PREVIEW: Columbus gets another chance at Nashville on Sunday

BLUE JACKETS (8-9-5) at PREDATORS (9-11-0)

At times in Saturday's 2-1 loss to Nashville that dropped Columbus to 1-4-2 in its last seven games, poise on the puck was in short supply, and as a result offense was as well as the Blue Jackets have now scored one goal over the past two games.
"I'm not down," Tortorella said postgame. "There's no sense in being down. There's no sense of drilling them and being frustrated. We have simply got to work ourselves out of this and try to gain some confidence within our whole squad as far as making puck plays."
The bad news is that the runway is getting shorter and shorter for the Blue Jackets to figure it out. With the NHL going to a shortened 56-game season, the Jackets are just six games away from the midway point and sitting sixth in the Central Division when it comes to points percentage. With the loss, Columbus dropped below the .500 mark in that category with 21 points in 22 games.
"We don't even talk about that," Tortorella said. "We are just talking about trying to be a better team each and every day. We are not counting points in the standings; there's no sense of doing that. We know how we've played. We know it has been a very inconsistent year right from the start. I think we have made some improvements as far as in our end zone. We still have some work to do on just giving some free odd-man rushes, but a lot of that comes from just not making the next play.
"It's not effort. It's just a confidence. We just have to piggyback on one another on making a few plays, then a few more, and getting some flow within our game. We had some breakdowns defensively tonight, we gave up some odd-man rushes tonight, but I'm more concerned about having the puck more and when there's some opportunities to make some plays to make some."
Speaking after the game, the message from the Blue Jackets players was to try to take the positives and regroup for this afternoon's rematch.
"It's tough, of course," goalie Joonas Korpisalo said. "Frustrating, but we can't get frustrated. We know we're better individually and as a team. I think today's game, it's getting better. It's getting better, but it's not there right now. I think we're on the right path, but for sure have to be better."
Know the Foe
One of the most perplexing parts of a perplexing start for Columbus is the team's struggles vs. Nashville.
The Predators are 4-1 against the Blue Jackets this year and have outscored Columbus by a 14-9 margin, a far cry from their numbers against the rest of the league. In the other 15 games played, Nashville is 5-10-0 and been outscored 54-32.
Nashville hadn't held a lead after 40 minutes all season until Saturday, partly because the Preds had been outscored 25-6 in the middle frame this year, but their two goals in the second period were the only ones they needed in the victory.
Even with the success against Columbus, the Predators sit 29th in the NHL in goal scoring (2.25 per game), 25th in team defense (3.15 goals allowed per game), 22nd in power play (16.9 percent) and 29th in penalty kill (71.6 percent).
Blue Jackets fans should know Filip Forsberg at this point, as Nashville's leading scorer (9-9-18) in the season has feasted on the Blue Jackets, notching three goals on the year, all of them in the third period of Predators wins.
But outside of Forsberg, the Preds have struggled to generate offense. Perennial Norris Trophy candidate Roman Josi has added two goals and nine assists for 11 points from the blue line, but no one else is in double figures in scoring. Mikael Granlund has a 4-5-9 line, while Ryan Ellis has two goals among his nine points and Matt Duchene is next with three goals and eight points. Calle Jarnkrok also has added three goals in five games vs. Columbus this year.
In net, veteran Pekka Rinne seems likely to get the call Sunday, as the 38-year-old has started 10 games and appeared in 12, going 5-6-0 with a 2.52 GAA and .911 save percentage.
3 Keys to the Game
More traffic in front: Juuse Saros was able to see most of the Jackets shots Saturday, and as the saying goes, if an NHL goalie can see it, he can stop it. Columbus needs to get more bodies to the blue.
Get the power play going again: Nashville's PK has been among the worst in the league, but it didn't look that way Saturday. The Blue Jackets got three goals on the power play Tuesday, so it's in there.
Some urgency: Backed against the wall after being shut out by Columbus last week, Nashville responded with one of its best games of the year last Saturday. Can the Jackets do the same in this one?
Of Note
Cam Atkinson has seven goals in the last nine games, not to mention an 8-5-13 line in the last 11. His eight goals in February are tied for third in the NHL, and his four game-opening goals are second in the league. … His nine goals and 17 points also lead the Jackets … Jack Roslovic has a 4-8-13 line in the last 13 games. … Max Domi is three games from 400 in his NHL career, and his 290 consecutive games played streak is the seventh-longest active streak in the league … After playing just one game last year that featured at least 10 combined goals between the teams, the Blue Jackets have been in four such games this year. … Columbus has scored first in 15 of 22 games and outscored teams 24-14 in first period. … The Blue Jackets are just 1-7-1 in their last eight trips to the Music City and have just nine wins in 48 games there.
Projected Lineup
(Subject to change)
Patrik Laine - Jack Roslovic - Cam Atkinson
Max Domi - Kevin Stenlund - Oliver Bjorkstrand
Boone Jenner - Alexandre Texier - Nick Foligno
Eric Robinson - Riley Nash - Emil Bemstrom
Zach Werenski - Seth Jones
Gabriel Carlsson - David Savard
Vladislav Gavrikov - Michael Del Zotto
Joonas Korpisalo
Veini Vehvilainen
Scratches:Mikhail Grigorenko, Scott Harrington, Dean Kukan
Taxi squad: Stefan Matteau, Cam Johnson
Injured reserve:Elvis Merzlikins (upper body), Gus Nyquist (shoulder, out 5-6 months as of November), Brandon Dubinsky (wrist, LTIR)
Roster report: Any changes will be announced pregame, but Columbus has used the same 18-skater lineup with Korpisalo in net the last two games.