Early surge quickly fades

Blue Jackets had momentum before 2nd

In the postseason, just about every aspect of the game gets magnified at least a few degrees, including the momentum swings.

The Columbus Blue Jackets found that out the hard way Wednesday night in their 3-1 Game 1 loss to the Penguins.

Despite outshooting the Penguins, 16-3, in the first period, Columbus found itself trailing, 2-0, less than four minutes into the second.

PPG Paints Arena was erupting, the Penguins were pressing for a third goal — which they eventually got — and the Blue Jackets were on their heels.

“Obviously they got their crowd behind them, they’re buzzing,” Columbus center Brandon Dubinsky said. “But we’ve got to do what we can to get it back. I think we just got away from our game a little bit and it hurt us. There was a stretch, probably 10 minutes there in the second where we got away from our game, and that’s the hockey game. That’s just the way the playoffs are.”

The Blue Jackets were able to battle back to regain some of that momentum (and a goal) in the third period, but by that point the mountain was too steep to climb.

They would have liked to get a goal in the first, when they peppered Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury with shots and, generally, controlled play for just about all 20 minutes.

“Offensive guys in here, we’ve got to find a way to capitalize,” Blue Jackets winger Nick Foligno said. “Their offensive guys did tonight and we didn’t. That’s pretty much the difference in the game.”

Foligno and Columbus coach John Tortorella said Bryan Rust’s opening goal wasn’t necessarily a backbreaker. But the minutes that followed, which included Phil Kessel’s power-play score, were where the game was lost.

“[We have to get better at] not letting those lulls happen, especially in the playoffs,” Foligno said. “That’s when teams jump, and that can be the difference in the game, which it was tonight.”

Chalk it up as a lesson learned for the Blue Jackets, making just the third playoff appearance in franchise history. Ten players on Columbus’ roster had not played in a playoff game before Wednesday night. The Penguins, meanwhile, had just three players making their playoff debuts in Game 1.

Columbus rookie defenseman Zach Werenski, one of the players seeing his first postseason action, said he could tell the momentum swings were just a bit bigger Wednesday night than the first 82 games of his career.

“The crowd gets behind them, the crowd gets louder,” Werenski said. “Everyone kind of starts to feel the momentum and intensity building up. We have to do the job of getting it back on our side when we lose it.”

Tortorella, though, wasn’t buying inexperience as a reasoning for the loss.

“I’m not going to get into this youth stuff,” Tortorella said. “I think it’s to your advantage. I don’t think it should be an excuse. I’m encouraged. … We have to get ready for Game 2.”