With the NHL playoffs starting in a week, the Blue Jackets continued to trend in the wrong direction. The CBJ lost their fourth straight, falling 4-1 in Pittsburgh. It's the fifth time in the last seven games the Jackets struggling offense has scored only one goal.
"We're out of sync offensively. I didn't mind our effort at all, I thought our physical play was there but we're just simply in a funk offensively," coach John Tortorella said. "I looked at some offensive plays that are right there but we just haven't been able to make a lot of offensive plays right now."
It was a scoreless game until the final minute of the first period when a bad turnover by Jack Johnson led to a Penguin goal and it was downhill after that.
"We give them a free one at the end of the first period...that's just a kick in the teeth," Tortorella said. "That's just a free goal. We had full control of the puck and it ends up in the back of the net in the last minute of the period. We just have to grind away and try to find our offense and go from there."
The Jackets have three games left in the regular season. Their final home game is Thursday night against Winnipeg.
You can hear more of Coach Tortorella's comments, plus the thoughts of Captain Nick Foligno in the post-game interviews posted below.