TIME GROWS SHORT AS BLUE JACKETS LOSE 2ND STRAIGHT

Columbus squad in precarious playoff position after loss.

MONTREAL — Time is starting to run out.

If there was an overarching theme for the Blue Jack- ets on Tuesday night at the Bell Centre, before and after a 3-2 loss to the Montreal Canadiens, that was it.

Time is running out on their window to make deals before the NHL’s trade deadline Feb. 25. Time is running outon the experiment with enigmatic forward Anthony Duclair. And time is running out on their season — with 23 games and a lot of unanswered questions remaining.

“They both hurt,” center Lukas Sedlak said, referring to a 5-1 loss Monday to the Tampa Bay Lightning to start a set of back-to-back losses. “(On Monday), we focused on (this) game. Now we have two days to sit on it, but we have to forget about the result quick, I think, because we didn’t play a bad game.”

The games, however, are starting to vanish now, as the Blue Jackets (33-23-3) fight to stay in a playoff chase packed tightly among a group of Eastern Conference teams.

The Canadiens (32-21-7) are in that mix, too, moving into the East’s first wild card ahead of the Jackets, who have dropped from third in the Metropolitan Divi- sion into the second wildcard spot.

Montreal took a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals by Max Domi and Paul Byron, added a third by Tomas Tatar midway through the third period — after Nick Foligno tied it 2-2 for the Blue Jack- ets — and goalie Carey Price (31 saves) did the rest.

Josh Anderson scored his 21st goal and assisted on Foligno’s goal for a two-point game, but it wasn’t enough for t he Jackets to avoid another stinging defeat.

“Now, it hurts a little bit more,” Sedlak said. “You look at the standings a little bit more than the beginning of the season. It’s obviously a little bit more frustrating. It bugs you in the headalittle bit more, but we have to forget about this and just play hard next game.”

That will take place Friday at the Ottawa Senators, which might be enough time for at least one of the Jackets’ missing regulars, Artemi Panarin, to heal up.

Panarin missed the game because of illne s s, and defenseman Ryan Murray missed the trip because of an upper-body injury suffered against the Lightning. Dean Kukan replaced Murray, and Duclair, who was slated to be a healthy scratch for the second straight game, replaced Panarin.

It was the latest opportunity for Duclair, 23, to prove he can stay in the lineup. Already on his fourth NHL team, he has yet to earn enough trust from coach John Tortorella, who made it clear before the game that his patience is running thin with Duclair’s erratic play.

“We have spent a lot of time trying to teach him, trying to teach him situational play, away from the puck, all the stuff we do with players,” Tortorella said, when asked if the issue is comprehension or stubbornness. “Sometimes it looks like he’s understanding.”