ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Since Jody Shelley was traded to the San Jose Sharks midway through the 2007-08 season, the Blue Jackets have not had a bona fide enforcer on the roster.

General manager Scott Howson repeatedly has said that such a player is not needed because the Blue Jackets, in his opinion, do not appear to get intimidated.

Coach Ken Hitchcock, who made a healthy scratch of Shelley more often than he played him prior to the trade, said again yesterday that he doesn't like having a "one-dimensional" player in his lineup.

But when the need arises for the Blue Jackets to do some "enforcing", or to stand up to such a player, the duty falls to right winger Jared Boll, who, at 6 feet 2, 210 pounds, is a middleweight fighting in a heavyweight's world.

That's a hard way to make a living, and it could lead to a short career for Boll.

Case in point: Saturday's 4-2 loss to the Minnesota Wild in the Xcel Energy Center, where Boll tried to spark the Blue Jackets from a 3-0 deficit early in the second period by taking on Wild behemoth Derek Boogaard.

"(Boogaard) gave me a little shove off the faceoff," Boll said. "A guy like that, it's more about showing up against him than expecting to win the fight.

"I was just trying to get the rest of the guys going."

Boogaard is 6-6, 257, and one of the most feared fighters in the league. He won by technical knockout against Boll, who didn't go down despite absorbing four or five heavy rights near the end of the fight.

"The guys were really proud of (Boll)," Hitchcock said. "Down 3-0, he's trying to help any way he can.

"It took a lot of guts to do what he did. A lot of guys wouldn't step up into a situation like that, against Boogaard."

Down in a hurry

The Blue Jackets have allowed the first goal in seven straight games. Worse, they've fallen behind 1-0 in the first 3:41 of all seven.

"We've set ourselves back," goaltender Steve Mason said. "We find ourselves having to fight back every night, and that's hard to do at this level, especially on the road.

"We have to find a way to prevent that from happening."

Hitchcock has put the blame on the club's young players, but the veterans have been just as poor. In Saturday's loss, the five skaters on the ice for the Blue Jackets when Mikko Koivu opened the scoring were Kristian Huselius, Antoine Vermette, Rick Nash, Mike Commodore and Anton Stralman.

Other than Stralman, all have more than five full seasons in the NHL.

Slap shots

Right winger Jake Voracek, who missed Saturday's game because of a head injury, was expected to work out off-ice yesterday. If all went well, he could practice today and play Tuesday against the Nashville Predators. Defenseman Marc Methot (flu) is feeling better and expected to practice today. The Blue Jackets, with two days without a game for the first time since Jan. 3-4, took yesterday off.

aportzline@dispatch.com