COLUMBUS, Ohio _ Blue Jackets left wing Nick Foligno skated away from his goal toward his bench in anger. He swung his stick like as if he were hitting a low fastball while grimacing as if he tasted some bad coffee.
The aftertaste he experienced was allowing a short-handed goal and giving up the lead less than two minutes after Blue Jackets forward Boone Jenner tied the score at 5:37 of the second period.
The Jackets lost a third straight game at Nationwide Arena on Tuesday night, falling 2-1 to the Vegas Golden Knights. It was the Jackets' fifth straight loss overall and fourth in regulation over that span.
Oliver Bjorkstrand fired a shot that got past Vegas goalie Marc-Andre Fleury but was knocked away before the Jackets could punch it in, and the Jackets couldn't push across the tying goal with four shots on goal on a power play in the third period.
The Jackets needed something positive to happen against the Knights to regain some confidence.
It wasn't at a dangerously low level, but coach John Tortorella and every player in that locker room knew the top players weren't producing and the team wasn't generating the type of offense it has craved all through the early weeks of this season.
After a slow start Saturday at home against the Calgary Flames, the Jackets came out of the gate much livelier, matching the Knights chances through much of the first 20 minutes. Nearing the end of a deadlocked period, a couple of unfortunate bounces decided the Jackets would be coming from behind for the final 40 minutes.
After a stretch pass hit Vegas left winger Jonathan Marchessault at the blue line entering the zone, the puck wound up on the stick of right wing Reilly Smith, who rushed the net and attempted a backhand pass to the net for William Karlsson.
The puck bounced off Jackets Bjorkstrand and past goalie Joonas Korpisalo with 44.7 seconds left on the clock.
Tortorella challenged whether or not Marchessault was offside or not before the shot. The in-arena video board showed Marchessault had crossed the blue line before the puck, but the NHL's situation room cited an NHL rule that if a player has possession of the puck while crossing the blue line before the puck, he is not offside.
After killing off a penalty to begin the period because of the unsuccessful challenge, the Jackets found their legs and finally scored with 14:23 remaining in the period.
Josh Anderson picked up a loose puck inside his own zone and sprinted toward the other end, one-on-one with a Vegas defender. Vegas goalie Marc-Andre Fleury poked the puck away, blocked an ensuing shot from Foligno, which bounced out to Dean Kukan. The defenseman faked a shot and dropped it off to Jenner who slotted it past Fleury in the top right corner.
On the power play and with a chance to take the lead a short time later, Foligno passed the puck under duress to Vegas defenseman Nick Holden in the center of the ice, which started the three-on-one that led to the deciding short-handed goal.
