The Columbus Blue Jackets offense continues struggling as they were defeated by the Anaheim Ducks 3-1 Saturday in front of 14,461 fans in Nationwide Arena.

“I don’t think we played great,” Columbus defenseman Mike Commodore said. “I mean, yeah, a couple pucks off the pipe. There are a lot of games that go like that. It is not like we dominated the game... We didn’t play well enough to win.”

Saturday’s game included another dismal performance by the top line of Rick Nash, Kristian Huselius , and Antoine Vermette. The trio combined for just six shots on goal in the contest.

Nash has just two goals in his last 12 games. Vermette broke a four game pointless streak assisting on Columbus’ only goal. Huselius only has four points in his last seven games. Those stats from top line players will not win many games.

“It is not working right now,” Blue Jackets head coach Ken Hitchcock said of Columbus’ top line. “The line is not working. We have to help the line or change the players because it is not working.”

Anaheim notched the game’s first goal 16:08 into the first when Dan Sexton knocked a loose puck in the crease off the post. The puck then bounced off the back of Blue Jackets’ goalie Steve Mason’s left skate and into the net. Sexton spent the last two seasons with the Bowling Green Falcons of the CCHA.

Columbus was outshot by Anaheim 11-9 in the first period. The Blue Jackets would go on to outshoot the Ducks 27-14 in the game’s final two periods.

“We had a poor first period,” Hitchcock said, “and we were alright in the second and third.”

Anaheim notched the eventual game winner 19:05 into the second period to go up 2-0 when Bobby Ryan skated past Columbus defender Kris Russell and shot the puck past the glove of Mason.

Columbus responded 19 seconds later when forward R.J. Umberger shot the puck off the skate of Anaheim goaltender Jonas Hiller. Going into the third period, it appeared the Blue Jackets garnered the momentum in the game.

“It was huge,” Umberger said. “I thought we had a lot of momentum into the third; we had a lot of chances just playing catch-up and you can’t bank on period to win the game.”

That momentum was squashed early in the third. The Blue Jackets had a five-on-three power play for a total of 52 seconds. Columbus was unable to muster any good scoring chances during that span.

“You’re down a goal, five-on-three, that’s the turning point of the hockey game,” Hitchcock said. “We’ve scored on them all year and I don’t even know that we got a quality look. We stumbled around. We had shots blocked and cross-ice passed picked off.”

Anaheim’s Corey Perry notched an insurance goal 13:47 into the third period to go up 3-1 while Blue Jackets defender Jan Hejda was serving a tripping penalty.

Hiller stopped all but one of his 36 shots faced. Mason stopped 22-of-25.

 
Modin returns in stride
Blue Jackets forward Fredrik Modin made his season debut Saturday. Modin skated for over 12 minutes and had four shots on goal and blocked a shot. The forward was on a line with Jared Boll and Samuel Pahlsson.

“It’s going to be a big help,” Hitchcock said of Modin’s return. “If he stays healthy, he’s going to be a good player. He’s going to be a good addition.”

“There are situations out there where you are a little off,” Modin said, “and a little on your heels and you catch yourself thinking too much in certain situations. I think at this point that is kind of expected.”

Considering Columbus only had two wins in their previous 11 games headed into Saturday, Modin said he felt the urgency to return to the lineup.

“I wanted to get back in as soon as possible,” Modin said, “to do what I can do. The more I play, the faster I am going to get back into the little details (of the game).”

 
Dorsett injured
Derek Dorsett’s bad luck continues. After spending three weeks recovering from a concussion, the forward made his return on Wednesday. The forward was just in his seventh period of play since returning when he took a puck off his hand in the first period of Saturday’s game. Later in the period, he got into a fight with Anaheim’s Sheldon Brookbank.

Dorsett did not return after the fight. It appears he will not be returning anytime soon, either. Hitchcock stated after the game the forward suffered a broken hand.

“It’s too bad because he was really playing well,” Hitchcock said.

Following the injury, all of the lines got jumbled at varying degrees.

“It hurts the team, we can’t roll four lines,” Umberger said. “It is no excuse. We got Freddy (Modin) more ice time which was fine with him.”