This one stung even worse for the Blue Jackets than a year ago, when they missed the playoffs by just two points.
The Jackets finished 2025-26 riding a six-game winning streak that forced the Montreal Canadiens to barely sneak into the postseason on a win in their final game.
This season, the Jackets missed out by six points despite increasing their point total from 89 to 92. Blown leads in third periods were, by far, the biggest reason. They tied the Los Angeles Kings and Montreal Canadiens for most games with a blown lead in the third period (21) and led the league with a whopping 11 games having multi-goal leads vanish in the third. The Anaheim Ducks finished closest to the Jackets in that latter category, blowing multi-goal leads in seven third periods.
Three of the Jackets’ 11 late multi-goal leads that disappeared came against the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Penguins finished second in the Metropolitan Division at 98 points, so that four-game series alone could’ve gotten Columbus into the playoffs had the Jackets protected late leads better.
The Jackets blew late leads against nine of their peers in the Eastern Conference, which amounted to a combined 23 extra points for those teams.
According to MoreHockeyStats.com, the Blue Jackets finished fourth in the NHL in average time per game holding a lead (23:45). They also trailed the third-fewest minutes at 15:06 per game. Columbus and Washington were the only two non-playoff teams among the top 10 teams that led most, while the Jackets were the only non-playoff team among the top 10 that trailed the least.
“There’s so many points that we just gave away, and that definitely made a difference in the end,” Blue Jackets forward Mathieu Olivier said. “I’m sure we’ll have plenty of meetings, and our coaching staff is going to look over that, and they’re going to be honest and blunt about what we need to change … whether it’s on the ice or mentally or whatever we need to improve.”
Here are the Blue Jackets' five most costly meltdowns:
Date/site: Nov. 2, 2025, at UBS Arena in Elmont, New York
Finishing a back-to-back against a Metropolitan Division rival, on the road, with a short turnaround following a 3-2 win at home over the St. Louis Blues, the Jackets led 2-1 after Miles Wood broke a 1-1 tie 12:10 into the third period.
Islanders rookie Matthew Schaefer tied it 2-2 with 1:07 left in regulation for his second goal of the game, and New York stole two points when Simon Holmstrom beat Elvis Merzlikins 29 seconds later to put the Isles up with just 38 seconds left.
The Blue Jackets left with a sickening feeling after coming so close to winning in regulation.
They could’ve gotten two points and held a division rival to none while sweeping a challenging back-to-back, but it went completely the opposite way in the final 1:07 of the game. Gutting loss.
Date/site: Nov. 22, 2025, at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Michigan
Zach Werenski, who almost always plays well against his hometown Red Wings, put the Blue Jackets up 3-1 at 8:38 into the third period. Less than five minutes later, it was tied 3-3 after goals by Detroit defensemen Ben Chiarot and Moritz Seider. Alex DeBrincat won it for the Red Wings in overtime, leaving Werenski and the Blue Jackets stunned by another collapse.
The meltdown and OT loss gave an Eastern Conference opponent two points and robbed the Jackets of an additional point. It also started a four-game slide that included two more overtime losses in games during which Columbus held leads in the third period – Nov. 26 against the Toronto Maple Leafs and Nov. 28 against the Penguins.
Date/site: Dec. 6, 2025, at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, Florida
The Blue Jackets led 4-1 midway through the second period before the Panthers tied it 4-4 on three straight goals, a span of 4:57, including two power-play goals to cap a controversial sequence in which a failed Columbus challenge for a missed hand pass gave the Panthers a second power play goal to tie it.
Cole Sillinger put the Jackets back on top, 5-4, with a late goal in the second and Isac Lundestrom made it 6-4 early in the third. The Panthers overcame it on goals by Brad Marchand and Anton Lundell to force overtime, leading to Sam Bennett’s OT winner with four seconds left.
After blowing a three-goal lead in the second and two-goal lead in the third, former Blue Jackets coach Dean Evason was incensed about the officiating. He called the game “a total joke.”