Playing in his first game since missing three weeks with an ankle sprain, Patrik Laine opened the scoring for the visitors. Johnny Gaudreau's pass from the left circle found Laine on the right side, and the former Jet went high on the short side, beating David Rittich over the glove 6:48 into the first.
Rittich, who had won his past three starts, made 22 saves in the loss.
"(I'd) like get across a little faster. But that was a very good shot fired by him," Rittich said of Laine's third of the season. "Get out and get bigger and see if I can do something more, I'll work on it and see if I can be better in those situations."
Columbus added to the lead just under four minutes later, as Erik Gudbranson's shot from the right side was stopped by Rittich, but the rebound popped out and went off the skate of a back-checking Pierre-Luc Dubois and in, putting the Blue Jackets up 2-0.
Laine picked up his second of the night 3:19 into the second, converting a Boone Jenner backhand pass off the rush. The goal was Laine's fourth of the season, and the 300th career point for Jenner.
Gaudreau had the secondary assist on Laine's second goal, then the primary helper on Gustav Nyquist's fourth of the campaign - and fourth Columbus goal of the night. Nyquist banged home a back door pass from Gaudreau to finish off a tidy passing play to make it 4-0 with 7:39 remaining in the middle frame.
Gaudreau finished the night with three assists, and would have had a goal as well if Rittich didn't stop him on a breakaway.
"Johnny's Johnny; a top player in the league," said Rittich, who played with Gaudreau in Calgary. "I kind of knew what I can expect from him and he made good plays."
Even at 4-0, the Jets weren't out of it. On top of the power play chances, Morgan Barron hit the post, and was later stopped by Joonas Korpisalo's blocker on a rebound attempt. Mark Scheifele was turned away in the slot earlier in the game, and he (and his line mate Cole Perfetti) had pucks bounce over their sticks with space in prime scoring areas.
"That's just how it goes sometimes. No team goes 82 wins and zero losses," said Dubois. "There were spurts in the game where we had momentum and were going around the zone."
He did admit though, as did Bowness, that the fourth goal was a bit of a momentum killer, as the Jets were swarming the Columbus zone just prior to the Nyquist goal to make it 4-0.
"We score there and I think the whole thing turns around," said Bowness.
The only puck the Jets got by Korpisalo came off Dubois' stick with 4:30 left in regulation. He was parked just outside the crease and buried a loose puck off a rebound from a Blake Wheeler shot from the right circle.
The win snapped the three-game winless skid for the Blue Jackets, while the Jets suffered just their third loss on home ice this season.
"We're in a dogfight to make the playoffs. Every game is important," Bowness said. "We set the standard of how we're going to play, regardless of who we play. And as I told them after the game, it's on every individual to look at yourself first."
