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Blue Jackets still searching for their identity

Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Curtis Lazar, Jack Johnson

Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Curtis Lazar, Jack Johnson

AP

Blue Jackets defenseman Dalton Prout claimed prior to Wednesday’s game that the contest would be treated “as the most important game of the season” and is a “must-win.”

That makes Columbus’ 7-3 loss to Ottawa last night to drop to 0-4-0 this season all the more disturbing.

“There’s a lot of things that go on when you’ve given up … we’ve given up 20 goals,” Blue Jackets coach Todd Richards said, per the Columbus Dispatch. “Trust is definitely one of those things. That goes throughout the team. I’m talking trust in executing the system, and knowing each person needs to do.”

Blue Jackets captain Nick Foligno feels the team has lost its identity. In the meantime, the way Columbus allowed the game to slip away after holding a 3-2 lead was “disgusting.”

Richards said the team is trying to find that identity, but right now “I don’t think we have any idea what we need to be.”

It all has to be extremely disheartening for the organization, which had written off last season’s failure due to the sheer volume of man games lost. Now the Blue Jackets are relatively healthy and have added Brandon Saad to boot and yet they’ve been a complete mess.

While there might not actually be must-win games in October, Friday’s contest against the lowly Toronto Maple Leafs is an important one, especially because it will be followed up by three tough contests against Chicago, the Islanders, and Minnesota.

Related: Bobrovsky admits he has ‘zero confidence right now’