The Columbus Blue Jackets are still sputtering: Where's the beef?

It wasn't a cacophony, but the Blue Jackets left the ice Nov. 12 at Nationwide Arena to a small chorus of boos emanating from an announced crowd of 15,101 that saw the Tampa Bay Lightning grind out a 3-1 victory for their second road win in 24 hours.More: Adam Fantilli confident amid slow start: 'I'm not nervous at all'After blowing out the Buffalo Sabres 8-3 on Nov. 11 at KeyBank Center, the Lightning (13-4-2) also left Columbus with a win while starting backup goalie Dennis Hildeby (28 saves) behind a lineup missing three lineup regulars who sat with nagging injuries.A handful of top players was all they needed to hand the fully rested Blue Jackets (7-10-0) a season-high third straight loss that kept them mired in last place of the Metropolitan Division and Eastern Conference with only 14 points. The Jackets' offense is mostly offensive thus far, still sputtering nearly a quarter of the way into season, while a beefy roster continues playing like one that's much smaller.Don't worry, though, because there's still 67 games left, and what they've lacked in offensive potency is being matched with a lingering apathy from a long, turbulent offseason that nearly tore the whole thing apart months before it officially began.The look of disgust on defenseman Ivan Provorov's face summed it up perfectly, staring daggers while shaking his head at the notion the Blue Jackets had actually played better against the Lightning than they did while laying an egg two days earlier in a 4-1 loss to the Florida Panthers."It doesn't matter," he grumbled. "We lost, so it doesn't matter."Bullseye, one of the few the Blue Jackets have hit all season.It's again gotten late early for their playoff aspirations, and the gluttons who continue to follow this team regularly have seen this movie far too often. Same plot. Mostly the same cast. Same theater. Different show time. The team that has spent the past two seasons lamenting its poor starts and points wasted early that could've gotten them into the postseason is doing it again.Each feckless shot taken from a low-danger area just shovels more of this playoff hopes into a dumpster that will eventually be soaked in light fluid and set aflame. It's like clockwork, as the internal pressure of trying to avoid another early stumble sinks them again.Give new assistant coach Don Granato credit for at least trying to help the Blue Jackets ease the vice grips on their sticks by recommending a 100% forward focus."This is a group that's very proud ... of being here, wearing the jersey," Granato said, pinch hitting for head coach Rick Bowness while he was sick. "The stakes are high because they felt they didn't reach what they could've or should've, maybe, last season. And that's a lot of pressure. They're dealing with a lot more pressure coming into this year that they've put on themselves ... for good reason, right? They're hungry. But it is pressure, and it's dealing with pressure."And if there's one thing we've learned about this team the past few years, it's that pressure tends to crush them under its weight every time. Not in a good way, either. They don't come out of it as a shining diamond. They get obliterated by it, and it's happening again.Looking at the carnage in the rearview doesn't help."There's lots of intangible there," Granato said. "We can debate it, we can argue it, but you cannot look back. We cannot look back. We have to move on. Our next game, we have to take the video from this, have discussions from this and find a way to feel good about yourself and your game, and get your compete level back up high."Scoring more than one or two goals per game might help, too, something they've done just six times in 17 games. That includes a 6-3 victory over the Sabres on Oct. 1 to open the season and a 7-2 romp Nov. 3 over the Colorado Avalanche.That one was similar to the Lightning matchup, since the Avalanche were finishing a back-to-back on the road at Nationwide Arena. Unlike that game, the Blue Jackets' ineptitude in the offense zone led to Tampa Bay's victory in a game that was 1-1 starting the third period.A puck that snuck through the pads on goalie Jet Greaves made it 2-1 on the period's second shift and a turnover by newcomer Matthew Knies deep in the Blue Jackets' end led to Brandon Hagel's goal 6:35 later off a one-timer from a sharp angle. That's all the offense the Lightning needed, as they closed off the most dangerous areas of their own zone to keep the Jackets at bay.According to Natural Stat Trick, the Lightning generated lopsided edges in the game's most dangerous scoring chances of 14-6 at 5-on-5 and 14-9 at even strength, once again showing the Blue Jackets' inability turn size and strength into quality looks."I feel like with the way our team's built, I think it should be a fight for who gets to the net-front," Knies said. "There's a lot of big players, strong players, and yeah, I think we do it ... but it can't be on occasion, really. It's got to be every time and be predictable with it."On the bright side, Knies scored the Jackets' only goal from the front of the net by redirecting a pass from Kent Johnson to cap a power play in the first period. The problem is that it was his first goal since scoring two in the season-opener, after joining the Blue Jackets two days earlier in a blockbuster trade that sent Kirill Marchenko to the Toronto Maple Leafs.Knies and others are still looking for sparks."It's not our attitude, it's not how we come out or anything like that," Provorov said. "We just have to find a way to put the puck in the net. I mean, we scored one tonight. We scored one the game before. We scored only two the game before that, so we'e got to find a way to put the puck in the net. It sounds dumb, but if you score more goals than the other team, then you win. If you don't, then you don't."Next up are the Philadelphia Flyers (5-10-6) on Nov. 14 in the Blue Jackets' final home game before a four-game road trip. No pressure or anything, but it's essentially a must-win game for each team.Dispatch Blue Jackets/Crew reporter Brian Hedger can be reached at bhedger@dispatch.comThis article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: The Columbus Blue Jackets are still sputtering: Where's the beef?