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The Columbus Blue Jackets lost their eighth consecutive game after a 3-1 defeat at the hands of the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday, and emotions are riding high.
After the game, goaltender Elvis Merzlikins let it be known how upset he is at the recent streak of unfortunate events.
“I’m tired,” Merzlikins told the media. “I’m tired of losing a game. I know we are trying, but this is getting embarrassing. It is what it is, I’m going to be honest with you. It’s painful. I mean, sitting in that locker room, and trust me we are trying. We seriously are trying. We didn’t give up.
“It’s bothering me. I can’t sleep, like seriously. What have we lost now? Seven straight games? This is really sad. You can’t imagine that, because you are not part of our family and you don’t live this, together with us in the locker room. So you can’t really understand that, but it hurts. For me personally, it hurts.”
It’s not the best sign when one of your players gets the number of consecutive losses wrong.
With this loss, the Blue Jackets have been mathematically eliminated from playoff contention and are barreling towards the bottom of the league.
In their last 17 games — spanning all the way back to March 22 — they have earned just two wins and a total of six points in the standings. This meteoritic fall has sent them from being on the playoff bubble, to hanging out with the likes of the New Jersey Devils and Buffalo Sabres.
“I don’t want to get to Buffalo, I don’t want to get to that point like Buffalo, seriously,” said Merzlikins, in reference to the Sabres’ infamous 18-game losing streak earlier this season.
Columbus has seemingly been in a state of disarray for most of the season. There was the early-season benching of Pierre-Luc Dubois, which led to the blockbuster trade with Winnipeg for Jack Roslovic and Patrik Laine, who also felt John Tortorella’s wrath upon arriving before enduring a 14-game goalless drought. Most recently, veteran Max Domi was benched for two games after taking his frustrations out on opposing players. It doesn’t help that they lost two of their most tenured players in former captain Nick Foligno and defenseman David Savard at the trade deadline, either.
Fortunately for Merzlikins, the pain is almost over as the Blue Jackets mercifully only have seven games remaining on the schedule, ensuring that no matter what happens, it won’t be as bad as what went down in Buffalo.
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