PREVIEW: Blue Jackets return to action in Boston

It’s getting real now. 

The postseason push begins in earnest for the Blue Jackets tonight, as a gauntlet of 26 games in 48 days to end the campaign kicks off with a matchup at Boston. Columbus won 11 of its last 12 games going into the three-week Olympic break to put itself back in the mix for a Stanley Cup Playoff bid, and they’ll try to recapture that magic when they play their first game since Feb. 4 against the Bruins. 

Head coach Rick Bowness and his staff put the team – sans Zach Werenski, who was off winning a gold medal with Team USA and joined the team in Boston – through six practices over the previous eight days, first working the squad to get the legs back in game shape before focusing on specific areas of its game, including special teams, late-game situations and 3-on-3 overtime.  

Bowness acknowledged he’s been tweaking the team’s structure since he took over in early January, and the last six practices were sort of a mini training camp to install a few further adjustments. But when the puck drops tonight, the biggest thing he’ll want to see against the Bruins and down the stretch is competitive spirit.  

“I know our players now know what we look like when we're playing well,” Bowness said. “The tweaks are over, and now it's a matter of doing it on a consistent basis. But that all being said, man, you got to have some bite to your game. Like the X’s and O's are only one part of this thing. You got to have some bite to your game ... and that's really what we're going to be looking at very closely here over the next stretch.” 

The Blue Jackets will need that bite immediately, as there’s no time to wade into the water. Tonight’s game is against a Boston team that sits four points in front of the Jackets for the final wild card spot, and then the Blue Jackets return to Columbus on Saturday to face a New York Islanders team that’s four points ahead for the third playoff spot in the Metropolitan Division. 

With the trade deadline looming just eight days from now, how the Blue Jackets fare out of the gate is of the utmost importance, and team members know they can make up ground or fall further behind with the first two contests out of the gate.  

“We’ve been focused on that since the break started,” defenseman Erik Gudbranson said. “You need to take your rest and whatnot, but when you look at the schedule, the first two games are kind of important, eh? We’re putting our work in here, we’re getting focused, we’re getting prepared and we’re going to be ready to hit the ground running for those two games.” 

Perhaps the biggest key to the CBJ turnaround before the break was an increased focus on the defensive side of the game, as Columbus went from allowing 3.38 goals per game before Bowness’ arrival to just 2.18 per contest in his first 11 games. That includes back-to-back shutouts vs. New Jersey and Chicago in the previous two games – the 13th time in team history the Blue Jackets have blankings in at least two straight – and a 146:25 active shutout streak that is the seventh longest in team history. 

But as Bowness has stressed, the Blue Jackets remain on the wrong side of the bar and haven’t accomplished anything yet. They can keep making strides, though, to the ultimate goal of playoff hockey and a Stanley Cup chase starting tonight in a key conference matchup. 

“I think for us as a group, it’s great,” defenseman Dante Fabbro said. “I think going into a hostile environment with a team we’re chasing, it’s just the kind of thing we need to get back into it. You use that as motivation, and obviously being on the road, that’s a tough rink to play in. But I think it’ll be a great challenge for our team.”

Scratches: Danton Heinen, Jake Christiansen, Egor Zamula  

Injured Reserve: D Brendan Smith (knee surgery, out three to four months as of Jan. 8)    

Roster Report: The Blue Jackets have practiced with the same forward lines throughout practices leading up to the game, while Werenski will rejoin the fold on defense after representing his country on the international stage.   

This Day in CBJ History  

Feb. 26, 2008: Columbus trades captain Adam Foote to Colorado for conditional first- and fourth-round picks in the 2008 draft, while the Blue Jackets also acquire defenseman Theo Ruth from Washington in exchange for forward Sergei Fedorov.  

Feb. 26, 2009: Steve Mason earns his eighth shutout of his rookie season, posting 19 saves in a 1-0 victory at Edmonton. Raffi Torres scores the game’s lone goal 7:45 into the third period. 

Feb. 26, 2013: After starting 5-12-2, the Blue Jackets earn a drop a 5-4 overtime final at Dallas, kicking off a furious 19-5-5 stretch to close the season that leaves the team out of the Stanley Cup Playoffs only via tiebreaker. Columbus also goes 8-0-4 over a 12-game stretch from Feb. 26-March 22, setting a then-team record for a point streak. 

