PREVIEW: Blue Jackets at Blues

The sun came up, quite nicely thank you, on Ohio's capital city the morning after the Blue Jackets suffered a 4-1 loss to the Arizona Coyotes at Nationwide Arena on Tuesday.
A second home loss by a 4-1 score in a matter of four days led coach John Tortorella to drop leading scorer Artemi Panarin to the second line vs. the Coyotes, players to question their confidence and left fans pondering what's going on.
Relax, Tortorella told reporters before the team departed for St. Louis for the game Thursday vs. the Blues at the renamed Enterprise Center.
"It's not doom and gloom here," he said. "I don't think we're far off. I don't. I think we're pressing offensively. We had 17 missed shots."

Four of them led to rushes the other way and contributed to another rough outing for Sergei Bobrovsky, who allowed four goals on 12 scoring chances.
"This is a team game and a big part of our success is him," he said. "I'm certainly not laying the blame of a loss on the goaltender, but he's got to be better, too, just like everyone else on this team."
For awhile Tuesday, Nick Foligno moved into Panarin's spot on the left wing with center Pierre-Luc Dubois and Cam Atkinson.
"I thought it was a struggle for him last night," Tortorella said of Panarin.
Later in the game Foligno teamed with center Boone Jenner and Josh Anderson. That trio was together in practice Wednesday. Panarin was back on the top line and after practice he had an on-ice discussion with Tortorella, although it's not uncommon for Tortorella to pull a player aside.
"That's one thing Torts does, tries to get momentum out of every line and when one line is not going, or two lines aren't going, he shuffles them up," Anderson said. "Sometimes what you need is a little bit more juice in your team and get on the forecheck as much as you can.
"That's CBJ hockey. It's being physical and hard to play against. We want to go back to two years ago or even last year when we were one of those teams that when teams come into our building they hated to play against the Blue Jackets because we were so hard and so physical. People just hated playing against us. If we go back to that, we'll be fine."
Foligno thinks the Blues are the perfect opponent. The Blue Jackets are at their best when they go direct, north-south, are willing to pay the price to gain that territory.
"When you're feeling confident, you're there," he said. "You see things develop and when you're not (confident) it's easier to be pushed to the sides and play the perimeter game. We have enough guys that can play that inside game and get to the net and wreak a little havoc. We need to do that a little bit more.
"(The Blues) are a big, heavy team. Big boys too. It actually couldn't work out better with having a game like this. It forces you into that mindset, so it will be a good test."
Foligno also wants the Blue Jackets to do better at sticking to the game plan.
"When you have a little bit of adversity and goals aren't going in they start pressing individually and it eats away at your team game," he said.
Tortorella is disappointed with the .500 record but still sees the positives.
"I'm half full, man, I'm half full," he said. "We're not far away. If we can stay within ourselves here and not let the confidence dwindle, we're going to be alright."
Filling in the pieces
Tortorella on Wednesday did not commit to naming the lines, goaltender or the third defense pair.
David Savard was with Zach Werenski for the No. 1 unit until Seth Jones returned Tuesday after missing the first seven games with a Grade 2 MCL sprain in his right knee. He was reunitded with Werenski.
Ryan Murray and Markus Nutivaara comprise the three-four defense and Savard was joined by Dean Kukan, who got the nod over Scott Harrington for the sixth spot.
"I thought Kuks struggled at first, played a little bit better as the game wore on," Tortorella said. "I don't know what the pair is going to be (Thursday). I don't think Harry deserved to be out. I don't think Kuks deserves to be out."
Joonas Korpisalo (2-0-0, 2.95 GAA, .902 %) may start over Bobrovsky (2-4-0, 3.87, .872). Korpisalo has not played since making 37 saves in a 5-4 win at the Florida Panthers on Oct. 11.
About the Blues
St. Louis opens a seven-game homestand on Thursday after a 1-1-1 trip through Canada. … The Blues have beaten the Blue Jackets three straight times at home, are 4-0-1 in the past five games there and since 2007 are 20-4-1 in St. Louis vs. Columbus … Blues forward David Perron has 10 points (one goal, nine assists) in his past six games vs. the Blue Jackets and forward Vladimir Tarasenko has eight points (four goals, four assists) in his past five games against Columbus.
Blue Jackets projected lineup
Artemi Panarin -- Pierre-Luc Dubois -- Cam Atkinson
Nick Foligno -- Boone Jenner -- Josh Anderson
Oliver Bjorkstrand -- Alex Wennberg -- Anthony Duclair
Sonny Milano -- Riley Nash -- Lukas Sedlak
Zach Werenski -- Seth Jones
Ryan Murray -- Markus Nutivaara
Scott Harrington -- David Savard
Joonas Korpisalo
Sergei Bobrovsky
Scratched: Markus Hannikainen, Adam Clendening, Dean Kukan
Injured:Brandon Dubinsky (oblique strain)