Preview: Blue Jackets want to rev the engine sooner against Bruins

GAME 12: BRUINS (4-3-2) AT BLUE JACKETS (7-4-0)
NATIONWIDE ARENA, 7 P.M., MONDAY
TV: FOX SPORTS OHIO/FOX SPORTS GO
RADIO: 97.1 FM & BLUEJACKETS.COM
The Blue Jackets are searching for answers about a frustrating early trend.
They're getting outplayed at the start of games too often, and it's put them behind early. It's a difficult way to win games, and they know it needs to be corrected.
"It shouldn't just frustrate me," coach John Tortorella said, after a 4-1 road loss to the St. Louis Blues. "It should frustrate the team. That's the most important part, and we're going to try to fix that."

Their first opportunity will be against the Boston Bruins on Monday, and it's unknown whether they will have forward Cam Atkinson. Columbus finished the third period against St. Louis without Atkinson, who left the game after taking two shifts in the third.
Coach John Tortorella did not have an update on Atkinson's status after the game, and the Blue Jackets were off Sunday. They held an optional morning skate Monday, and Atkinson got on the ice for some of it. The Jackets recalled forward Tyler Motte from the Cleveland Monsters of the American Hockey League on Monday, and he also skated in the morning.
The full Blue Jackets team will arrive later for game-day meetings, and then hit the ice looking for a faster start. They stumbled out of the gate in both halves of the their back-to-back over the weekend, and were fortunate to split the two games.
Their sluggish start Saturday in St. Louis factored into the loss, along with a number of missed opportunities to score.
"I thought we had a lot of scoring chances, and we couldn't find a way to bury them, and we have to," center Brandon Dubinsky said. "We've got to come out here and play a simple, hard game, straight forward, forechecking … you could tell right from the first couple shifts [against the Blues], we weren't getting pucks deep, we were having turnovers in the neutral zone and they were jamming it down our throat. Hopefully we can learn from this, and we'll continue to try and hammer it home, and be better from the get go."
The Bruins are coming off an unlikely 2-1 overtime loss Saturday against the Los Angeles Kings. Despite 0.9 seconds remaining in OT, the Kings won a face-off in the Boston zone and Tyler Toffoli blasted it past goalie Tuukka Rask before time expired.
The goal was reviewed and upheld after video showed the puck crossing the goal line in time. Despite the defeat, the Bruins have notched points in four straight games (2-0-2).
SERIES RECORD
2017-18 Season: (0-0-0). This is the first of three games this season. The Blue Jackets will visit Boston's TD Garden on Dec. 18 and Mar. 19.
All-time: 9-9-6 overall; 5-5-3 at Nationwide Arena
"BY THE NUMBERS"
EYES ON: THE BRUINS
EYES ON: THE BLUE JACKETS
QUOTABLES
"It's something we're going to have to figure out, I guess. Sometimes, you can't put your finger on it. It's just being ready for hockey games. I say it a lot, we're a young hockey team, but we should be young, we should be fresh, we should be ready to go. It's something I think we'll talk about this week and try to improve on." - Blue Jackets forward Matt Calvert on the team's propensity to ease into games.
"We've dropped a few against top teams in the league, and we've said all along we want to be one of those teams. And you've got to beat those teams to get to the top. The schedule's tough every night. There's never an easy game, but winning in St. Louis' barn, I think would've been a big step. But we'll keep on working, we'll keep getting better and we'll find a way." - Calvert
"We were chasing the game. When you chase a team like that, especially with a veteran club, a good team in this league, it's tough to crawl back into it." - Blue jackets coach John Tortorella on the loss to St. Louis
"Do you wonder how it could happen? I mean, if someone told you before they could score in 0.9 seconds, drop the puck, win it and shoot it, you'd probably say, 'I don't know … I don't know. Boy, that's tough. I'm not sure you can do it again if you tried it 100 times with no players on the ice." - Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy, on Boston's last-second overtime loss to the Kings on Saturday
PROJECTED LINEUPS
BRUINS
Forward lines
Brad Marchand - Patrice Bergeron - Anders Bjork
Jake Debrusk - David Backes - David Pastrnak
Frank Vatrano - Riley Nash - Kenny Agostino
Tim Schaller - Sean Kuraly - Danton Heinen
Defense pairings
Zdeno Chara - Brandon Carlo
Torey Krug - Charlie McAvoy
Paul Postma - Kevan Miller
Goaltenders
Tuukka Rask
Zane McIntyre
Out: David Krejci (upper body), Matt Beleskey, Anton Khudobin (undisclosed)
Injured reserve: Noel Acciari (left index finger surgery), Ryan Spooner (groin), Adam McQuaid (fractured right fibula)
BLUE JACKETS
Forward lines
Artemi Panarin - Nick Foligno - Josh Anderson
Boone Jenner - Brandon Dubinsky - Cam Atkinson
Matt Calvert - Alexander Wennberg - Oliver Bjorkstrand
Sonny Milano - Zac Dalpe - Pierre-Luc Dubois
Defense pairings
Zach Werenski - Seth Jones
Jack Johnson - David Savard
Ryan Murray - Markus Nutivaara
Goaltenders
Sergei Bobrovsky
Joonas Korpisalo
Out:Markus Hannikainen, Scott Harrington
Injured reserve:Gabriel Carlsson (undisclosed), Lukas Sedlak (ankle)