PREVIEW: Blue Jackets look to get back in win column vs. Ducks

Coming off a disappointing 6-3 home loss Thursday to Ottawa, the Blue Jackets rededicated their effort to competing and defensive hockey going into Saturday’s game vs. Vegas.

That part worked, as Columbus kept a star-studded Vegas offense from clicking on all cylinders. But it still wasn’t enough to get the win, as the Golden Knights notched a pair of third-period goals to take a 3-2 decision at Nationwide Arena.

The Blue Jackets can’t afford to hang their heads, though, as the schedule offers no time for that. What they do have to do, though, is bring a similar game tonight against an explosive Anaheim team that became the fourth NHL squad to get to 20 wins Monday night.

“I thought the effort was there,” center Charlie Coyle said. “In this league, just because you do the right things and you give the proper effort doesn’t guarantee a win, but that’s the stuff that you have to carry with you for the next game and just trust it and believe when we give that effort and play the right way, it’s going to pay off for us.”

Head coach Dean Evason felt the same way, as the Blue Jackets were structurally sound and played the type of simple, focused game that they have to in order to be successful.

“We played our (butts) off,” Evason said. “It’s unfortunate we didn’t get rewarded. They played hard. They played right. For whatever reason, we’re not catching a break here and there – a couple of posts. But we have to keep working, obviously, doing all the right things, continuing to do that and things will go good.”

At the end of the day, though, the Blue Jackets couldn’t take advantage of their opportunities – including ending the game with three minutes of power-play time – against Vegas and gave up the third-period goals to fall to a fifth straight loss. They’ll try to correct those mistakes and put everything together to earn the win against the Ducks.

“There’s always plays and things that we can learn from losses – and wins, too – but we can look at some stuff there too and learn and grow from it, but take the good with us,” Coyle said. “That’s what we need, to compete and play the right way and know it’s going to pay off for us more times than not.”

Scratches: F Zach Aston-Reese, D Jake Christiansen

Injured reserve/Non-Roster: F Mathieu Olivier (upper body injury), D Erik Gudbranson (upper body injury)

Roster Report: The Blue Jackets switched up the top six at practice Monday, reuniting Fantilli with Voronkov and Marchenko and moving Chinakhov up after his goal Saturday.

This Day in CBJ History

Dec. 16, 2003: The Blue Jackets announce a buyout agreement has been reached with forward Espen Knutsen. The Norwegian forward and 2002 All-Star recorded a 27-81-108 line in 188 games with the Blue Jackets over four seasons.

Dec. 16, 2010: Kristian Huselius notches the only hat trick of his CBJ career, scoring all three Blue Jackets goals in a 6-3 loss at Edmonton.

Dec. 16, 2014: Sergei Bobrovsky earns his third 1-0 shutout victory in Blue Jackets colors, stopping all 30 shots in regulation and overtime in a shootout victory at Detroit. Ryan Johansen and Boone Jenner score in the shootout.

Dec. 16, 2015: The Blue Jackets and Nationwide Arena were selected to host Team USA’s training camp in advance of the World Cup of Hockey 2016 Tournament.

Dec. 16, 2019: Joonas Korpisalo stops all 30 shots against in a 3-0 win vs. Washington at Nationwide Arena. Eric Robinson scores in the first period while Oliver Bjorkstrand adds a pair of third-period tallies.

The Numbers Game

Zach Werenski is set to play in his 600th career game, becoming the first CBJ defenseman to reach a mark and breaking a tie with Nick Foligno for fourth place in team history behind only Boone Jenner (759), Rick Nash (674) and Cam Atkinson (627). ... Werenski remains tied for third among NHL defensemen in goals (nine), second in points (33), first in shots on goal (116), second in average ice time (26:37) and is first in multipoint games (11). He has points in 13 of the last 16 games (5-17-22, tied for seventh in NHL in that span) and a 10-game home point streak (5-12-17). ... Sean Monahan has three goals and four assists in the last eight games, while Dmitri Voronkov has three goals in the last five contests. … Blue Jackets defensemen have scored 23 goals this season, one behind Washington for the most in the NHL and two ahead of tonight’s opponent, Anaheim. … Jet Greaves has posted a .913 save percentage in his last 12 appearances. ... Adam Fantilli has scored 35 goals in 2025, fourth most ever by a CBJ player in a calendar year behind just Rick Nash (43 in 2009, and 39 in 2006) and Cam Atkinson (42 in 2018). ... Miles Wood is one goal away from 100 in his NHL career. ... Werenski is five assists shy of becoming the first CBJ player to notch 300 career assists, while Jenner is five points away from becoming the fourth player in team history with 400 points after Nash (547), Werenski (417) and Atkinson (402). ... The Blue Jackets have six power-play goals in the last seven games (6-21, 28.6 percent).

Know The Foe: Anaheim Ducks

Head coach: Joel Quenneville (First season)

Team stats: Goals per game: 3.45 (2nd) | Scoring defense: 3.27 (23rd) | PP: 18.3 percent (21st) | PK: 75.9 percent (26th)

The narrative: The Ducks won the Stanley Cup in 2007 and went to the final in 2003, all while making the playoffs 12 of 15 seasons from 2003-18. But eventually, the core aged out and it was time to pay the piper, as a painful rebuild meant Anaheim has gone seven seasons without postseason hockey. That seems likely to change this season, as a talented young core and the structure brought in by Quenneville has the Ducks in contention in the Pacific Division as we near the halfway point.

Scoring leaders: The youthful charge has arrived in Anaheim with recent first-round picks Leo Carlsson (2023), Cutter Gauthier (2022), Beckett Sennecke (2024) and Mason McTavish (2021) leading the way. Carlsson tops the Ducks with 41 points (17 goals, 24 assists), while Gauthier – acquired from Philadelphia two seasons ago – has a team-best 18 goals among his 36 points. Sennecke is tied for first among NHL rookies with 10 goals and leads first-year players with 27 points, while McTavish has a 7-13-20 line. Longtime Duck Troy Terry (10-24-34) and new acquisition Chris Kreider (13 goals) add to the mix. An exciting young defensive corps featuring Jackson LaCombe (5-14-19) and Olen Zellweger (5-9-14) adds to the equation.

In net: The emergence of young Czech Lukáš Dostál led to the offseason trade of Anaheim stalwart John Gibson, and Dostal leads the way with an 12-6-1 record, 2.73 GAA and .905 save percentage. He started last night in New York, so the Jackets will likely see Ville Husso (5-3-0, 3.16 GAA, .888 SV%).

What's new: Anaheim started to come on last year, as the team’s 35 wins were the most since 2018-19, and a seven-game winning streak in late October and early November cemented the Ducks as a team on the rise. This is the last of a five-game road swing, and Anaheim snapped a two-game losing streak with last night’s 4-1 win at the Rangers.

Trending: In one of the more confounding streaks in hockey, the Blue Jackets haven't beaten Anaheim in Nationwide Arena since Dec. 1, 2017, going 0-2-4 since then. That includes two straight overtime losses in Columbus, including last season’s 4-3 final Dec. 14. In another weird streak, Anaheim hasn’t scored a power-play goal vs. Columbus since the 2015-16 season.

Former CBJ: None