PREVIEW: Blue Jackets look to snap skid against Jets at Nationwide

If there’s one thing that can be said from the Blue Jackets’ 5-1 loss Thursday night at Carolina, it’s that it laid bare a fundamental truth the team must face.  

Columbus must find its game, and quickly.   

The Blue Jackets felt that they had played well enough to do better than their 1-4-1 record in the six games before the matchup in Raleigh, undone by unlucky finishing and penalty kill struggles, but that couldn’t be said Thursday when the team tied a franchise low with just 10 shots on goal. Carolina jumped on the Blue Jackets early, scoring three times in the first 12:50 and outshooting Columbus by a 10-2 margin in the opening frame, and never let the visitors back in the game.  

Even with the caveat the Metropolitan Division leaders were fired up to clinch a playoff spot with the home win, the energy and execution for the Blue Jackets were a far cry from what was shown in the 19-2-4 run that got Columbus back into a playoff position.   

When asked what the Blue Jackets have gotten away from during their current five-game losing streak, head coach Rick Bowness and captain Boone Jenner agreed.  

“Our team game,” Bowness said. “When we have our team going and we have every line out there looking the same and working and putting some passion into it, then we’re a really good team. When we play like (we did in Carolina), obviously, anybody can beat us tonight.”  

Added Jenner: “Just our team game, how we’re going to play with and without the puck. That pressure game, in your face, hard to play against. I just think tonight, especially in the first, we weren’t winning enough battles and winning enough puck races and kind of taking some pressure off our D and our goalie and going to play down there (in the offensive zone). That's the brand of hockey we want to be, and we have to get back to that.”  

The time to find that is now running out, but the Blue Jackets still have a lifeline. Columbus fell to the wrong side of the playoff bar in Carolina, as wins from Ottawa and Detroit tied the pair with the Blue Jackets for the final wild card spot in the Eastern Conference, with the Senators and Red Wings each holding a game in hand.  

But the Blue Jackets remain in the mix for third in the Metro, sitting just a point behind the New York Islanders with a game in hand. With six games to go heading into tonight’s matchup vs. Winnipeg at Nationwide Arena, Columbus still holds its own destiny when it comes to making it into the postseason for the first time since 2020.  

The opportunity is there, but turnaround must come quickly, or else it will be a second straight year where the Blue Jackets spent the final month of the season in contention only to fall short of the playoff goal.  

“It definitely is,” Jenner said postgame when asked if this was gut-check time for the team. “We know the spot we’ve put ourselves in here, and at the end of the day it’s up to us to step up and go take it if we want it. I think we know what’s at stake, and the belief is in this room. We have to come out with a better effort.” 

That’s another point where the captain and coach agree.  

“I saw some selfish play that I haven’t seen until now,” Bowness said postgame in Carolina. “We had some guys out there (who) poured their whole heart and soul into that game. We really did. And then we had some guys give us absolutely nothing. If we want to make a serious effort to get in, it’s gonna take a whole lot more than some of those guys gave us tonight. They can say all they want – ‘Oh, we want to get in. We want to get in.’ I’d shut up and let my play do my talking for me.”  

Still, Bowness said he expects a proper pushback when the team meets this morning, as well as when puck drops Saturday night in Nationwide Arena against the Jets.  

“This is a good group,” he said. “We had an off night. I got it. Like I told them after the game – we'll deal with it Saturday morning. We had a bad night.”

Scratches: Zach Aston-Reese, Mason Marchment (upper body injury), Mathieu Olivier (upper body injury), Dmitri Voronkov (upper body injury), Damon Severson (shoulder surgery, out for season), Jake Christiansen 

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

Roster Report: Marchment joined the ranks of the injured CBJ players as he did not play Thursday, though it remains to be seen if he can return tonight. The team will do a full morning skate today before the game.  

