COLUMBUS, Ohio — It isn’t only Kirill Marchenko. The 25-year-old winger is just one of many Columbus Blue Jackets forwards who have gone quiet offensively at the most critical time of the season.

But Marchenko, the Blue Jackets’ leading goal scorer now three seasons running, is the most glaring example of the inexplicable virus that has stricken players young and old and left the Jackets on the brink of playoff elimination.

The Blue Jackets have scored only 16 goals in their last 10 games, a 2-7-1 skid that has sent them tumbling down the standings heading into Saturday’s game against the Montreal Canadiens in Bell Centre.

Only 10 of those goals — a measly one per game — have come from the forwards. Their stat sheet during that stretch reads like Morse code, with so many “1s” and “0s” beside players’ names.

“We don’t have a forward in the top 60 in scoring,” Blue Jackets coach Rick Bowness said. “We don’t. So we score by committee, and we balance it out the best we can. When I say we score by committee, I mean we need every line to chip in somehow.

“It goes back to putting more pucks to the net, getting a little hungrier around the net, all those things I’ve talked about — being nastier around the net, getting greasy goals. This time of year, man, that’s how you score, and we have to be willing to get in there.”

The Blue Jackets spent much of Thursday’s 5-0 loss at the Buffalo Sabres on top of rookie goaltender Colten Ellis, but to no avail. They were shut out for the fourth time this season and for the second time during this skid.

Since March 22, Sean Monahan, Conor Garland and Isac Lundeström haven’t scored. Marchenko, Charlie Coyle, Boone Jenner and Cole Sillinger — all of whom have played top-six roles — have only one goal apiece.

But the discombobulation of Marchenko has been the most glaring.

Marchenko looks like he’s short-circuited, like he needs to be unplugged and plugged back in again. He’s not dangerous with the puck, as usual. It looks like he doesn’t even want it on his stick. And many of his shots lack the typical zip.

When he took his turn in the second round of a shootout Tuesday in Detroit — an opportunity to get his mojo back, perhaps — he sent a marshmallow into the left pad of Red Wings goaltender John Gibson, not his usual bar-down laser beam.

There are other ways he hasn’t been himself, too.

Bowness, who has known Marchenko for all of three months, said he pulled him aside earlier this week.

“I said, ‘You know what, March? I want you to have some fun out there,’” Bowness said. “Like, he doesn’t look like he’s having any. He puts a lot of pressure on himself. I want him to have some fun.

“The more pressure he puts on himself, the tenser he gets. Just play. He knows how to play the game. He’s not 100 percent (healthy), and he’s feeling it out there. I’d like to see him smile a little bit more and loosen up a bit, and we’ll see where it goes from there.”

Tuesday in Detroit, during three-on-three overtime play, the Blue Jackets were carrying the puck up the ice — Marchenko possessing, with Adam Fantilli supporting the play behind him — when Marchenko suddenly turned sharply to his right, directly into Fantilli’s path.

It was a huge collision; Marchenko took the brunt of the impact and tumbled backward. He jumped right up and skated away from the play with no apparent issues.

“That was a scary sight,” Fantilli said. “Obviously, I feel bad. I’m not sure where he was going, but … it happens.

“That was the biggest hit of my career. I don’t know if I’ll ever have another one that big. I was joking about it on the bench right after, but I don’t think he was ready to joke about it yet.”

Bowness has scrambled his forward lines for the past two games, hoping to awaken his crew. Marchenko has moved from right wing to left wing and is now playing with Coyle, a center, after spending almost the entire season beside Fantilli.

There’s only so much Bowness can do, though. Marchenko, with 26 goals, 39 assists and 65 points in 73 games, has had a productive season — until the playoff push around the league sent the pace and physicality of games soaring.

“You don’t really get to know your players in a couple of months, right?” Bowness said. “It takes some time. You have to see these guys in every situation.

“It’s easy to judge them in October. You find a lot more about them in February, March and April.”

The Blue Jackets need to wake up offensively to go into the offseason with more than a whimper. The odds are stacked against them beginning Saturday against the Canadiens, but it’s not impossible.

Basically, the Jackets need to run through the tape — wins in their last three games — and hope the Philadelphia Flyers and New York Islanders stumble and fall in front of them.

After Saturday’s game in Montreal, the Blue Jackets (90 points) close out the season at home versus the Boston Bruins on Sunday and the Washington Capitals on Tuesday. The Flyers (92) have a 2-point lead, but the Jackets would win the tiebreaker if they end the season with the same point total.

Not so with the Islanders, however. The Islanders (91), who are 1 point ahead of Columbus and 1 point behind the Flyers, would have the tiebreaker over the Jackets and the Flyers.

The Blue Jackets need help, but first they need to help themselves.