Rick Bowness is not happy with his team after a drubbing by the Florida Panthers.
The Columbus Blue Jackets coach called out his players post-game after a 7-3 loss on Tuesday night — a game in which they led following the opening 20 minutes.
"You gotta believe that performance will embarrass them enough to stop this, right?" Bowness told reporters after the game. "Because if they're not embarrassed by that, we don't want them on the team. Simple as that."
The Blue Jackets fell apart in the second period, allowing four goals in that frame, including a natural hat trick from Brady Tkachuk. Forward Mathieu Olivier did his team no favours either, taking an ill-advised five-minute major penalty for slashing, which led to his subsequent ejection and another goal against.
The Blue Jackets would get two back, but the damage was already done as the Panthers added three more to their tally in the final frame.
The Blue Jackets are now 2-3-0 on the season.
"I know it looks bad, but I believe in what we're doing. I believe in them. I believe we can fix the problems," the bench boss added. "That all being said, if (the game) doesn't get their attention, then they're on the wrong team."
This is not the first time that Bowness has publicly put his Blue Jackets on blast.
The veteran coach ripped his players after their season-ending loss last year, lamenting their lack of effort.
"These guys, they don't care. Losing is not important enough to them. It doesn't bother them," Bowness said at the time, per Mark Scheig of The Hockey Writers. "Like, how can you go out and play like that? ... Should have done this about a month ago, but this is why we are where we are. This is why we're out of the playoffs. That kind of effort. Losing, you have to hate losing. I don't care if it's a meaningless game."
Shortly after his rant, the Blue Jackets signed Bowness to a one-year extension to return to the bench. Columbus won its season-opening game, but has lost three of their last four. They have not made the post-season since 2020.
The Blue Jackets return to the ice on Oct. 17 against the New York Rangers.
