Simply put, it wasn’t an easy situation the Blue Jackets found themselves in Sunday in Carolina.

Not only did Columbus have to face one of the toughest teams in the league against the high-pressure Hurricanes, but they also had to do it just 22 hours after Saturday’s game against Anaheim, 19 hours after it ended and 16 hours after the team arrived at his hotel in Raleigh before the game.

In that sense, the team’s 4-1 loss to the Canes made sense, but head coach Dean Evason was at least pleased with his team’s performance in the setback. There were some issues with execution – an early shorthanded goal that was given up, a power play that failed to end a four-game scoring streak, and turnovers given up late in both the first and second periods – but the Blue Jackets thought they could have jumped in head-to-head with one of the NHL’s best teams.

“We thought our energy level was good,” Evason said. “Obviously we played (Saturday night), but we had some bounce. We had some life. It’s a really good hockey club (in Carolina). I think a couple of breaks earlier was good for us, I think it could have been a different game.”

However, there are few moral victories in the NHL, and the cold reality is that the Blue Jackets lost this game and fell to 1-5-2 in their last eight games. It’s been a tough outing in which the team can’t simply point to one thing that went wrong, as has been the case in many competitions – in four of seven games they led in the third half, were tied or within one Losses on points – but made enough mistakes at critical times to miss the win.

The same goes for Carolina, where the Blue Jackets were able to stifle the Canes for much of the game but couldn’t capitalize on their opportunities.

“I feel like we played pretty well,” said defenseman Dante Fabbro. “It’s obviously just a few structural things that maybe shot us in the foot a little bit.”

The Blue Jackets are in a rough patch, but forward Kirill Marchenko said they believe they can get out of it, starting with tonight at Tampa Bay.

“We approach every game with confidence,” he said. “We try to win every game, we try to play like the No. 1 team on the ice. We don’t think about things like standings, away games, home games. It doesn’t matter. Just go into the game, do what you can and try to win.”

Know the Enemy: Tampa Bay Lightning

Head Coach: Jon Cooper (Season 12)

Team stats: Goals per game: 4.00 (1st) | Point defense: 2.89 (10th) | PP: 28.4 percent (3rd) | PK: 79.5 percent (16th)

The narrative: The Lightning have made the playoffs in 10 of the last 11 seasons and won the Stanley Cups in 2020 and 21, making the squad a true NHL dynasty for more than a decade. But there are signs that things are starting to calm down, including the offseason departure of franchise icon Steven Stamkos as well as consecutive first-round playoff exits. It’s still an experienced team with plenty of star power that knows how to win, even if it’s getting a little long in the tooth these days.

Team leader: Two-time Art Ross Trophy winner Nikita Kucherov is off to another great start at age 31, as the Russian winger is fifth in the NHL with 46 points, including 14 goals. Brayden Point leads the team with 20 goals, including 16 in the last 17 games; The CBJ Killer scored 30 points in that span. Jake Guentzel (17 goals), Brandon Hagel (15) and Anthony Cirelli (12) also scored in double figures.

In net, Andrei Vasilevskiy’s streak of five straight top-five finishes in the Vezina voting ended last year, but he could be back at it again this year as he went 13-9-1 with a 2.41 GAA in 23 starts and has a save percentage of .908.

What’s new: Stamkos, the team’s all-time leader in games played, goals and points, moved to Nashville in the offseason, but the Bolts found an immediate replacement in Guentzel. Long-time defender Mikhail Sergachev was also traded in the summer for talented young striker Conor Geekie and defender JJ Moser. Tampa Bay has won four of its last five games and has outscored the competition 25-9 during that span.

Trending: Columbus won the opening game of this season at home on Nov. 21, 7-6, increasing the team’s record to 6-15-4 in the series since the start of the 2017-18 season.

Former CBJ: Cam Atkinson, now 35, signed a one-year deal with Tampa Bay this offseason and has three goals and two assists in 17 games.