COLUMBUS, Ohio — Columbus Blue Jackets coach Dean Evason does not like to pull a struggling goaltender from a start. That was true in his previous NHL stop with the Minnesota Wild, and it’s been true since he joined the Jackets last season.

But at 14:55 of the first period Thursday at Nationwide Arena, Evason had seen enough.

Elvis Merzlikins, who had stopped only three of five shots, was replaced by Jet Greaves in the hope that Greaves could provide the struggling Blue Jackets with some kind of spark after trailing 3-0.

It worked, but only to a point. The Ottawa Senators allowed the Blue Jackets to get back within a goal before pulling away for a 6-3 win before a crowd of 15,059, who mostly cheered when Merzlikins left for Greaves and softly booed at the end of the first period.

“Whenever you pull a goalie, there are a couple of reasons, right?” Evason said. “You think maybe there’s a momentum shift that you can (help) with the guys, and then maybe there’s some that you don’t think should go into the net. I think it was a little bit of both here tonight.”

One hand, no problem 🤷‍♂️#GoSensGo pic.twitter.com/d3nrd3E4fC

— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) December 12, 2025

Evason pulled his goaltender only twice last season — Merzlikins once and Daniil Tarasov once — and he avoided doing it until early April, when just three weeks remained in the season. He was the last coach in 2024-25 to make the move. Keep in mind, Merzlikins was once again one of the NHL’s worst-rated goaltenders, and the Jackets were near the bottom of the league until Greaves came to the rescue late last season.

After Thursday’s game, the Blue Jackets were quick to rally around Merzlikins again, just as they’ve always done. But it’s only fair to wonder how much longer the Jackets can expect to stay in the race with a struggling veteran (Merzlikins, with an .879 save percentage) and a solid rookie (Greaves, .907) behind a defensively soft team.

Since Evason went away from the back-and-forth goaltending rotation, Merzlikins has an .843 save percentage. That covers his last six starts, including Thursday.

The Blue Jackets spoke after their morning skate about wanting to dial up their pace and competitiveness after a three-game, winless (0-2-1) road trip. Ottawa, it should be noted, had lost four in a row. But there was only one desperate club on Thursday.

A shot from the left circle was initially stopped by Merzlikins, but Senators veteran David Perron swatted one-handed at the puck before Merzlikins could find it. Only 1:13 later, it was 2-0 as Ottawa’s Drake Batherson beat Merzlikins’ glove. At 14:55, Tim Stützle beat Merzlikins from the left circle.

It was 3-0, and Greaves was hopping off the bench.

As usual, the Blue Jackets came quickly to Merzlikins’ defense. Defenseman Zach Werenski offered a full-throated support.

“It’s tough,” Werenski said. “I know how people probably look at it from the outside, but some of those chances … if we had guys in those positions, I would expect us to score, you know? Like, we have the talent in here, where, when they’re shooting from the slot, one-on-one with the goalie, I would expect we’re going to score those.

“So it’s definitely not on Elvis. We’re allowing guys to get to these areas to have clean looks, and guys are so talented in this league that they’re going to score. And they have talent on that team, right? (Batherson’s) in the slot, untouched. Goal. Stützle on the power play coming on the far side with speed. Elvis has to go east-west and it’s a good player. I mean, it’s definitely not on him.”

Power play picking up right where it left off 💪#GoSensGo pic.twitter.com/SAAKUIIfs8

— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) December 12, 2025

Blue Jackets captain Boone Jenner, in his first game back after missing a month with injury, scored with just 1:56 remaining in the first to make it 3-1. But Ottawa restored the three-goal lead with just 34 seconds remaining on Michael Amadio’s goal.

The Blue Jackets got goals from Dante Fabbro and Dmitri Voronkov (power play) during a dominating second to cut the lead to 4-3. But the Senators struck late in the third, too, pushing the lead back to 5-3.

Ottawa played an authoritative third period — the type the Blue Jackets can’t seem to pull off — and salted it away.

The Blue Jackets have lost three straight in regulation for just the second time this season. They keep insisting the season is still young, that there’s still “a lot of hockey to play,” but the Blue Jackets are 31 games into the season and barely hovering above .500 (13-12-6).

Put another way, the Blue Jackets have just seven regulation wins in 31 outings. That’s tied with Seattle and Vancouver for the fewest in the entire NHL.

“I don’t know if I’m crazy or what, but I genuinely still feel like we’re fine in there, we’re going to be OK,” Werenski said. “We’re going to start winning hockey games and pull ourselves out of this. It’s frustrating, the ways that we’re losing.

“I don’t want to keep going back to last year, but I think last year we did that. We’d win games we were not supposed to and the games we were supposed to win, we would. Right now, it just seems like we’re finding ways to lose even when we play well. It’s just about finding a way to win.”