PREVIEW: Columbus welcomes Anaheim to Nationwide Arena

DUCKS (17-11-5) at BLUE JACKETS (17-12-2)
Thursday, 7 p.m., Nationwide Arena (Fox Sports Ohio, Fox Sports app, 97.1 The Fan)
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What a difference a week can make.
Monday, Blue Jackets head coach John Tortorella was critical of his team's play in Saturday's 4-0 home blanking suffered at the hands of Washington. He ran a spirited practice, showed a plethora of video clips, and talked about the "reset" his team needed.
Two solid performances later, that seems like it's far in the rearview mirror.

"Let's not call it a reset anymore because the reset is when we're embarrassed in our building and then we played a decent game," Tortorella said Friday after a brisk half-hour practice at Nationwide Arena.
"Now we need to just play the right way and stay consistent. Is it always going to be dead on? No, but ... you need to turn it in to who you are. That's why you show video and tape and clips all over the place is to try to make it part of you, and it's just instinctive that's the way you pay. Have we gotten there yet? No. But hopefully we get some success by playing the right way and they'll start finding that's what we are."
The last two contests were more in line with what the head coach is looking for. While the Jackets lost Tuesday's home game to Vancouver by a 3-2 final, the team was left to rue two odd bounces that led to the Canucks' first two goals, and Columbus held a 23-11 edge in team-tracked scoring chances in the game.
The offensive onslaught continued in Thursday night's 4-1 win over Los Angeles, a game in which the Blue Jackets put 40 shots on goal and had a 23-13 edge in scoring chances.
While the offensive number is what might catch the eye of the fans, for the Blue Jackets, limiting the opponents' offensive threats has been the focus of this week's work.
The team got it done Tuesday and Thursday. Exactly one week after the struggle against the Caps, Saturday night provides Columbus another chance to keep it going.
"The last couple of games, we've played really good defensively I think, so we know we can handle everybody defensively now and we can create a little bit of offense out of that," forward Lukas Sedlak said. "We know how we have to play, reloads, and when we check we'll get those chances offensively."

The Cat's Meow

Sedlak entered Thursday night's game without a goal on the season, and his tally in the first period of the win over the Kings gave every skater on the Blue Jackets' active roster a goal this season.
But Sedlak's streak without a marker was even longer than that. The native of the Czech Republic hadn't scored since Dec. 20, 2017, a nearly yearlong span that included 53 regular-season games without a goal.
Sedlak won't ever be seen as a superstar sniper, but more than 50 games without a goal was a long time for a player who had 11 tallies in his first 84 NHL games.
So to the surprise of no one, there was a smile on the face of the 25-year-old after the game.
"Finally," he said with a laugh. "It took me a while."

Sedlak has been a healthy scratch six times this season, including the two games before Thursday's win against the Kings. Tortorella described Sedlak the victim of a numbers crunch, with the fourth line of Markus Hannikainen, Brandon Dubinsky, and Riley Nash now set and the team trying to get Oliver Bjorkstrand and Anthony Duclair going on the third line.
"I made a decision I have to try to develop those other guys and see what they can give," Tortorella said. "(Sedlak) just stands in there and works every day and just waits his turn. Absolutely no maintenance to him. So it was really good to see him score.
"You see him. He's always smiling. Sometimes he smiles a little too much for me, but he's always upbeat so I'm happy for him."

Snakebitten Dubois

While Sedlak snapped a long goal-scoring skid, top-line forward Pierre-Luc Dubois continued a run in which he can't buy a goal.
Dubois hasn't scored in five games - OK, so it's not so bad compared to what Sedlak just went through - but he couldn't quite finish two glorious chances against the Kings. In the first period, he took a spectacular pass from Artemi Panarin as he drove toward the goal, but his one timer went right into the pad of goalie Jonathan Quick.
Then in the second, Panarin again set up the second-year Jackets center after stealing the puck. Panarin found him all alone in front, and Dubois drew Quick to the ice before beating him clean - and striking the crossbar even cleaner.
"It's one game," he said. "It is what it is."

Of course, it's not all bad for Dubois. His pass across the slot led to Panarin's first goal in the win, and the top line of Dubois, Panarin and Cam Atkinson was dominant all night, with Dubois on the ice for 13 scoring chances at 5-on-5 including seven high-danger chances, per Natural Stat Trick.
"He made some good plays," Tortorella said. "Really, you could sense (that line was) going in the first period, and the first half of that game, I was pouring ice time to them. They were a concern all night long.
"I want to see Luc score. It'll help his confidence and ease him up, but he made good plays with the puck and with his linemates."

Talking about Practice

After longer sessions Monday and Wednesday, the Blue Jackets had a 30-minute practice head of the game against the Ducks. All players were present. Afterward, Tortorella said he expects to use the same lineup vs. Anaheim, with Duclair a healthy scratch.
As practice was winding down Friday, the head coach and forward spend a few minutes together in a one-on-one conversation.
"My situation with Duke right now isn't his skill," Tortorella said of the forward who has eight goals and four assists on the season. "I want him to be a skilled guy, and I'm not going to worry about mistakes with his skill. I want to see the determination, and that's where I think there's a little bit of a road in between us there, defining what competing and determination is.
"We're going to keep working with him. He's going to have to wait his turn now."
Know the Foe
- Anaheim's roster features New Albany, Ohio, native Kiefer Sherwood, who will be playing his first NHL game in Nationwide Arena. So far this year, the 23-year-old rookie has three goals and five assists in 32 games. His brother, Kole, is a prospect in the Blue Jackets organization with AHL Cleveland. - Anaheim is led in goal scoring by winger Pontus Aberg, who has 10 goals. Ryan Getzlaf has team highs of 18 points and 26 points on the season. Goalie John Gibson has been one of the best in the league this year with a 2.60 GAA and .925 save percentage. - The Ducks are 4-1 in December, with the game at Columbus kicking off a six-game road trip for the team.

Blue Jackets projected lineup

Artemi Panarin -- Pierre-Luc Dubois -- Cam Atkinson
Nick Foligno -- Boone Jenner -- Josh Anderson
Lukas Sedlak -- Alex Wennberg -- Oliver Bjorkstrand
Markus Hannikainen -- Riley Nash -- Brandon Dubinsky
Ryan Murray -- Seth Jones
Markus Nutivaara -- David Savard
Zach Werenski -- Scott Harrington
Sergei Bobrovsky
Joonas Korpisalo
Scratched:Anthony Duclair