by Aaron Portzline, THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH , The Columbus Dispatch

It's piling up on the Blue Jackets right now, and the Phoenix Coyotes punctuated the point with a 4-1 victory behind backup goaltender Jason LaBarbera in front of 13,184 disappointed fans.

"We're not manning up right now," Blue Jackets forward R.J. Umberger said. "When the game got tough, we didn't respond."

That's one way to put it. Coach Ken Hitchcock, who abhors the kind of play he's seeing from his club right now, found another way.

"We're not playing near as hard as we can, or near as hard as we're going to have to," Hitchcock said. "We have a good stretch, but then we revert to wanting to play around the competition, rather than plowing through it.

"We're making too many plays with the puck that are too light, and they come back to haunt us. We're paying for the errors we make right now."

Derick Brassard scored for the Blue Jackets , and goaltender Steve Mason stopped 19 of 23 shots.

But the Blue Jackets' penalty kill, so lethal early in the season, continued a stunning collapse, allowing three goals on six Coyotes power plays. In the past four games, the Blue Jackets have allowed 10 power-play goals, killing only 9 of 19 (47.4 percent) penalties.

"It's sort of an extension of everything else that's going on," Umberger said.

Brassard's power-play goal with 1:39 left in the first period put the Blue Jackets up 1-0, and they outshot the Coyotes 13-4 in the first. Then, the floor gave out.

At 10:33 of the second, the Coyotes tied it at 1 when Martin Hanzal jabbed a loose puck through Mason's pads.

Less than three minutes later, the Blue Jackets got caught up ice on a rush and were slow to respond when the puck went the other way. The track meet ended when Phoenix defenseman Jim Vandermeer shot into a scrum, the puck caroming off the skate of Jackets defenseman Fedor Tyutin before it beat Mason.

More slop ensued. The Coyotes, who could have won 8-1 if they had more finishers, made it 3-1 (Zbynek Michalek) with 9:05 remaining and 4-1 (Robert Lang) with 5:23 to play.

"We're cheating a bit right now," Blue Jackets captain Rick Nash said. "Thinking offense first instead of defense, and with a young team, that will happen. We have to keep our heads up and correct it."

Hitchcock ruled out another attempt at line changes. If the problem were isolated to one or two players, maybe that would work, he said. But the problems are more widely spread.

This might help Hitchcock get the players' attention at practice today: The defending Stanley Cup champion and red-hot Pittsburgh Penguins are next on the docket Friday in Nationwide Arena.

"I don't worry about Pittsburgh," Hitchcock said. "If it's not Pittsburgh, it's Washington or some other teams. Lots of teams are playing really well right now. We have a lot of work ahead of us to get up to speed."

aportzline@dispatch.com

Box Story: Game wrap-up

\ THREE STARS

* Jason LaBarbera, G, Coyotes: Stopped 31 of 32 shots after shutting out the Blue Jackets last December

* Keith Yandle, D, Coyotes: Assisted on all three of his club's power-play goals

* Zbynek Michalek, D, Coyotes: Shot home a big goal, giving his team a 3-1 lead

\ GAME SUMMARY

Phoenix 0 2 2 -- 4 \ \ Columbus 1 0 0 -- 1 \ \

\ FIRST PERIOD: Scoring -- 1. Columbus, Brassard 2 (Torres, Russell), 18:21 (pp). Penalties -- Bissonnette, Pho, major (fighting), 6:28; Boll, Clm, major (fighting), 6:28; Upshall, Pho, double minor (high-sticking), 17:21; Vandermeer, Pho, major (fighting), 18:48; Umberger, Clm, served by Boll, minor-major (roughing, fighting), 18:48.

SECOND: Scoring -- 2. Phoenix, Hanzal 1 (Jovanovski, Yandle), 10:33 (pp); 3. Phoenix, Vandermeer 1 (Fiddler, Winnik), 13:17. Penalties -- Doan, Pho (slashing), :33; Aucoin, Pho (holding), 8:20; Huselius, Clm (hooking), 10:01; Commodore, Clm (roughing), 10:33; Upshall, Pho (slashing), 15:34; Commodore, Clm (tripping), 18:44.

THIRD: Scoring -- 4. Phoenix, Michalek 1 (Vrbata, Yandle), 10:55 (pp); 5. Phoenix, Lang 2 (Yandle), 14:37 (pp). Penalties -- Fiddler, Pho (roughing), 6:35; Nash, Clm (holding), 6:35; Brassard, Clm (goaltender interference), 9:55; Stralman, Clm (hooking), 14:11; Lepisto, Pho (hooking), 16:01.

Shots on goal: Phoenix 4-8-11--23; Columbus 13-7-12--32. Power plays: Phoenix 3 of 6; Columbus 1 of 6. Goalies: Phoenix, LaBarbera 1-1-0 (32 shots-31 saves); Columbus, Mason 5-4-0 (23-19). A: 13,184. T: 2:22.

Copyright 2009 The Columbus Dispatch All Rights Reserved
	Terms & Conditions     Privacy Copyright © 2009 LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.