Kyle Connor’s goal against Elvis Merzlikins summed up perfectly what the night was like for the travel weary Blue Jackets on Nov. 18 at Canada Life Centre. 

His shot from a sharp angle outside the left post smacked off the Blue Jackets’ goalie’s upper back as he tried sealing off the short side and plopped the puck into the net behind Merzlikins to put the Winnipeg Jets up 4-1 in the third period.

That’s a tip-your-cap goal, but also indicative of the Blue Jackets’ frustrations going into a 5-2 loss to the Winnipeg Jets that stopped a five-game points streak. Whichever computer nightmare machine the NHL might’ve used to create its laughably daunting league schedule, it must’ve gotten a rise out of torturing the oft-ignored Blue Jackets (10-8-2).

They’ve now played five sets of back-to-back games in their first 20, including road finales Nov. 2 at the New York Islanders and this one in Winnipeg that were practically scheduled losses. The fact they led the Islanders by a goal in New York for that one was a minor miracle until that fell apart in the final 67 seconds of the third period in a stinging loss.

What happened with weary legs and exhausted minds in Winnipeg wasn’t nearly as dramatic.

Despite tying it 1-1 late in the first on a goal by Miles Wood, the Blue Jackets had circles skated around them by a fully rested playoff team in the remaining 40 minutes. That shouldn’t come as a shock to anybody considering the Blue Jackets needed overtime and a shootout to down the Montreal Canadiens on Nov. 17 in Columbus before hopping on a plane for a long postgame flight to Winnipeg.

Who approves this stuff for the league? 

It’s not just Columbus dealing with it, but the NHL has already forced the Jackets to zig-zag through five time zone changes during a five-game road trip, play the fully rested Islanders in Elmont, New York with a 20-hour turnaround and now “have it fed to them,” in Winnipeg to steal a phrase from former Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella. 

The best thing they can do now, after an exhaustion-fueled blowout loss, is rest Nov. 19 with an off day. The Jackets still have road games upcoming Nov. 20 in Toronto, Nov. 22 in Detroit and Nov. 24 in Washington, D.C., before returning to Nationwide Arena. 

They’ve also got 10 more back-to-backs left, which could be a major factor in making or breaking playoff aspirations in Columbus.  

Here are three more takeaways:

Werenski reaches a new milestone for Columbus Blue Jackets, Kirill Marchenko doesn’t

Zach Werenski briefly cut the Jets’ lead to 4-2 in the third with a goal that doubled as his 400th career point, all for the Blue Jackets, his only NHL team. 

Werenski is the only defenseman in franchise history to tally that many points with the Blue Jackets, and he’s also just the third player regardless of position to get there with Columbus. Rick Nash and Cam Atkinson were the first two. 

Kirill Marchenko, however, didn’t extend his career high points streak to 13 straight games, which would’ve tied center Ryan Johansen for longest in team history.

Charlie Coyle, Miles Wood providing exactly what Columbus Blue Jackets needed from trade with Colorado Avalanche

It took a steep price for the Blue Jackets to get veteran depth forwards Charlie Coyle and Miles Wood in a June 27 trade with the Colorado Avalanche, but the immediate returns were worth it. 

First, the painful part. 

The Blue Jackets sent Gavin Brindley, a skilled forward selected in the second round (34th overall) of the 2023 NHL draft, plus their own third-round pick (77th overall) in this year’s draft and a conditional second-round pick in 2027. 

That’s a hefty price tag, but Coyle and Wood have given the Blue Jackets exactly what they sought in the deal. They’re both strong depth additions up front, including Coyle centering the Jackets’ most effective checking line and Wood helping every line he’s played with by adding elite speed and underrated skill.

At the quarter point of their schedule, Wood has five goals in 14 games after returning from a scary eye injury, and Coyle is tied with Adam Fantilli for fourth on the team in scoring with 14 points on three goals and 11 assists. 

Wood’s speed late in the first in Winnipeg sparked a tying goal that made it 1-1, and Coyle assisted on Werenski’s goal in the third to cut it to 4-2. Thus far, they’ve each been worth the cost it took to pry them away from the Avalanche.

Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Denton Mateychuk had a large audience

Denton Mateychuk is from Dominion City, Manitoba, which is located about a 90-minute drive South of Winnipeg with a population of just 319 people. 

According to Mateychuk, nearly half the town’s population might’ve made the drive North to watch him play the Jets at Canada Life Centre, where he’d attended NHL games. This was his first game in the arena as an NHL player.

Tough assignment for Columbus Blue goalie Elvis Merzlikins

Merzlikins has now started two of the Blue Jackets’ road back-to-back finales, and he’s taken frustrating losses in each.  

The first was against the Islanders, when he angrily smashed his stick over the crossbar following the Jackets’ late meltdown. This one started strong but became a blowout thanks to some defensive breakdowns and Connor’s aforementioned pinpoint shot off his neck. Playing for the first time since Nov. 8, Merzlikins also had a couple of moments where some rust showed.

The Blue Jackets’ goaltending situation has gone from an alternating situation that pushed both Merzlikins and Jet Greaves in a healthy internal competition to something that now merits closer monitoring if the latter continues to get the lion’s share of work.

Blue Jackets reporter Brian Hedger can be reached at bhedger@dispatch.com and @BrianHedger.bsky.social