Their encouraging 5-3-1 start is a speck in the rearview now, they’ve dropped to the basement of all NHL standings formats and their next game Friday at Nationwide Arena is against the Pittsburgh Penguins ― who might as well hold ownership in the Blue Jackets based on the all-time series.

The Blue Jackets struck twice in 22 seconds in the first period, but a second period collapse would be all Seattle needed to turn away Columbus.

After scoring six goals in each of their first four wins, the Blue Jackets have scored a total of nine in the past five games to go 1-3-1 in that stretch. That's an average of 1.8 per game that's 2.3 goals per game lower than they averaged by scoring 33 goals in their first eight games.