COLUMBUS, Ohio — The cannon boomed. Streamers fell from the rafters of Nationwide Arena. The Columbus Blue Jackets jumped off the bench to celebrate with goaltender Jet Greaves after he secured the final save in a 4-3 shootout win on Monday.

The Blue Jackets have done so little winning through the years that it’s hard for them to look at any victory and not be delighted by the two points.

But if you’ve watched the Blue Jackets play so far this season — and especially if you watched closely on Monday — there are worrying signs that the Blue Jackets are content with being “good enough,” not truly good.

Zach Werenski, Adam Fantilli and Dmitri Voronkov scored goals, while Kirill Marchenko had two assists and the game-deciding goal in the shootout, extending the Blue Jackets’ point streak to a season-best five games (3-0-2) with a win over the injury-riddled Montréal Canadiens.

But it marked yet another game already this season — they’re only 19 games deep — in which the Blue Jackets frittered away a lead in the third period.

On Monday, the Blue Jackets held a 3-1 lead after an authoritative second period, but then changed into their robes and slippers for an all-too-comfortable third period. The goal Josh Anderson scored to make it 3-2 at 8:28 of the third seemed an inevitability given how long the puck stayed in the Columbus zone to that point in the third.

The Canadiens’ tying goal, an extra-attacker goal scored with 1:19 remaining, seemed a long time coming, too.

“Did they outshoot us, and maybe, you know, take over a little bit?” Blue Jackets coach Dean Evason said. “We love how resilient we were. We stayed the course. Again, they catch a couple of breaks. That’s what happens in this game, right? I mean, it’s like a couple of mistakes, the break (of a stick) here, a bounce, and it ends up in your net. But, you know, we got to where wanted to get to, and yeah, we’re never going to be disappointed with two points.”

Fair. But the bigger concern, in this case, is the point they handed to Montreal. Neither Evason nor his players need to be reminded of what happened last spring, when the Canadiens were the last club to qualify for the playoffs in the Eastern Conference at the expense of the Blue Jackets, who finished only two points out of the eighth and final spot.

Evason is correct that the 3-2 goal was scored off a lucky bounce for the Canadiens. Defenseman Lane Hutson fired into a net-front crowd from distance, and the puck fell right in front of former Jackets forward Josh Anderson for the easy bury.

And he’s correct that a broken stick put the Blue Jackets in an even tougher spot with a six-on-five disadvantage, leaving Mathieu Olivier to defend only with his feet and torso. Not ideal.

Andy sait comment marquer à Columbus

Andy knows a thing or two about scoring goals in Columbus#GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/igvYHpYFnX

— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) November 18, 2025

But because the puck was constantly in the Blue Jackets’ zone — and constantly around their own net — those little mistakes, bad bounces and weakened twigs lead to goals.

“It’s one of those things where it is human nature to kind of get back on your heels a little bit, to protect the lead, and it’s all for the right reasons,” Werenski said. “But I feel like in order to close out games the right way, we have to be on the attack, staying above guys.

“We can still be physical and create chances and goals down there, and we have to play with confidence with the puck on our sticks. That’s myself included. There were times in the third tonight, I was kind of just chucking it away and it’s one of those things where each of us, individually, just has to be more aware of it and work on it.”

The Blue Jackets tend to let other clubs dictate how a game is going to be played, then try to match it. The same played out on Monday, when the Canadiens’ goal at 4:47 of the second period to tie the score at 1 seemed to awaken Columbus.

The Blue Jackets were much more assertive after that goal, building a 3-1 lead on goals by Fantilli and Voronkov. Marchenko, who now has a 12-game point streak — one short of Ryan Johansen’s club record — played a big role in both goals.

It was Marchenko, from below the goal line, who fed Fantilli in front of the net to give the Jackets a 2-1 lead at 9:47 of the second. It was Marchenko who threaded a needle from the right circle to set up Voronkov for the 3-1 goal at 13:32 of the second, a power-play goal.

Marchenko’s pass sailed through the legs of Montreal’s Alexandre Carrier just before Voronkov redirected it into the net. Did he know what he was doing?

“I know (Voronkov’s) always on the back post,” Marchenko said.

The Blue Jackets actually heard boos from a crowd of 14,811 during the three-on-three overtime. It was a continuation of the third, with Montreal dominating possession, the Blue Jackets chucking the puck all over the ice and Greaves standing on his head.

The Canadiens had a 6-0 advantage in shots on goal in OT.

Kent Johnson and Marchenko scored in to the shootout for the Blue Jackets, while Cole Caufield scored for Montreal. With a chance to keep the game alive in the third round, Greaves, who had 29 saves in regulation and OT, stopped Ivan Demidov to win it for Columbus.

THE SHOOTOUT WINNER 💥

CBJ x @FanaticsBook pic.twitter.com/kQPkIbRLPm

— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) November 18, 2025

The Blue Jackets haven’t made the playoffs in five seasons, the second-longest drought in franchise history. Last season, they started to emerge and elevate from their lengthy rebuild, and so a win like Monday’s would never have been questioned or critiqued.

But they fancy themselves a playoff team now, and so every point matters, especially in the traffic-jam Eastern Conference. It’s about the points you accumulate, yes, but it’s also about the points you let slip away.

“Yeah, we’re not happy about it, obviously,” Fantilli said. “We don’t even want to be talking about the wild-card now. That’s not what we’re here for. We’re trying to get in the playoffs. We’re not trying to hope for it, so obviously you don’t want to give them a point.

“It sucks. But we got two tonight, and that’s all we can really focus on.”