Columbus seeking to right ship at home

The Columbus COLUMBUS — Blue Jackets were back on the ice Monday morning after taking Sunday off.

They do not play again until tonight when the Buffalo Sabres come to town, so the team had a few days to stew in their first two-game slide of the young season.

Both of the Blue Jackets’ past two losses have come at Nationwide Arena, leaving some players grumbling about failing to defend home ice.

The Jackets opened a fourgame homestand with a 2-0 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning and followed that with Saturday’s 6-4 loss to the Los Angeles Kings.

“I like to hear that they’re talking about it already,” coach John Tortorella said after Monday’s workout.

“Each season has its different challenges. I warned our group that there will be bumps on the road, bumps we didn’t face last year. It’s important we handle them the right way.”

■ The Blue Jackets won’t have their usual fourth-line center for about the next six weeks.

The team announced Monday evening that it had placed Lukas Sedlak on injured reserve because of an ankle injury suffered during practice earlier in the day. According to the team, Sedlak is expected to miss a month and a half. Consequently, the Blue Jackets promoted left wing Markus Hannikainen from their American Hockey League affiliate in Cleveland.

Sedlak had two goals with no assists and a minus-2 rating in the Jackets’ first eight games. In his absence, the Jackets might insert Zac Dalpe, a healthy scratch Saturday against the Kings, into his spot. They could also move rookie Pierre-Luc Dubois from the wing.

Hannikainen has played in three games for the Blue Jackets this season, recording no points with a minus-1 rating.

■ Tonight’s game is the third of four consecutive home games. It will start at 8 p.m. instead of the usual 7 as it will be broadcast live on NBC Sports Network.

■ Brandon Dubinsky missed practice due to what Tortorella called a personal issue Monday but was back Tuesday.