Feb. 26, 2015: The Blue Jackets trade injured forward Nathan Horton to Toronto in exchange for forward David Clarkson.  

Feb. 26, 2018: Columbus is busy at the trade deadline, adding veteran forward Thomas Vanek from Vancouver in exchange for Jussi Jokinen and Tyler Motte while bringing in defenseman Ian Cole from Ottawa for Nick Moutrey and a third-round draft pick.  

The Numbers Game 

Zach Werenski is the only NHL defenseman with at least 20 goals (20) and 60 points (62) on the season, placing second among league blueliners in both categories. Werenski has points in 20 of the last 22 games (11-21-32) as well as 31 of the last 36 (16-35-51). He leads NHL defensemen in multipoint games (20, tied for eighth in NHL) is the fourth active NHL defenseman with three-plus 20-goal seasons. … Charlie Coyle has nine goals and 17 points in the past 12 games, placing him tied for fourth in the NHL in tallies in that span. He has a 5-7-12 line in the last six contests and six games with at least three points this season. ... With nine goals since joining the team, Mason Marchment has set a new franchise record for a player in his first 14 games with the Blue Jackets. ... Marchment (4-2-6), Mathieu Olivier (4-2-6), Adam Fantilli (1-5-6) and Cole Sillinger (1-5-6) have averaged a point per game in the last six games. ... Goaltender Jet Greaves has won six straight starts with two shutouts and posted a .923 save percentage in his last seven appearances, while Elvis Merzlikins has a .924 save percentage in his last six games. ... Blue Jackets defensemen have scored 44 goals this season, the most in the NHL. … Columbus has scored the first goal in 19 of the last 25 contests and 34 of 56 games overall. ... The Blue Jackets are 5-1 in shootouts this year. 

Know The Foe: Boston Bruins 

Head coach: Marco Sturm (First season)         

Team stats: Goals per game: 3.39 (T-6th) | Scoring defense: 3.14 (18th) | PP: 26.3 percent (3rd) | PK: 76.4 percent (28th)  

The narrative: Boston had made eight straight playoff appearances and qualified 15 of 17 seasons before falling to a last-place finish in the Atlantic Division a year ago. It seemed like saying goodbye to such legendary Bruins as Tuukka Rask, Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci and Brad Marchand over the previous few years meant Boston would be entering a rebuilding cycle, but Sturm's squad caught fire before the break and is holding a wild card spot going into tonight’s action.  

Scoring leaders: Some of those familiar names are gone, but it helps the Bruins still have David Pastrnak, and the Czech star leads the team and is sixth in the NHL with 71 points, including 22 goals and 49 assists. The emergence of Morgan Geekie at age 27 into one of the league’s top goal scorers has been a big reason to the team’s success, as his 32 tallies tie him for third in the league. Gold medalist Charlie McAvoy leads the defense with a 4-35-39 line, while Pavel Zacha (15-22-37) and Elias Lindholm (11-26-37) are next in scoring.  

In net: The Bruins sent both goalies to the Olympics in U.S. gold-medal winner Jeremy Swayman and former Blue Jacket Joonas Korpisalo, a bronze medalist with Finland. Swayman is 22-12-3 to tie for fifth in the NHL in wins while posting a 2.92 GAA and .903 save percentage, while Korpisalo is 10-8-2 with a 3.15 GAA and .893 save percentage. 

What's new: Boston gets back to action hoping to keep the momentum going from a 12-2-3 run from Dec. 31 into the break. Pastrnak led with way with a 7-23-30 line in those 17 games, tying him for second in the NHL in that span, while youngster forwards Fraser Minten (eight goals) and Marat Khunitdonov (seven tallies) were rounding into form. The Bruins are also largely healthy, though Swayman and McAvoy are in the same boat as Werenski as far as joining the team Wednesday after the U.S. gold medal celebration.  

Trending: Columbus went 2-1-0 in the series a year ago, including a 5-1 win at Boston on Nov. 18 and a 6-2 victory at home Dec. 27.  

Former CBJ: Korpisalo is one of four former Columbus players in The Hub, as center Sean Kuraly (4-12-16) and defenseman Andrew Peeke (4-8-12) are regulars with the squad and blueliner Jordan Harris has played just five games while dealing with injury.