COLUMBUS, Ohio — It happened again on Wednesday. The Columbus Blue Jackets, trying to close out a tight game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, gave up the tying goal late in the third period and lost on another late goal in overtime.
By now, the Blue Jackets’ propensity for blowing leads and throwing away valuable points has become the theme of the early season.
Easton Cowan’s goal with 3:17 remaining in regulation forced overtime, and William Nylander’s goal with 20 seconds remaining in OT sent the Leafs to a 2-1 win before 16,632 in Nationwide Arena.
It happened only six days after the Blue Jackets coughed up a late lead in Toronto, but pulled out an overtime win. And it happened only four days after they blew a two-goal lead to Detroit and lost in overtime. And it happened … we could go on here.
“I’m sure everyone’s probably sick of it and sick of hearing about it, but at the end of the day, we played really good hockey,” said defenseman Zach Werenski, who scored the Blue Jackets’ only goal. “We can’t feel sorry for ourselves or be down about it.
“Obviously, we don’t want that to happen, but we’ve addressed it and talked about it. But, in saying that, we’re leading in almost every game and late in games. Now it’s just finishing it and getting two points. But, yeah, it definitely stings, but we move forward.”
The Blue Jackets have lost three in a row and four of their last five games, and they have just one regulation win since Nov. 1. They haven’t outscored an opponent in the third period since an Oct. 21 win in Dallas.
WILLY WINS IT!!!@OREO | #LeafsForever pic.twitter.com/OmNSqoQf4r
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) November 27, 2025
There are better examples of a late-game collapse than Wednesday’s game, certainly. The Blue Jackets did well to smother the Maple Leafs, who were buoyed by the return of offensive stars Auston Matthews and Matthew Knies.
The Blue Jackets, meanwhile, played without their own offensive star, Kirill Marchenko, who missed a second straight game with a lower-body injury. Third-line winger Mathieu Olivier was also out of the lineup, and the Leafs were noticeably more physical than they’ve been in previous games vs. Columbus.
But the Jackets were lifted by the fact that Werenski, who left Monday’s loss in Washington early with an injury, was able to play. And they got a big lift from forward Luca Pinelli, who was called up from minor-league Cleveland to make his NHL debut, and earned a big role from Evason almost immediately.
Pinelli, a fourth-round pick two years ago, played on the Blue Jackets’ second line with Cole Sillinger and Sean Monahan, drawing 16:20 in ice time and a role on the Jackets’ second power-play unit. He was on the ice for overtime before Blue Jackets’ leading scorer Adam Fantilli had a three-on-three shift.
But this has been the Blue Jackets’ reality too often this season: they have oh-so-many scoring chances, but only so many goals.
That’s something to consider with all of these blown leads. The Blue Jackets aren’t creating much margin for error, certainly not as much as they did last season when they became, surprisingly, one of the NHL’s top offensive clubs.
The Blue Jackets averaged 3.26 goals per game last season, tied (with Toronto) for seventh-best in the NHL. This season? They’re at 2.79 goals per game, almost a half-goal per game. That’s 25th in the NHL.
Through 24 games, the Blue Jackets have scored 17 fewer goals than they did at this point last season (84-67).
“It goes like that, you know?” Evason said. “We just believe that it’s going to turn. When? I don’t know. But we’re going to keep playing the right way until it does.
“Listen, we’re not happy we lost the game. But we’re definitely, you know, very happy with how we played the game.”
NO TAKING THIS ONE BACK! 💥
CBJ x @FanaticsBook pic.twitter.com/SjRjpUjTn6
— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) November 27, 2025
The two glaring examples of players who have taken a step back from last season are Monahan and winger Kent Johnson, who had played on the same line together before Evason split them up on Wednesday amid the injuries.
Monahan and Johnson have each scored only two goals all season. Monahan has gone nine games without a goal, and he has only one point (an assist) in his last seven. Johnson, meanwhile, has one point (an assist) in November. He hasn’t scored since that Oct. 21 game in Dallas.
“We scored very easily last year and now, you know, it’s a bit of a struggle,” Evason said. “But it’s early in the season. We’ll just keep pushing and believe that the goals will go in the net.”
The struggle also calls into question some of Evason’s decisions.
In the third period on Wednesday, with the score tied at zero, the Blue Jackets came out of a media timeout with an offensive-zone faceoff. The fourth line — center Brendan Gaunce, with winger Zach Aston-Reese and Yegor Chinakhov — took the draw.
In overtime, Evason opened with center Charlie Coyle and Sillinger as his forwards. Monahan and Pinelli were the second set of forwards, followed by Fantilli and Johnson. The fourth set was Miles Wood and center Isac Lundeström, who hasn’t had a goal all season (23 games) or a point in November.
The Leafs had Nylander and Matthews out for the final shift of overtime. Nylander tried to pass the puck across the slot to Matthews, but it struck Monahan and kicked right back to Nylander, who gathered it and took aim.