Bowness wants his Blue Jackets embarrassed. Mission accomplished

Rick Bowness stood at the podium Tuesday night and said he hoped his team was embarrassed. Coach, they lost 7-3 at home and their resident tough guy got tossed for slashing a man where nobody gets slashed. Embarrassment was never the shortage in Columbus. The shame shelf is fully stocked. It's the hockey that's on backorder.

The Blue Jackets led 1-0 after one. Then Brady Tkachuk scored three times in 8:03 of the second period, and Columbus spent the rest of the night watching the Tkachuk family hold a reunion in its crease.

The speech

"You have to hope, you got to believe that performance tonight will embarrass them enough to stop this, right?" Bowness said. "Because if they're not embarrassed by that, we don't want them on the team."

Look, I like Bowness. He's earned the right to yell. But in April he said his players didn't care about losing. Now it's October, the record is 2-3, and he's back at the same microphone with the same speech. Grade: C-minus. The passion is an A. The sequel is a rerun with a new date on it.

He also said, "We can fix them. We can. I know it looks bad." That's what my brother-in-law said about the deck he built. The deck is now a ramp.

The slash

Mathieu Olivier got checked by Uvis Balinskis in the second period and answered with his stick between Balinskis's legs. Five-minute major, game misconduct, enjoy the shower. Florida was already up 3-1. Carter Verhaeghe scored on the major to make it 4-1, and that was the ballgame.

To his credit, Olivier owned it. "It looked bad, it was bad and that's on me," he said. "I hope he's alright."

That's a better answer than most guys give. It's also the problem. By our count, Olivier has 27 penalty minutes in five games, 15 of them Tuesday. He said himself this kind of thing has happened a couple of times this year.

Buddy, I'm begging you, the penalty box isn't a timeshare. You don't have to use all your weeks.

The number that should scare Columbus

The Blue Jackets' penalty kill is at 61.1 percent through five games, per NHL data. That's not a penalty kill. That's a revolving door with a logo on it.

Florida went 4-for-6 on the power play. Matthew Tkachuk had five assists, four in one period, a Panthers record for a single period. He ran that power play like a guy who knew nobody was going to touch him, because nobody did.

Here's what Bowness won't love hearing. Discipline is the one problem a coach can fix in October. Talent you trade for. Goaltending you pray for. Dumb penalties, you bench. If he means the "we don't want them on the team" line, the proof is in the next lineup card, not the next press conference.

Kept off the sheet

Zach Werenski played 26:18 and got nothing. Adam Fantilli played 20:30, nothing. Sean Monahan went 17 minutes, no points and a minus-2. That's per NHL data.

That's 64 minutes of ice time from three of the guys who are supposed to drive this thing. Cam Talbot gave up six on 23 shots before Jet Greaves came in to turn off the lights.

Not a real award

The Bowness Memorial Trophy for Repeating a Speech Until It Becomes a Podcast goes to Rick Bowness, for April's "they don't care" and October's "they should be embarrassed." Two episodes. Same guest. No sponsors.

The call

Columbus doesn't need a new speech. It needs Olivier to keep his stick on the ice and a kill that clears the puck once in a while. Fix those two and the Jackets are a .500 team, which in Columbus counts as a parade.

I said what I said.