PREVIEW: Blue Jackets welcome Avalanche to Nationwide Arena

Three games into the season, it’s been a story of highs and lows for the Blue Jackets.

The best part of the team’s game thus far has been its 5-on-5 play, with Columbus outscoring opponents by a 7-1 margin that’s by far the best ratio in the NHL. The flip side has been obvious, with the Blue Jackets power play (1 for 9, 11.1 percent) and penalty kill (7 for 14, 50.0 percent) struggling out of the gate.

Special teams have been the difference in both of the team’s losses to this point, so the Blue Jackets went back to the drawing board a bit during Wednesday’s practice. The team had periods where it worked on both power play and penalty kill in hopes of shoring things up going into tonight’s game with Colorado.

“5-on-5, we’ve been good,” head coach Dean Evason said post-practice. “Clearly, our penalty kill has to be better as far as keeping it out of the net. There are some circumstances we’ve gone over with our PK, some situational stuff. It’s not a tactical thing. It’s just, we’ve made some mistakes and it’s ended up in our net because of it. Bottom line, both special teams have to get better.”

In the end, New Jersey left Nationwide Arena on Monday with a 3-2 victory in the Jackets’ home opener despite not scoring an even-strength goal. The first two Devils goals came on the power play, with the third an empty-net tally, while the Blue Jackets went 0-for-5 on their own man advantage.

Columbus had nearly six minutes of power-play time in the opening period and outshot the Devils by a 16-8 margin in the frame, but the Blue Jackets couldn’t get on the scoreboard. Evason admitted there might have been some frustration after not scoring amid the energetic start, but veteran Charlie Coyle said the Blue Jackets have to be better at sticking to their game to get on the board.

“I liked the way we started,” Coyle said. “We were flying. We were all over it – tons of shots, tons of opportunities. Sometimes you don’t capitalize or get the end result right away, but it’s up to us to maintain that. I thought in the second (period), they upped their play and we played a little looser, I think. ...

“It’s there. I like the way we played. There’s some fine-tuning we can definitely address and get better at.”

Before the game, the club will sign forward Cam Atkinson to a one-day contract that will allow him to officially retire from the NHL as a member of the Blue Jackets. The club will honor Atkinson prior to the game tonight, and a press conference with Atkinson and Don Waddell will be held at 11:30 a.m. and streamed live on BlueJackets.com and the club’s YouTube page.

Atkinson spent his first 10 NHL seasons with the Blue Jackets from 2011-21, registering 213 goals and 189 assists for 402 points. His goals and points totals are both second in team history, and Atkinson represented the Blue Jackets at two NHL All-Star Games in 2017 and 2019 and was named to the Blue Jackets’ Quarter-Century Team.

Scratches: Miles Wood (upper body), Erik Gudbranson (upper body)

Injured reserve/Non-Roster: None

Roster Report: Evason said Wood is expected to miss at least a week after catching a high stick during Monday’s game, so Chinakhov will go into the lineup. The Blue Jackets also shuffled lines at practice Wednesday in order to try to get some people going, Evason said. Merzlikins will get the start in net for the second time this season.

This Day in CBJ History

Oct. 16, 2019: Sonny Milano scores one of the best goals in CBJ history past Dallas goalie Ben Bishop, and it goes down as the game-winning tally in the Blue Jackets’ 3-2 victory against the Stars at Nationwide Arena. Milano took a pass from Jakob Lilja at center ice, quickly deked the puck through the legs of a defender, moved diagonally left to right through the offensive zone, tucked the puck between his legs and fired past Bishop’s blocker to give the Jackets a 3-1 lead in the third.

Oct. 16, 2021: The Blue Jackets move to 2-0-0 on the season when Patrik Laine scores in overtime at Nationwide Arena to give Columbus a 2-1 victory over Seattle in the Kraken’s third-ever game. Eric Robinson tied the score in the third period before Laine’s winner 2:16 into the extra frame.

The Numbers Game

Defenseman Ivan Provorov is set to play in his 700th career NHL game. ... Kirill Marchenko is the second CBJ player to score at least four goals in the Jackets' first three games of the season, joining Sonny Milano (2017-18). His hat trick vs. Minnesota was the fourth of his career, placing him third in CBJ franchise history behind just Cam Atkinson (six) and Rick Nash (five). ... The Blue Jackets have won 113 of 200 faceoffs to place fourth in the NHL at 56.5 percent. ... Boone Jenner scored his 200th NHL goal Saturday, becoming the third Blue Jacket to reach the mark with the franchise following Nash (289) and Atkinson (213). ... Columbus set a franchise record with 267 goals (3.26 per game) last year and led the NHL with a team-record 161 goals at home (3.93 per game). ... The Blue Jackets have scored at least seven goals in four of the last 15 games going back to last season. ... Merzlikins’ 48 saves Saturday were the second most of his NHL career and tied for third-most in a regular-season game by a CBJ goalie. ... Charlie Coyle is three assists shy of 300 in his NHL career, while Sean Monahan is five points from 600 in his career.

Know The Foe: Colorado Avalanche

Head coach: Jared Bednar (10th season)

Team stats: Goals per game: 3.25 (T-13th) | Scoring defense: 1.75 (T-3rd) | PP: 15.8 percent (19th) | PK: 83.3 percent (T-14th)

The narrative: The Avs remain one of the most talented teams in the NHL, as the 2022 Stanley Cup champions have made the playoffs each of the past eight seasons and seem to be on the fast track to do it again. The last three playoff appearances have been frustrating, though, including first-round losses last year and in 2023. A core that has Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar is always going to be dangerous, and the Avs are off to a strong start with points in every game after Monday’s 4-1 win at Buffalo.

Scoring leaders: Colorado was one of the top-scoring teams in the league last year, finishing sixth in goals (3.33 per game) and eighth in power play (24.8 percent). MacKinnon placed second in the NHL with 116 points a season ago, and his 367 points over the past three years are third in the league. Makar won his second Norris Trophy after leading league defensemen with 30 goals and 92 points. So far this season, MacKinnon (4-4-8) and Martin Necas (3-5-8) are pacing the squad, Makar has a goal among his five points, and Artturi Lehkonen has a pair of goals.

In net: After an offseason injury, goalie Mackenzie Blackwood (2.33 GAA in 37 starts last year) is in the AHL at the start of the campaign on a conditioning assignment. Scott Wedgewood has started all four games thus far, posting a 1.72 GAA and .936 save percentage.

What's new: The Avalanche made a major trade a year ago, bringing in Necas from Carolina in a move that sent Mikko Rantanen to Carolina (and then Dallas), and Necas seems to have settled in well with his hot start to this season. Unlike a year ago when the team couldn’t keep the puck out of the net in the early going, leading to the acquisition of both Blackwood and Wedgewood, Colorado has given up just one goal in three of its first four contests. Notable summer additions include forward Victor Olofsson and defenseman Brent Burns, the oldest player in the NHL this season.

Trending: The team split the two games a season ago, as Columbus earned its first win of the campaign in the second game of the year, downing the Avs in Denver by a 6-4 score. Colorado replied late in the campaign with a 7-3 triumph April 3 against the Jackets in Nationwide Arena. That followed a pattern, as the teams have each won eight of the last 16 games in the series dating back to 2016-17.

Former CBJ: Forward Gavin Brindley was acquired by the Avs this offseason and has appeared in each of the team’s first four games, scoring his first career goal Saturday vs. Dallas.