PREVIEW: Blue Jackets, Hurricanes meet again, this time in Raleigh

The Blue Jackets enter tonight’s game at Carolina with a 1-4-1 record in their last six games, including a four-game losing skid the Hurricanes extended Tuesday night with their 5-2 victory in Nationwide Arena. 

But to the CBJ players and coaches, that tells just part of the story. 

Columbus is 20-6-5 in its last 31 games, a points percentage of .726 that is third in the NHL since Jan. 11. That has allowed the Blue Jackets to get back into the playoff race, and with seven games to go, the team will take the ice tonight holding the final wild card spot in the Eastern Conference. 

They remain there in part because many of the teams in the mix – the New York Islanders, who are just a point ahead of the Blue Jackets in the Metropolitan Division, as well as Ottawa, Detroit and Philadelphia, the three closest teams chasing – also lost on Tuesday. 

It was a nice bit of help on a tough night for the Blue Jackets, but their mind-set isn’t that they are in a playoff spot because of just pure luck. It's because their body of work over the last three months has put them in a position to make it into the 16-team battle for the Stanley Cup.

“We had some help last night,” defenseman Erik Gudbranson said after Wednesday’s practice. “We put a lot of work in to get to that position, too. I wouldn't call it necessarily just fortunate. Had you told us we'd be in this spot in November or October, we would have taken it 100 percent. There's a lot of work that goes into this, and the job is far from over. We're still hunting and trying to get that X by our name.” 

The Blue Jackets would be a lot more panicked, too, if they felt they were truly not playing well down the stretch, but there are some encouraging signs. Columbus has actually outscored teams by a 10-8 margin at 5-on-5 in the last six games, but two areas in particular have hurt the team – an inability to finish chances and a penalty kill that has allowed six goals in the last three games. 

The struggles to put the puck in the net – Columbus has 11 goals in the last six games – would be much more worrying if they weren’t creating scoring opportunities. And the issues on the penalty kill must be fixed quickly – especially after Carolina’s red-hot man-advantage unit tallied thrice Tuesday – but it speaks to the fact the team’s defensive structure isn’t broken. 

“We’re getting everybody’s A-game,” head coach Rick Bowness said. “They respect what we’ve done here. They respect the way the team is playing, and we’re getting their A-game. I think we’ve handled it really well. I know we’re not getting points, and that’s on us ... 5-on-5, we’re outplaying pretty well everyone we play. Specialty teams, penalty killing has hurt us the last couple of games, and we’ll have to fix it quickly.” 

Even in Tuesday’s game vs. Carolina, the Blue Jackets felt the battle level was there, but in some cases the execution was not. They’ll get another crack at the division leaders tonight, and the hope is a similar effort will result in getting the points they need in the postseason race. 

“I think we have to have our heads high,” Zach Werenski said postgame. “We worked hard. We battled. We tied it up (in the third period). I thought everyone was working tonight. It sucks. You need points this time of year, but all you can ask for is work ethic and compete, and everyone was committed tonight. It’s gonna sting for a bit, but we’re gonna watch some video and have another crack at them on Tuesday.”

Scratches: Zach Aston-Reese, Luca Del Bel Belluz, Mathieu Olivier (upper body injury), Dmitri Voronkov (upper body injury), Jake Christiansen, Damon Severson (upper body injury, week to week)

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

Roster Report: Bowness said Marchment and Lundeström will be game-time decisions after leaving Tuesday’s game and not practicing Wednesday, while the Blue Jackets will continue to be without Severson, Voronkov and Olivier. He will meet with the media at 11:30 a.m. to discuss the lineup further. 

This Day in CBJ History  

April 2, 2003: Marc Denis shuts out Minnesota for the second time on the season, posting 27 saves in a 3-0 victory at Nationwide Arena. Geoff Sanderson notches a goal and an assist while Ray Whitney assists on all three CBJ goals.  

April 2, 2016: Brandon Saad posts a hat trick and Boone Jenner notches his 30th goal of the season as the Blue Jackets post a 5-1 victory at Carolina.  

April 2, 2023: Kirill Marchenko scores 16 seconds into overtime as the Blue Jackets down Ottawa by a 4-3 score in Nationwide Arena. Marchenko’s goal was his 21st of the year, surpassing Pierre-Luc Dubois (20, 2017-18) for the most goals by a rookie in franchise history. 

