COLUMBUS, OHIO — The Columbus Blue Jackets entered Monday night's game against the Blues on a five-game losing streak, and in all five games the Jackets enjoyed a lead at some point.

So when Columbus jumped out to a two-goal lead just 4 minutes, 13 seconds into the first period, not only was there a lot of game left, but the Blues knew the Blue Jackets could be vulnerable.

The Blues managed to flag down Columbus in the second period, as Erik Johnson continued his torrid offensive pace and Paul Kariya climbed further out of his rut. However, after catching the home team, the Blues surrendered the go-ahead goal in the third period and then gave up two empty-net goals in a 5-2 win for to the Blue Jackets.

"We bounced back," Blues forward Keith Tkachuk said. "I thought we controlled most of the play, but the end result ... it almost felt like we kind of changed our game in the third, which I don't understand why. It almost seemed like 'Get to overtime,' and that's unacceptable."

The score was 2-2 when R.J. Umberger gave Columbus a 3-2 lead with 14:40 left in the third period. The Blues pulled goalie Chris Mason for an extra attacker in the final minute, leading to empty-net goals by Antoine Vermette and Umberger, who finished the game with a hat trick.

On Umberger's second goal of the game, Derick Brassard beat Blues defenseman Jonas Junland around the right corner before curling a pass to the front of the net to Umberger, who was ahead of Andy McDonald by a step. The goal was similar to Umberger's first of the game in the first period.

"It's why one team wins and the other team doesn't win," Blues coach Andy Murray said. "If you're not accountable in your individual defensive situation, bad things can happen. We weren't accountable in those situations, and bad things happened.

"We made three individual checking mistakes that resulted in plays in the back of our net. And then we must have shot the puck over the top of their net about six times when we had tremendous scoring opportunities."

The Blues outshot Columbus 29-27 and, according to the official scoring, missed seven shots.

Columbus goalie Steve Mason "is a good goaltender," Blues forward T.J. Oshie said. "He gets really wide spread. I think we were trying to take the corners too finely. We just need to get shots through and make sure they stay there."

Columbus owned the game early, picking up goals from Kris Russell 2:04 into the game and Umberger at the 4:13 mark.

Russell skated around the Blues' B.J. Crombeen before ripping a wrist shot past Chris Mason for Russell's first goal of the season. Minutes later, Umberger took a pass from Jakub Voracek in front of the net and quickly slid the puck past Mason.

The Blue Jackets had a chance to build on their 2-0 lead when Barret Jackman was called for a four-minute high-sticking penalty midway through the first period. But the Blues' eighth-ranked penalty-killing unit erased the double-minor, after which the Jackets held a 12-3 advantage in shots.

Late in the period, Jackman was involved in another incident that changed the pace of the game.

Columbus defenseman Ryan Klesla was attempting to glove a puck out of the air and play it, when Jackman came flying in and knocked Klesla down. He grabbed for his left knee, and after a 10-minute delay, Klesla was helped off the ice and didn't return.

The departure of Klesla, who has been arguably the Blue Jackets' best defenseman this season, seemed to put the team in a momentary funk.

Kariya had a wide-open breakaway with 2 1/2 minutes left, but his shot was blocked by Steve Mason and then brushed off the post.

With under a minute to play in the period, the Blue Jackets' Fedor Tyutin took a cross-checking penalty, and the Blues capitalized with a power-play goal. Johnson netted his fourth goal of the season with nine seconds left in the period to put the Blues on the scoreboard.

In the second period, Kariya redeemed himself for the missed breakaway late. On a 2-on-1 rush, he took a pass from Oshie and beat Columbus' Mason for his sixth goal of the season, tying the score at 2-2 with 10:22 left in the period.

But Umberger regained the lead for the Blues Jackets and the Blues hurt their chances of a comeback with a cross-checking penalty by Darryl Sydor and a slashing penalty by Brad Boyes.