PREVIEW: Blue Jackets welcome Penguins to Nationwide Arena

Sometimes in a game where the margins are as razor-thin as they are in hockey, the biggest thing you need is to believe.

Confidence can go a long way in determining the outcome of tight contests, and the Blue Jackets appear to be building that right now. After Columbus ended Buffalo’s 10-game winning streak Saturday with a 5-1 victory for its fourth win in five games, defenseman Zach Werenski said one of the keys was the Blue Jackets’ matching the Sabres’ level of belief.

“It’s a great challenge,” Werenski said. “I feel like a team like that has a lot of confidence, and you just have to meet it head on. I feel like we did that today. We weren’t caught up in the streak or anything like that, we just went out there and wanted to play our game and play confidently and play with some swagger. I feel like we did that tonight. When we play like that, we can beat anyone, so it’s definitely a good game for our group.”

That word – swagger – can be a double-edged sword. Too much confidence can lead to taking opponents lightly, but the right amount is often possessed by the best teams. And while the Blue Jackets know they haven’t accomplished anything yet with their recent run of results, they’ve shown they’re making progress when it comes to finishing off games as they hit the halfway point of the season today.

For much of the first half, the Blue Jackets found ways to lose games, often through making key defensive mistakes at key times. But over the last five games, the Blue Jackets have shored things up in their own end – they've allowed just eight goals – and outscored the opposition 7-3 in the third period (and all three of those goals came in Wednesday’s New Year’s Eve loss to New Jersey).

Confidence can come and go, but the Blue Jackets are starting to feel some things are coming together as they get ready to take on the Penguins tonight.

“Every guy just loves to be here, loves to be a part of this group,” goalie Jet Greaves said. “I think there’s so much belief in each other, and we all just love to be on the ice and competing, so it’s fun. I think that’s where maybe that swagger comes from is just enjoying those opportunities to be out there, to be in close games, to be trying to win hockey games. It’s just fun to be out there.”

Now, the Blue Jackets just have to keep it going, and head coach Dean Evason pointed to another "c" word -- consistency -- as equally important.

"We want to just be steady and (have) the confidence to go about our business and win how we need to win," Evason said after the win over the Sabres, where the Blue Jackets led 3-1 after one and 4-1 after two. "I think it's a good step tonight. A lot of times, we get up a couple of goals and we want to push to get that next one, and yeah, of course you do. But you want to get it in the right manner. It's not like you don't want to pinch every play, you don't want to cheat every play, you don't want to anticipate and blow the zone. You want to do that the right way, and we did that here tonight."

Scratches: F Sean Monahan (maintenance), D Dysin Mayo

Injured reserve/Non-Roster: F Miles Wood (lower body injury, week to week); D Erik Gudbranson (upper body injury, day to day); F Isac Lundeström (lower body injury, week to week); D Brendan Smith (lower body injury, week to week)

Roster Report: No changes to the lineup are expected, with Greaves getting the net for the second day in a row.

This Day in CBJ History

Jan. 4, 2003: Marc Denis stops all 23 shots he faces for his third shutout with the Blue Jackets as Columbus takes a 2-0 victory vs. Phoenix at Nationwide Arena. Mike Sillinger and Sean Pronger score both CBJ goals in the first period.

Jan. 4, 2023: Daniil Tarasov stops 39 shots during game play and three more in a shootout, while Johnny Gaudreau has the decisive goal in the skills competition as the Blue Jackets take a 3-2 win at Philadelphia.

Jan. 4, 2025: The Blue Jackets survive a wild third period to post a 6-4 victory vs. St. Louis in Nationwide Arena. Columbus leads 2-0 going to the final frame but both teams score four times, with the Blues cutting the CBJ lead to 5-4 before Mathieu Olivier’s game-sealing empty-net goal. Dmitri Voronkov scores twice in the victory.

The Numbers Game

After posting two assists in his return to the lineup Saturday, Zach Werenski is second among NHL defensemen in goals (14), points (42) and average ice time (26:42) and is first in multipoint games (14). He has points in 17 of his last 20 games (10-21-31) and at least one point in his last 13 home games (9-15-24). He has multiple points in four straight games, a first for a CBJ defenseman. ... Kirill Marchenko has four goals in the last five games. ... Cole Sillinger has a four-game point streak (2-3-5). ... Damon Severson (1-7-8) and Denton Mateychuk (2-5-7) each topped a point per game in the last six contests, while Ivan Provorov is plus-6 in that span. ... Blue Jackets defensemen have scored 32 goals this season, the most in the NHL. … Goaltender Jet Greaves has a .927 save percentage in his last 11 appearances since the start of December. ... The Blue Jackets have killed 23 of 25 penalties (92.0 percent) over the last eight games. ... Werenski is one assist shy of becoming the first CBJ player to notch 300 career helpers, while Boone Jenner is four assists away from 200. ... With 401 career points, Jenner is also one away from tying Cam Atkinson for third in franchise history.

Know The Foe: Pittsburgh Penguins

Head coach: Dan Muse (First season)

Team stats: Goals per game: 3.23 (10th) | Scoring defense: 3.05 (16th) | PP: 29.6 percent (3rd) | PK: 81.5 percent (10th)

The narrative: The season began with talk that the Penguins – after missing the postseason three straight seasons – were fully embracing a rebuild this season, with longtime head coach Mike Sullivan off to New York and such veterans as Bryan Rust, Rickard Rakell and Erik Karlsson on the theoretical trading block. But before you could say Gavin McKenna, the Penguins got off to a red-hot start to the season under Muse, starting 8-2-2. Pittsburgh has come to earth since then, but the Penguins remain in the final wild card spot heading into action today.

Scoring leaders: Sidney Crosby has long been an NHL legend – he's up to eighth all-time in points with 1,732 after recently passing Mario Lemieux – and he hasn’t slowed down at all, tying for seventh in the NHL this season at age 38 with 23 goals among his 45 points. Rust follows with a 16-20-36 line while Karlsson leads Pens defensemen with 30 points, including 27 assists, seventh among NHL blueliners. Evgeni Malkin has topped a point per game (8-21-29 in 26 contests) but is out with an upper body injury, while Anthony Mantha has 14 goals and Justin Brazeau 12.

In net: One of the keys to the Pens’ success in the early going was team defense and goaltending, though Pittsburgh has allowed 48 goals in the last 12 contests (4.0 per game). Acquired in the offseason from Vancouver after backstopping a Calder Cup win in the AHL, Latvian Olympian Arturs Silovs has started a team-best 18 games, going 7-5-6 with a 3.20 GAA and a .886 save percentage. Pittsburgh swapped goalies with Edmonton in mid-December, sending Tristan Jarry to the Oilers for Stuart Skinner, who is 2-3-0 with a 2.87 GAA and .874 save percentage in black and gold.

What's new: Pittsburgh sat at 14-7-5 in early December but lost eight in a row to slide down the standings, though the squad has won four of five after yesterday’s 4-3 overtime win at Detroit. Injuries and trades – including the goalie deal and the recent acquisition of CBJ forward Yegor Chinakhov – have led the Pens to dress an astronomical 38 players thus far, though the Malkin remains the only major Pittsburgh piece that’s out of the lineup at the moment.

Trending: The teams have shared a pair of extra-time wins this season, as Columbus won 5-4 in a shootout in the Steel City on Oct. 25 before the Pens won a 4-3 final in OT in Nationwide Arena on Black Friday.

Former CBJ: Chinakhov has played two games with the Pens since being traded Monday, posting his first goal with the squad in yesterday’s win.