PREVIEW: Streaking Blue Jackets look for another victory against Devils

The Blue Jackets are the hottest team in the NHL, posting a league-best 9-1-0 record in their last 10 games.

Head coach Rick Bowness doesn’t want the team to rest on its laurels, though. Columbus remains on the wrong side of the playoff bar going into tonight’s game in New Jersey, and Bowness has stated recently that the Blue Jackets haven't accomplished anything yet despite the impressive run.

And if there was any doubt about the head coach’s mind-set, those might have been answered Monday. Coming off the Blue Jackets’ victory Saturday in St. Louis that ran the team’s winning streak to a season-high five games, Bowness put the squad through a high-intensity practice focused on playing fast and correcting the mistakes he saw against the Blues.

"What you can't do is you see little things creeping in in a win, you can't hide from that because eventually that's gonna bite you and you're going to end up losing,” Bowness said. “We told them, we won the game, seven here's things we have to do better so we can keep this thing going forward."

It wasn’t a punishment but just a reminder that the Blue Jackets have to keep their focus with a long way to go to get to where they want to be. They enter tonight’s game four points behind the New York Islanders and six behind the final wild card spot, so there’s plenty of ground to make up in the standings.

Bowness also continues to tweak the team’s game systematically, a process that can only be done in stages considering where the Blue Jackets are in the schedule. He has been pleased, though, with several things since taking over, in particular his team’s willingness to commit to defending and making it harder on the opposition to score.

“What we want and where we’re seeing improvement is being hard to play against, just get in their faces, and skating and pressure,” Bowness said. “It doesn’t mean you’re running people over. That’s not what we’re talking about. We’re just talking about getting above and getting on top of them and getting in their face a little bit to slow them down.”

The Blue Jackets have also played a team game in Bowness’ nine contests behind the bench, with 18 different players scoring a goal since he took over. That will have to continue in New Jersey, a Metropolitan Division rival chasing the Blue Jackets going into tonight’s final meeting of the season series.

There are also just two games to play before the Olympic break, and defenseman Damon Severson said the Blue Jackets will empty the tank tonight against the Devils and again tomorrow when they return home to host Chicago.

“We got a break coming up here with the Olympics,” Severson said. “A couple guys are going to go play in that, so not really for those guys, but for the majority of us, we’re going to get a chance to rest our bodies here, so we have to grind through two more games with a back-to-back here. We’re looking forward to getting some rest, but we’re going to be much happier if we just keep playing winning hockey going into the break.”

Scratches: Kirill Marchenko (illness), Jake Christiansen, Dante Fabbro (lower body injury)

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

Roster Report: Marchenko is not expected to play because of illness after missing practice Monday, with Heinen entering the lineup and Lundeström taking a spot on the top line during Monday’s practice. Bowness said the team will decide today if Fabbro, who practiced Monday, will return to the lineup after being injured Jan. 17 at Pittsburgh.

This Day in CBJ History

Feb. 3, 2010: The Blue Jackets fire head coach Ken Hitchcock, who led the team to its first playoff appearance the year prior as well as a 125-123-36 record in four seasons at the helm. Assistant coach Claude Noel is named interim head coach for the remainder of the regular season.

Feb. 3, 2012: Derick Brassard scores an unassisted goal in overtime, his second tally of the game, to give the Blue Jackets a 3-2 victory at Anaheim.

Feb. 3, 2024: Boone Jenner plays in the NHL All-Star Game for the first time in his career, representing the Blue Jackets at the event in Toronto. The CBJ captain scores two goals for the Metropolitan Division.

The Numbers Game

With an assist Saturday night vs. St. Louis, Zach Werenski finished January with 20 points, second for a CBJ player in one month in franchise history behind only Artemi Panarin (25, March 2018). He also became the first defenseman to reach 60 points on the season, making him the fifth active blueliner to record that number in 50 or fewer games in a season. Werenski has points in 18 of the last 20 games (10-20-30) as well as 29 of the last 34 (15-34-49). He is tied for first among NHL defensemen in goals (19) and tied for first in points (60), second in average ice time (26:31) and is first in multipoint games (20, tied for seventh in NHL). With one more goal, he’ll notch his third 20-goal season and become the fourth active NHL defenseman with three-plus 20-goal seasons. … Charlie Coyle has nine goals and 14 points in the past 10 games, placing him tied for second in the NHL in tallies in that span. He has a 5-4-9 line in the last four 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 12 games with the Blue Jackets. ... Goaltenders Jet Greaves and Elvis Merzlikins have each posted four wins and matching .910 save percentages in five games since Bowness took over. ... Blue Jackets defensemen have scored 41 goals this season, the most in the NHL. … Columbus has scored the first goal in 17 of the last 23 contests and 32 of 54 games overall. ... The Blue Jackets are 5-1 in shootouts this year.

Know The Foe: New Jersey Devils

Head coach: Sheldon Keefe (Second season)

Team stats: Goals per game: 2.58 (28th) | Scoring defense: 3.07 (16th) | PP: 21.4 percent (15th) | PK: 78.6 percent (21st)

The narrative: New Jersey made the playoffs just once from 2013-22, then was the surprise squad of the 2023 season, setting a franchise record with 112 points. The Devils missed the playoffs in 2024 but placed third in the Metro and returned to the postseason a season ago, but an injury to star forward Jack Hughes helped lead to their first-round demise. If healthy, this is a team talented enough to compete with the upper echelon of the NHL, but injuries have been a key piece of the team’s story the past few seasons and this one has been no different with many of the team’s top players missing time throughout the year.

Scoring leaders: Hughes has gone through another injury-riddled season, missing more than a month with a hand injury and the team’s last game with a lower-body injury. Limited to 36 games, the U.S. Olympian has a 12-24-36 line in 36 games. Captain Nico Hischier leads the team in goals (18) and points (41), while Jesper Bratt has 13 goals among 40 points. Jack’s brother Luke is the top scorer on defense (5-21-26) but is out with a shoulder injury.

In net: Jake Allen re-signed with the Devils in the offseason and has impressed so far this year, as the 35-year-old is 12-13-1 in 27 games with a 2.68 GAA and .906 save percentage. The arrival of Jacob Markström helped solidify things in the New Jersey net a year ago, but the veteran is 15-12-1 with a 3.24 GAA and .881 SV% this season.

What's new: It’s been a difficult season in New Jersey, with injuries and inconsistency leaving the Devils 14th in the Eastern Conference. New Jersey won eight of its first nine and appeared to be well on its way to contending, but the team has gone 12-17-1 since the start of December and needs to make up ground to return to the postseason. Scoring was supposed to be the team’s strength, but the Devils have just 2.20 goals per game in that 30-game span. The Devils have won six of 10, but the last outing was a 4-1 loss at Ottawa on Saturday.

Trending: Columbus won the first road matchup of the season in Newark by a 5-3 score Dec. 1 in a game that featured four separate fights, while the Devils were victorious in both games played in Nationwide Arena this year. The Blue Jackets are just 3-9-1 in the previous 13 contests.

Former CBJ: None