PREVIEW: Blue Jackets to try their luck in Vegas

Things don’t get any easier for the Blue Jackets as a critical four-game road trip winds its way through the Pacific and Mountain time zones.

A CBJ team that needs wins quickly to move up the standings must earn them against some of the top teams in the league as the second half of the season begins. After Tuesday night’s 5-2 loss against an upstart San Jose team, now the Blue Jackets must take on a Vegas squad tonight that is tied for first place in the Pacific Division. Then comes Saturday’s challenge – a Colorado team that has just four regulation losses in 42 games.

It doesn’t help that injuries are mounting, with recent acquisition Mason Marchment joining the ranks of CBJ players on injured reserve with an upper body injury that will keep him out week-to-week. He’s the fourth CBJ player to go out since the Christmas break, joining forwards Miles Wood and Isac Lundeström as well as defenseman Brendan Smith.

So times are a bit tough, which is another reason why it was so frustrating the Blue Jackets just couldn’t catch San Jose on Tuesday night. The Blue Jackets were down 2-0 in the second period before Zach Werenski’s goal and Mathieu Olivier’s ensuing heavyweight bout against Ryan Reaves gave them a spark going into a critical third period.

Columbus put 18 shots on goal in the final frame but never could find the equalizer, and the Sharks scored on a breakaway for an insurance marker then tacked on a pair of empty-net goals to finish off the 5-2 victory.

“I thought our third period was good,” Olivier said. “It just felt like in the second we didn’t really have much, and Z gets us a big goal there. I felt good going into the third and I actually felt like we did a good job. Their third goal was just an unfortunate bounce for us, and they got a breakaway out of it.”

In the end, it was another effort where the Blue Jackets did enough to deserve points but had to leave without them. They’ll need a better 60-minute effort tonight against a Vegas team that has played in an inordinate amount of close games, and hopefully they can bring their game from the third period Tuesday to the Vegas Strip.

“We thought we (got a spark), and we started real well in the third period, too,” head coach Dean Evason said. “We thought obviously going in that the momentum was on our side, we just couldn’t find that one (goal) to maybe give us a little more life and continue the momentum. Probably a couple of the opportunities that we had, we need to finish in order to gain and keep that momentum that we had with the goal and with Ollie’s fight. But yeah, I think it’s a different story if we maybe found one.”

Scratches: Danton Heinen, Jake Christiansen

Injured reserve: F Mason Marchment (upper body injury, week to week); F Miles Wood (lower body injury, week to week); D Erik Gudbranson (upper body injury); F Isac Lundeström (lower body injury, week to week); D Brendan Smith (lower body injury, week to week)

Roster Report: Marchment went on injured reserve Wednesday, with the Blue Jackets recalling Pyyhtiä, while Zamula has joined the squad after being signed Tuesday. Pyyhtiä, AHL Cleveland's leading scorer at the time of his recall, and Zamula are set to go into the lineup today against the Golden Knights.

This Day in CBJ History

Jan. 8, 2004: Rick Nash scores the second overtime goal of his career, tallying on the power play with just three seconds left to give the Blue Jackets a 3-2 victory at San Jose.

Jan. 8, 2006: Bryan Berard notches the second hat trick ever by a CBJ defenseman, scoring three goals in a 5-2 victory at Phoenix.

Jan. 8, 2017: Philadelphia ties the game with 17 seconds to play, but Nick Foligno scores in overtime to give the Blue Jackets a 2-1 victory vs. Philadelphia at Nationwide Arena.

Jan. 8, 2018: The Blue Jackets win in overtime for the second straight year on this date, as Artemi Panarin gets the deciding tally in a 3-2 victory at Toronto.

The Numbers Game

After scoring a goal Tuesday, Zach Werenski has seven tallies in the last six games, matching his franchise record for goals by a defenseman in such a span. He is first among NHL defensemen in goals (16), second in points (45), second in average ice time (26:37) and is first in multipoint games (16). He has points in 19 of his last 22 games (12-22-34). ... Kirill Marchenko has points in six of the last seven games (5-3-8). ... Denton Mateychuk (2-7-9) and Damon Severson (1-7-8) have each posted at least a point per game in the last eight contests, while Mateychuk is plus-8 and Ivan Provorov is plus-6 in that span. ... Blue Jackets defensemen have scored 34 goals this season, the most in the NHL. … Goaltender Jet Greaves has a .921 save percentage in his last 13 appearances since the start of December. ... The Blue Jackets have killed 29 of 33 penalties (87.9 percent) over the last 10 games. ... Boone Jenner is three assists away from 200 in his CBJ/NHL careers. ... With 402 career points, Jenner is tied with Cam Atkinson for third in franchise history.

Know The Foe: Vegas Golden Knights

Head coach: Bruce Cassidy (Fourth season)

Team stats: Goals per game: 3.10 (T-14th) | Scoring defense: 3.02 (14th) | PP: 25.2 percent (5th) | PK: 81.8 percent (7th)

The narrative: Vegas continues to be a team with one goal, a Stanley Cup championship, and the Golden Knights are not afraid to do whatever it takes to get there. Vegas has made the postseason seven of eight previous seasons and captured the 2023 Stanley Cup under Cassidy, and they landed one of the biggest fish in the offseason market in forward Mitch Marner. This year, the Golden Knights again in the mix in for what would be a sixth division title in the nine years of franchise history, though it hasn't come easy as Vegas has played in 25 one-goal games.

Scoring leaders: The team’s 2021 acquisition of Jack Eichel has proved to be a defining moment for the Golden Knights, as the center posted a career-high 94 points a year ago and is on a similar pace this season with a 12-31-43 line in 34 games. Marner is right behind in his first season in Vegas, as the former Maple Leafs standout has a 9-33-42 line, while Mark Stone has a 13-21-34 line in 25 games. Tomas Hertl (16 goals), Pavel Dorofeyev (16) and Ivan Barbashev (12) all have double digits in goals as well.

In net: With Adin Hill limited to five games with a lower body injury, Akira Schmid leads the way this year with 21 starts and 18 appearances, going 11-4-5 with a 2.52 GAA and .894 save percentage. After joining the team in December, Carter Hart has made 11 starts, going 5-3-3 with a 3.23 GAA and .874 SV%.

What's new: In a city known for its gambling, Vegas isn’t afraid to push its chips to the center of the table, acquiring Marner this summer and signing him to an eight-year deal. He joins an impressive collection of talent up front, though the Golden Knights have yet to hit their full stride, going through a 1-5-3 stretch before Tuesday’s overtime victory at Winnipeg. They lead the NHL with 17 overtime contests thus far and are 11-9-9 since Nov. 6.

Trending: Vegas rallied to win the opening matchup between the teams 3-2 on Dec. 13 in Columbus, breaking an all-time tie in the series. Columbus is 3-4-0 all-time in Vegas, snapping a three-game losing streak on The Strip last year with a 2-1 overtime win Jan. 30.

Former CBJ: Original Golden Knights forward William Karlsson remains in Vegas, though he is on injured reserve with a lower body injury after posting four goals and seven points in 14 games. Brandon Saad signed with the team last season and has a 2-5-7 line in 38 games.