NASHVILLE, Tenn. _ The Blue Jackets will not change their style because of their injury glut, which now includes Oliver Bjorkstrand and Seth Jones out for the remainder of the regular season.
John Tortorella, their tightly wound coach, made that abundantly clear in a pregame news conference Saturday night at Bridgestone Arena.
"You're asking me the same questions every (expletive) day," Tortorella said, when asked if his most inexperienced lineup to date might force a strategic change or two. "I have explained that already. I'll say it one last time about this here.
"We have changed our concentration right at the beginning of the year ... so, are we changing? No. We are playing the way we have played for three months, and really, most of the year."
No such guarantee, however, exists for results.
And the Blue Jackets really needed some better results going into a game against the Nashville Predators, looking to end a seven-game losing streak (0-3-4) despite having yet another rookie, Calvin Thurkauf, make his NHL debut and icing a lineup with six of 18 skaters having American Hockey League experience this season.
They didn't get what the result they wanted, though, losing an eighth straight game with a 4-3 shootout loss decided by Rocco Grimaldi's backhand shot in the bottom of the eighth round.
It didn't look good after the first 20 minutes, which the Predators dominated in almost all facets.
They outshot had a 17-9 edge in shots, took a 2-0 lead on goals by Ryan Johansen and Markus Granlund and didn't give up many good scoring chances in front of goalie Juuse Saros.
Blue Jackets goalie Elvis Merzlikins meanwhile, was forced to scramble early and allowed Johansen's goal off a big rebound just 33 seconds into the game.
The Blue Jackets went into the first period looking disheveled and a bit discombobulated, which made it feel like Merzlikins might have a long night ahead. Instead, they did what they've done since their injury woes began in early December.
They fought back.
Boone Jenner cut it to 2-1 with a rebound goal in traffic just 1:00 into the second period, Eric Robinson tied it 2-2 off a beautiful backhand feed from Jakob Lilja 3:50 later, and rookie Emil Bemstrom capped a power play at 17:21 to put the Jackets in front, 3-2.
It was a short-lived lead thanks to Colton Sissons, who tipped a shot past Merzlikins 1:36 later to knot it at 3. But the Jackets were at least even to start the third.
