COLUMBUS, Ohio — Monday night at home for the Blue Jackets felt a lot like Thursday night in Nashville.

A hot start was neutralized by an even hotter goaltender, and a power play goal by the opponent was the difference in a loss for Columbus.

Predators goalie Juuse Saros was the difference on Thursday.

Monday, it was the tandem of Jake Allen and Jacob Markstrom in the New Jersey Devils’ 3-2 win at Nationwide Arena.

The Blue Jackets fired 18 shots on goal in the first period, twice as many as the Devils.

Yet, they trailed 1-0.

The reason?

Allen stopped all 18 shots he faced. He stopped 23 of 24 in two periods, with Kirill Marchenko’s breakaway goal at 8:49 of the second period the lone shot to beat him, before Markstrom came in for the third period and stopped eight of nine.

“We’ve got to stay the course with what we’re doing and not push too many panic buttons,” Blue Jackets coach Dean Evason said. “Obviously, it gets frustrating when the puck doesn’t go in the net because you want to get rewarded for it.”

The advanced stats from both games tell a similar story.

Against Nashville according to Moneypuck, Saros saved exactly two goals above expected in a 2-1 Predators win as he turned away 37 of 38 shots faced.

The first period played out in a similar way on Monday when the Blue Jackets had an expected goal total of 1.99 per Moneypuck, but did not beat Allen once.

Instead, they gave up a power play goal to Devils forward Timo Meier with 4:13 left in the period, sending them to a 1-0 deficit despite their overwhelming shot advantage.

For comparison’s sake, when the Blue Jackets routed the Wild, they more than outperformed their expected goals (2.96).

When asked after the game if the first period deficit was disheartening, Blue Jackets center Charlie Coyle said it was a matter of perspective.

“It’s what you make of it, and I think the leadership and just knowing how much time, how much game is left,” Coyle added. “But those are the signs of good teams who can kind of weather that and just know that we’re playing the right way. Sometimes you play that way and you score four or five in a period. Sometimes you don’t score at all. Sometimes, it’s in between.

“I like the way we played. But there’s some fine-tuning there that we can definitely address and get better at.”

Goaltending has not been an issue for the Blue Jackets. Greaves has allowed four goals on 58 shots, and Elvis Merzlikins gave up four on 52 shots in a 7-4 win at Minnesota on Saturday.

Columbus’ 5-on-5 play has been good once again. They are plus-6 in goal differential at 5-on-5 and have only allowed two goals on even strength, one of which was a Dawson Mercer empty netter.

Two sets of numbers stand out early on as to why they are just 1-2.

One is that the Blue Jackets are fifth in the NHL in shots per game (34.7) yet just 22nd in shooting percentage (9.6%).

It’s very early in the season and the Blue Jackets have the type of offensive players who can score, including Marchenko, who already has four goals.

The other is that of the nine goals the Blue Jackets have given up, seven are on the penalty kill. They are 7-for-14 on the PK.

A Nashville power-play goal by Ryan O’Reilly was the difference on Thursday.

The Blue Jackets were only shorthanded twice on Monday, but the Devils scored both times. Those goals plus Mercer’s empty netter were too much to overcome.

“I said this morning about our penalty kill is pretty good. It just seems to end up in our net,” Evason said. “What is it, one second and four seconds? I mean, literally killed the whole penalties, but you know, it’s going in right now in that area.”

Hockey can sometimes be about luck. They can’t control how good the goaltenders are against them, although they can fix their penalty kill after its sluggish start.

That combo has led to two frustrating losses early for the Blue Jackets despite the good they’ve done, particularly in 5-on-5.

“We’re doing a lot of really good things,” Evason said. “That’s why it’s frustrated that you don’t get rewarded for playing good defensive hockey. We’ve just got to find that balance and keep doing the right thing.”

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