PREVIEW: Blue Jackets come home to take on Lightning
With a month left in the season, Columbus needs wins to stay in the playoff race
The team's playoff hopes are officially an uphill climb with the team five points and three teams back with 16 games to play, but the Jackets say they can't worry about that. The hope is that the encouraging signs that have come in the last few games finally topple over into wins now that the team returns to Columbus to begin a four-game homestand.
"You can say what you need to say, but we're 1-5 right now at a time we need to be 5-1," captain Nick Foligno said. "That's the disappointing part, but I am encouraged by how we're playing, especially after the Detroit games and how that made us feel. We vowed not to have that happen again, and I'm proud to say that's not the case the past four games, but we still need the results. We're not getting them right now, and that's a hard one."
Perhaps the biggest frustration has been in the goal-scoring department, as Columbus has 116 shots on goal over the last three games and a total of four goals. That continues a stretch in which the Blue Jackets have just 18 goals in the run of play over the last 11 games.
"We gotta find a way to get it past them," said forward Boone Jenner, who has been as snakebitten as any CBJ player in recent contests. "I think we've had some good minutes, but you need to bear down on some chances and give yourself a chance to be in the game. W
"We're just trying to play. We're trying to do the right things and create offense, obviously. You want them to go in."
With crunch time nearing -- there is just a month left in the season and a week until the trade deadline -- the Blue Jackets' margin for error is thinner than ever, but hope remains on the team that a turnaround on the results front is around the corner.
"We are going to keep working," Jenner said. "We have another stretch here at home. These are big games, so we're just going to keep working here."
Know the Foe
There's little mystery left between these two teams, with the squads having met in the Stanley Cup Playoffs each of the past two seasons and now playing the fifth game of the truncated season against one another.
Coming off a Stanley Cup title a year ago, the Lightning are again the mix for the Presidents' Trophy, with the team just two points behind Florida for the top spot in the Central Division and boasting a .711 points percentage that is tied for fourth in the NHL.
The Bolts are third in the NHL with 3.40 goals per game and is fourth in the league in team defense, allowing 2.42 goals per game. The Bolts also are third in the NHL at 26.2 percent on the power play and 10th in PK at 81.8 percent. However, the team is in a bit of a lean patch, with Tampa Bay having won just two of its last six and its injury list growing with forward Nikita Kucherov (hip) out along with defensemen Erik Cernak and Jan Rutta thanks to lower-body injuries as well as goalie Curtis McElhinney (undisclosed).
Perennial Norris Trophy candidate Victor Hedman leads the Bolts and all NHL defensemen with 36 points (seven goals, 29 assists), while Steven Stamkos and Brayden Point pace the team in goals with 16-17-33 lines. Stamkos also has nine power-play goals to place tied for second in the NHL.
Ondrej Palat adds a 12-21-33 line and seven power-play goals, while Yanni Gourde (13 goals), Mathieu Joseph (10) and Alex Killorn (10) also are in double digits in goals. Even banged up, the defense corps boasts names like Hedman and Mikhail Sergachev (2-20-22).
In net, 2019 Vezina winner Andrei Vasilevskiy is turning in another impressive season, again showing he's one of the top goalies in the league with a 23-5-1 record, 1.96 GAA and .932 save percentage. Christopher Gibson made his season debut Sunday in a loss vs. Detroit, so Vasilevskiy figures to start tonight.
3 Keys to the Game
Slow down Point: It's easier said than done, but the 25-year-old center has killed Columbus in his career. Point has a 10-9-19 line in 13 regular-season games vs. Columbus, including two in the matchup last Thursday, and had two OT game-winning goals last year in the playoffs vs. the Blue Jackets.
Turn forechecking into goals: The Blue Jackets have done a better job of late of establishing an offensive zone presence, but the next step is to convert on that possession.
60 minutes: The Blue Jackets have been undone in recent games by "free" goals, aka tallies given up because of defensive miscues left players open. The attention to detail has to be there from puck drop to final horn.
Of Note
Bjorkstrand leads the team with a 14-17-31 line this year and has 8-7-15 in the last 17 games. Two of his goals this year are against Tampa Bay. ... Zach Werenski has scored in two games of the last three games and recorded 5-6-11 in the last 14 games. … D David Savard is one of two players in the NHL along with Edmonton's Adam Larsson to record 80-plus blocked shots (87) and hits (92) this season. … Max Domi has played in 308 consecutive games since Feb. 2, 2017, the seventh longest active streak in the NHL. … Tortorella has 669 career wins, three behind Mike Keenan for 12th place in NHL history. … Columbus has stopped 18 of 19 power-play chances in the last nine games. … The Blue Jackets have played in 21 one-goal games this season and are 10-3-8 in those contests. … The Blue Jackets have won two of three in the series over the Bolts to follow an eight-game losing streak (0-5-3) in the regular season series.
Projected Lineup
(Subject to change)
Patrik Laine - Alexandre Texier - Oliver Bjorkstrand
Mikhail Grigorenko - Jack Roslovic - Cam Atkinson
Boone Jenner - Max Domi - Nick Foligno
Eric Robinson - Liam Foudy - Zac Dalpe
Zach Werenski - Seth Jones
Vladislav Gavrikov - David Savard
Mikko Lehtonen - Michael Del Zotto
Joonas Korpisalo (confirmed starter)
Elvis Merzlikins
Scratches: Kevin Stenlund, Gabriel Carlsson, Dean Kukan
Taxi squad: Stefan Matteau, Ryan MacInnis, Scott Harrington, Cam Johnson
Injured reserve:Gus Nyquist (shoulder, out 5-6 months as of November), Riley Nash (sprained knee, out 4-6 weeks as of April 6), Emil Bemstrom (lower body, out around a week as of March 18), Brandon Dubinsky (wrist, LTIR)
Roster report:Tortorella said Korpisalo starts, while Dalpe will enter the lineup in place of the injured Nash, who left Sunday's game with a lower body injury.
