COLUMBUS, Ohio \u2014 It isn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n
But Marchenko, the Blue Jackets\u2019 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.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s game against the Montreal Canadiens in Bell Centre.<\/p>\n
Only 10 of those goals \u2014 a measly one per game \u2014 have come from the forwards. Their stat sheet during that stretch reads like Morse code, with so many \u201c1s\u201d and \u201c0s\u201d beside players\u2019 names.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t have a forward in the top 60 in scoring,\u201d Blue Jackets coach Rick Bowness said. \u201cWe don\u2019t. 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt goes back to putting more pucks to the net, getting a little hungrier around the net, all those things I\u2019ve talked about \u2014 being nastier around the net, getting greasy goals. This time of year, man, that\u2019s how you score, and we have to be willing to get in there.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Blue Jackets spent much of Thursday\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
Since March 22, Sean Monahan, Conor Garland and Isac Lundestr\u00f6m haven\u2019t scored. Marchenko, Charlie Coyle, Boone Jenner and Cole Sillinger \u2014 all of whom have played top-six roles \u2014 have only one goal apiece.<\/p>\n
But the discombobulation of Marchenko has been the most glaring.<\/p>\n
Marchenko looks like he\u2019s short-circuited, like he needs to be unplugged and plugged back in again. He\u2019s not dangerous with the puck, as usual. It looks like he doesn\u2019t even want it on his stick. And many of his shots lack the typical zip.<\/p>\n
When he took his turn in the second round of a shootout Tuesday in Detroit \u2014 an opportunity to get his mojo back, perhaps \u2014 he sent a marshmallow into the left pad of Red Wings goaltender John Gibson, not his usual bar-down laser beam.<\/p>\n
There are other ways he hasn\u2019t been himself, too.<\/p>\n
Bowness, who has known Marchenko for all of three months, said he pulled him aside earlier this week.<\/p>\n
\u201cI said, \u2018You know what, March? I want you to have some fun out there,\u2019\u201d Bowness said. \u201cLike, he doesn\u2019t look like he\u2019s having any. He puts a lot of pressure on himself. I want him to have some fun.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe more pressure he puts on himself, the tenser he gets. Just play. He knows how to play the game. He\u2019s not 100 percent (healthy), and he\u2019s feeling it out there. I\u2019d like to see him smile a little bit more and loosen up a bit, and we\u2019ll see where it goes from there.\u201d<\/p>\n