This Day in CBJ History

April 4, 2003: During the third period of a 5-5 tie vs. Detroit in Nationwide, Marc Denis breaks the NHL single season record for minutes played by a goaltender (4,433 by New Jersey’s Martin Brodeur in 1995-96). Denis, who played in 77 of the team’s 82 games that year, finishes the season with a new standard of 4,511 minutes. 

April 4, 2015: Nick Foligno earns his first hat trick with Columbus, scoring three times in a 5-3 victory vs. Pittsburgh in Nationwide Arena. The victory is the ninth in a row for the Blue Jackets, setting a then-franchise record.  

April 4, 2023: Jet Greaves makes his NHL debut for the Blue Jackets, setting a team record for saves in his first game by stopping 46 of 49 shots in a 4-2 loss at Toronto.  

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. ... Denton Mateychuk scored his 13th goal of the season Thursday, placing him sixth all-time among CBJ defensemen in a single season. He is just the third CBJ D to reach that mark (Werenski, four times; Seth Jones, once). ... Adam Fantilli has nine goals in the last 20 games and posted a 10-15-25 line in the last 26 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 32 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 2.11 GAA and .920 save percentage in his last eight games. ... Blue Jackets defensemen have scored 56 goals this season, the most in the NHL and a new franchise record. … Columbus has scored first in 45 of 76 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, 405) and Provorov (seventh, 369) are both in the top 10 among active NHLers in consecutive games played. Provorov is set to play in his 241th consecutive game with the Blue Jackets, which would tie 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: Winnipeg Jets

Head coach: Scott Arniel (Second season)  

Team stats: Goals per game: 2.81 (25th) | Scoring defense: 3.03 (13th) | PP: 17.3 percent (28th) | PK: 78.2 percent (20th)  

The narrative: Last season’s Presidents’ Trophy winners went into a major funk during the middle of the season but have rebounded of late and are trying to make a late charge into the postseason, sitting three points out of a playoff spot in the Western Conference with seven games to go after Thursday’s loss at Dallas. That the Jets are in such a tight situation is a surprise considering the franchise’s recent success, which includes postseason appearances in seven of the last eight seasons and two straight 50-win campaigns coming into this year. 

Scoring leaders: Mark Scheifele continues to be one of the most productive players in the NHL, setting a new career high this year with 92 points (34 goals, 58 assists) to tie for eighth in the league in scoring. Kyle Connor is chasing a third 40-goal season with a 34-51-85 line, while Gabriel Vilardi has blossomed into a key contributor, topping 60 points for the second straight season (28-34-62). Josh Morrissey leads the defense in scoring, posting 13 goals among his 52 points.  

In net: Two-time reigning Vezina Trophy winner and last year’s Hart Trophy winner Connor Hellebuyck has been solid but hasn’t quite put up the spectacular numbers of the past few seasons, going 20-21-11 with a 2.81 GAA and .898 save percentage. Backup Eric Comrie is 12-9-1 with a 2.90 GAA and .897 SV%. 

What's new: The Jets started 9-3-0 and then saw the bottom fall out, as the team won just two of its next 18 games, including an 11-game losing streak from mid-December to early January. Winnipeg has gotten back into the race, though, with its recent 6-3-2 run, though special teams remain a weak point – the Jets are at just 11.4 percent on the power play and 75.9 percent on the penalty kill in the last 26 games since Jan. 22. There are also injuries to contend with for veteran forwards Nino Niederreiter and Vladislav Namestnikov.  

Trending: Winnipeg won the season opener between the teams Nov. 18, taking a 5-2 final. Columbus has lost two in a row in Nationwide Arena as well, but the all-time series is even at 18-18-0-1.  

Former CBJ: Gustav Nyquist has ended up in Winnipeg after playing for Minnesota, Nashville and then the Wild again since being traded from Columbus in 2023. Now 36, the 14th-year NHL veteran has a goal and 11 assists in 51 games. Arniel also served as the Blue Jackets' head coach for 123 games from 2010-12.