PREVIEW: Blue Jackets look for road win at Montreal

The Blue Jackets have played several good games against contending teams lately, but one piece of the puzzle was missing on Saturday.

Columbus just didn’t get out of the gates, allowing streaking Nashville to get the first 18 shots on goal and take a 1-0 lead in the first period. The Blue Jackets eventually found their game and had their chances in a 2-1 loss, but the way they started was not up to the standard the team has set in recent games.

“I think we know how to play,” said Alexandre Texier, who scored the lone CBJ goal. “We talked a little bit in the locker room after the first. It’s just not the way we want to play, and after that, we played a little bit better but just not enough. We played some really good games the last four or five games, the way we want to play, and tonight it wasn’t really there. It was there at times.”

There could have been plenty of factors, from the early start to the fact Nashville entered on a 10-game point streak, but the Jackets simply weren’t happy with the way things began on Saturday.

But one also must point out the Blue Jackets ended up doing plenty of good things in the contest. While Nashville ended up putting 49 shots on goal on CBJ netminder Daniil Tarasov, Columbus actually had a 26-19 edge in scoring chances at 5-on-5, per Natural Stat Trick. The stats website also had the teams knotted in expected goals at 5-on-5, with the Jackets’ quality of shots matching the Predators’ quantity.

In the end, though, the Jackets fell a bit short to end a run of three wins in four games. The way the team came back, though, speaks to a team that is starting to learn how to handle adversity.

“We believed we could come back in this game,” head coach Pascal Vincent said. “What we saw in the first period is not who you’ve seen in the past while. We wanted to get back to our true identity, and I really like the way we came back.”

Know The Foe: Montreal Canadiens

Head coach: Martin St. Louis (Third season)

Team stats: Goals per game: 2.75 (26th) | Scoring defense: 3.48 (26th) | PP: 18.8 percent (23rd) | PK: 75.1 percent (28th)

The narrative: Montreal made the Stanley Cup Final during the shortened COVID season of 2021 but has entered a rebuild since. St. Louis seems like the kind of young, energetic coach who can bring the young Habs along, with the team turning to such youngsters as 2022 No. 1 overall pick Juraj Slafkovsky, Cole Caufield, Kaiden Guhle and Alex Newhook to help lead the way to the next good Montreal team. Defensemen Lane Hutson and David Reinbacher are on the way, too, but it’s still a team that’s in the building stage.

Team leaders: Captain Nick Suzuki became a three-time All-Star this season, and deservedly so, as the 24-year-old leads the team with 25 goals and 61 points. Caufield can certainly shoot the puck and has a 19-32-51 line, while defenseman Mike Matheson is playing some of his best hockey with a team-best 37 assists among his 46 points. Slafkovsky’s second NHL season has seen some major improvement, as the Slovak wing has 13 goals and 33 points.

In net, Sam Montembeault has gotten the lion’s share of the calls, starting 30 games and going 13-12-5 on the year with a 3.14 GAA and .904 save percentage. With a deadline deal involving Jake Allen, Cayden Primeau (5-6-2, 3.04, .901) is the second goalie on the roster.

What's new: It’s been a struggle of late for the Canadiens, who enter 5-12-3 in their last 20 games and have lost nine of the last 11. Defense has been the biggest issue with the Habs ceding 40 times in those 11 games (3.64 goals against per game). Suzuki has been hot, posting a 5-3-8 line in the last seven games.

Trending: Montreal has captured the first two games of the series this year, taking a 4-3 overtime win Oct. 26 in Centre Bell and winning 4-2 in Nationwide Arena on Nov. 29. Columbus swept the season series in 2021-22 but has lost four of the last five.

Former CBJ: Josh Anderson has posted an 8-10-18 line in 60 games this season, while David Savard remains in Montreal and has five goals among 15 points in 42 games.

Roster Report

Projected Lineup (subject to change)

Johnny Gaudreau – Boone Jenner – Yegor Chinakhov
Trey Fix-Wolansky – Dmitri Voronkov – Kirill Marchenko
Alexandre Texier – Cole Sillinger – Alex Nylander
Carson Meyer – Sean Kuraly – Mathieu Olivier
Zach Werenski – Adam Boqvist
Ivan Provorov – Damon Severson
Jake Bean – Erik Gudbranson
Elvis Merzlikins
Daniil Tarasov

Scratches: Adam Fantilli (calf laceration, out eight weeks as of Jan. 31), Justin Danforth (concussion, out indefinitely), Brendan Gaunce

Injured reserve: Kent Johnson (torn labrum in left shoulder, out for season)

Roster Report: Meyer will go into the lineup after his call-up, while Pascal Vincent said Merzlikins will get the start against the Habs. Gaunce was recalled Tuesday because Marchenko is under the weather; it will be a game-time decision who plays.

3 Stats to Know

• Alexandre Texier is in the midst of a career-best five-game point streak (2-4-6) and is also plus-4 in that span of games.
• Alex Nylander has a 5-2-7 line in eight games since joining the Blue Jackets, and his five goals in the first eight games ties Antoine Vermette and Johnny Gaudreau for the most to start a CBJ tenure.
• Milestone watch: Zach Werenski notched his 200th assist Tuesday to become the first defenseman in CBJ history to reach the mark. He is now four assists from tying David Vyborny for second in team history. ... Damon Severson is four games from 700 for his NHL career (64-218-282, 695 GP). ... Ivan Provorov is four games from 600 for his NHL career (70-175-245, 596 GP).

Who’s Hot

Blue Jackets goalies Daniil Tarasov and Elvis Merzlikins have combined to post a .930 save percentage in their last nine games, stopping 294 of 316 shots against. Tarasov has a .935 save percentage in that span while Merzlikins is at .918. ... With his goal Thursday night, Dmitri Voronkov now has 17 on the year, tied for second among NHL rookies. His 31 points are also tied for fifth among NHL rookies, while his plus-6 rating is tied for fourth among rookies with at least 50 games played. ... Johnny Gaudreau has 16 points (3-13-16) in the last 17 games. ... Cole Sillinger has points in five of the last seven games (3-2-5) is one of three CBJ players all-time to have at least 30 goals before their 21st birthday (Rick Nash, 58; Pierre-Luc Dubois, 47). ... The team’s rookie stat line of 30-37-67 is first in the NHL in goals and third in points.

This Day in CBJ History

March 12, 2008: Rick Nash is named the fifth captain in Blue Jackets history.

March 12, 2009: Kristian Huselius scores the only goal of the shootout as the Blue Jackets claim a 4-3 win over Pittsburgh in Nationwide Arena.

March 12, 2019: Boone Jenner notches his first career hat trick, including his 100th NHL goal on his second of the game, in a 7-4 victory vs. Boston. Zach Werenski adds a career-best 1-3-4 line in the win.