Blue Jackets fall to Vegas for fifth straight loss
Saturday, December 13, 2025
By Kevin Rouch
krouch@cbussports.com
Charlie Coyle (left) has a good chance to score for the Columbus Blue Jackets, but Vegas goalie Carter Hart makes the stop during the Golden Knights 3-2 win Saturday at Nationwide Arena. Photo: Kevin Rouch
Coming into their home game Saturday against the Vegas Golden Knights, the top team in the NHL’s Western Conference, the Columbus Blue Jackets had lost four straight and hadn’t collected a point in the tight Eastern Conference standings since Dec. 6 in a shootout loss at Detroit.
As in almost all of the games during the current streak, the Blue Jackets held a lead Saturday, in fact, two leads at 1-0 and 2-1, the latter in the third period. But, unfortunately for the home fans at Nationwide Arena, Columbus once again gave up two goals later in the third to fall to Vegas, 3-2.
Columbus defenseman Zach Werenski recorded an assist Saturday against Vegas and now has a 10-game home points streak for the Blue Jackets. Photo: Kevin Rouch
The Blue Jackets scored the only goal of the first period when Charlie Coyle took a cross-ice feed from Zach Werenski and put a quick wrist shot from the right circle past Vegas goalie Carter Hart. Werenski’s assist extended his home point streak to 10 games. He was playing in his 599th game for Columbus, tied for fourth all time.
After giving up a score in the middle frame to Vegas’s Pavel Dorofeyev, the Jackets took the lead back just 4:49 into the third on Yegor Chinakhov’s third goal of the season. The Golden Knights did not wait long to knot the score at 2-2. Ben Hutton slapped one past Columbus goalie Jet Greaves from the slot just over a minute later.
Blue Jackets’ goaltender Jet Greaves makes one of his 22 saves against Vegas Saturday at Nationwide Arena, but the Golden Knights won 3-2. Photo: Kevin Rouch
Vegas’s winning goal came at the 13:13 mark when Brayden McNabb went over Greaves’ left shoulder with a tough angle shot from just above the right goal line. The Jackets had a chance late when McNabb was charged with a double high-sticking penalty with 2:59 left. Columbus could not convert and lost their fifth straight.
It was the Golden Knights’s sixth victory in their last seven outings. Former Toronto Maple Leaf Mitch Marner assisted on all three of Vegas’s goals Saturday. Marner now has 26 assists and 32 points this season, second only to Jack Eichel in both categories for Vegas.
The Blue Jackets are back on the ice Tuesday when they welcome the Anaheim Ducks to Nationwide Arena. The puck is slated to drop at 7:00 p.m.