-3-1) and look like they've made a wrong turn again.