The Numbers Game  

Zach Werenski has moved into fifth place in CBJ single-season annals with 78 points this year. With 21 goals and 57 assists – two short of tying the franchise record – he is third among NHL defensemen in goals and second in points. He leads NHL defensemen with 25 multipoint games and has tied Artemi Panarin’s team record set in 2018-19. ... Adam Fantilli has nine goals in the last 19 games and posted a 10-15-25 line in the last 25 contests. He has set a new career high in points with 55. ... Kirill Marchenko is second in the NHL with six shootout goals and has scored on 10 of 16 career shootout attempts, third among all active NHLers and fourth best in league history (minimum 10 attempts). ... Charlie Coyle has 12 goals and 31 points in the past 31 games. ... With his 14th goal with the Blue Jackets on Sunday, Mason Marchment is tied for the most tallies for a CBJ player in his first 33 games with the franchise in team history. ... Jet Greaves is 12-3-3 in his last 19 appearances with a 2.36 GAA, as well as a .920 save percentage in his last eight games. ... Blue Jackets defensemen have scored 55 goals this season, the most in the NHL and a new franchise record. … Columbus has scored first in 45 of 75 games overall, second behind Washington for the most in the NHL. ... Jenner has 210 career goals, three behind Cam Atkinson for second in team history. ... Coyle (fourth, 404) and Provorov (368, seventh) are both in the top 10 among active NHLers in consecutive games played. Provorov is set to play in his 240th consecutive game with the Blue Jackets, one behind Antoine Vermette for third in franchise history. ... Miles Wood is one goal from 100 and four points from 200 in his NHL career. 

Know The Foe: Carolina Hurricanes  

Head coach: Rod Brind'Amour (Eighth season)  

Team stats: Goals per game: 3.49 (4th) | Scoring defense: 2.91 (8th)| PP: 24.6 percent (5th) | PK: 80.5 percent (12th)  

The narrative: Players and management have come and gone, but most things stay the same in Carolina under Brind’Amour, who has led the franchise to the playoffs in every year of his tenure. But yet again, the Hurricanes came up short of the ultimate goal a season ago, falling to Florida in the Eastern Conference Final. Carolina is closing in on a fourth Metropolitan Division title in six years, but all eyes will be on whether the squad can get over the hump in the postseason.  

Scoring leaders: Sebastian Aho is one of the most consistent players in the league, as the fantastic Finn leads the Canes with 75 points thanks to 25 goals and 50 assists. Andrei Svechnikov (27-37-64) and the team’s big offseason acquisition, Nikolaj Ehlers (24-40-64), are tied for second on the team in scoring, while Seth Jarvis leads the squad with 30 goals among his 62 points on his way to a third straight 30-goal season. Shayne Gostisbehere leads the defense with 13 goals and 46 points in 48 games and just returned from a lower body injury.  

In net: Brandon Bussi has been one of the stories of the season, as he reached the NHL this year at age 27 and leads Carolina with 35 starts, posting a sterling 28-6-1 record, 2.44 GAA and .895 save percentage. Fredrik Andersen is 13-13-5 in 31 starts with a 3.16 GAA and .871 save percentage, while injuries have limited Pyotr Kochetkov to nine appearances.  

What's new: You know what you're getting with the Canes, as their smothering style again has Carolina first in the league in shot attempt share (60.0 percent) at 5-on-5 by a wide margin. They put pressure on you from the opening faceoff and fire just about everything toward the net, putting teams under stress for a full 60 minutes. The Hurricanes have cranked it up over the past two months, going 23-7-3 in the last 33 games; Carolina has averaged 3.8 goals per game and converted 31.0 percent of its power plays in that span.   

Trending: After Tuesday's game, the Canes have won two of the three matchups this season, including a 4-1 win Dec. 9 in the previous game in Raleigh. Columbus has dropped seven in a row in regulation on the road dating back to 6-0 shutout win for the Blue Jackets on Jan. 13, 2022.  

Former CBJ: Eric Robinson is in year two in Carolina, and he’s posted a 12-6-18 line in 60 games.