PREVIEW: Blue Jackets begin 2024 vs. Bruins

It’s now 2024, and with a new year under way, will there be a new Blue Jackets team as well?

Columbus hopes so, as the team enters January in last place in the Metropolitan Division as well as 29th place in the NHL in points percentage.

But there are certainly some encouraging signs for the Jackets, who are 8-7-4 in their last 19 games, are one of the top-scoring teams in the league at 5-on-5 and have two of the top rookies in the NHL in terms of points.

And of late, the Blue Jackets have found some consistency in their lineup. The bad news is that six players are currently on injured reserve, three of them forwards in Boone Jenner, Patrik Laine and Sean Kuraly, but the longer-term nature of the injuries to Jenner and Laine has allowed the Jackets to stick with some of the same forward lines over the past few weeks.

“I'm seeing some consistency, and I'd like to keep it that way for as long as we can,” head coach Pascal Vincent said. “That's the kind of thing or the kind of adjustment a coach will make depending on performance, and I feel some games, some lines were better than others. But overall, it seems that we have some balance right now between all four line, so we're gonna keep it that way as long as it works.”

For the past seven games, the Blue Jackets have been able to keep the top three lines together. The top line of Johnny Gaudreau, Adam Fantilli and Justin Danforth has produced, while the Russian Line of Yegor Chinakhov, Dmitri Voronkov and Kirill Marchenko seemed to have instant chemistry. Perhaps underrated has been the performance of the line of Kent Johnson, Cole Sillinger and Emil Bemstrom, which hasn’t allowed a goal in the last six contests.

“I feel like the Voronkov line, there’s something there,” he said. “It started really strong. I feel like they’re stabilizing themselves. I really like Sillinger, Bemstrom and KJ. I see some chemistry there. Fantilli, Danforth and Johnny, their production (is there) if you look at their points over a period of time. I feel like we have lines.”

Know The Foe: Boston Bruins

Head coach: Jim Montgomery (Second season)

Team stats: Goals per game: 3.20 (15th) | Scoring defense: 2.60 (5th) | PP: 27.4 percent (4th) | PK: 85.8 percent (2nd)

The narrative: Boston is one of the most consistently successful squads in the league, making the playoffs seven straight seasons and missing the postseason just seven times since the 1967-68 season. Highlighting that run is last year’s 65-win season, which set an NHL record, but the Bruins were upset in the opening round by Florida. This year’s 100th Bruins squad isn’t quite as dominant as the one a season ago, but Boston is good again and spring will be about chasing the Stanley Cup in Beantown.

Team leaders: The Boston attack starts with David Pastrnak, as the Czech wing is again an MVP candidate with a 22-28-50 line in 35 games that places him sixth in the league in goals and ties him for third in points. Brad Marchand follows with 13 goals and 20 assists for 33 points, while Charlie Coyle has a 13-13-26 line and Charlie McAvoy leads the defensemen with 23 points (three goals, 20 assists).

In net, the two-headed goalie tandem of Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman again shares the crease, and both have played in 18 games thus far. Swayman’s numbers are better this season as the Alaska native is 11-2-4 with a 2.22 GAA and .928 save percentage, but Ullmark (11-5-2, 2.82, .914) isn’t far behind.

What's new: The Bruins actually struggled a bit before Christmas, posting just a 2-3-3 record from Dec. 7-23 and scoring just 18 times (2.25 per game) in that span. The holiday break clearly did the team good, though, as Boston has won all three games since returning and posted 14 goals in that span. The squad is currently without rookie Matthew Poitras (5-8-13 in 27 games), who is playing for Canada at the World Juniors.

Trending: Columbus dropped a 3-1 final Dec. 3 in Boston but won by a 5-2 score Nov. 27 in Columbus, which was the Jackets' first win over Boston since January 2020.

Former CBJ: None, though the squad has a pair of Ohio State products on the roster in rookie forward Georgii Merkulov and first-year defenseman Mason Lohrei.

Roster Report

Projected Lineup (subject to change)

Johnny Gaudreau – Adam Fantilli – Justin Danforth
Yegor Chinakhov – Dmitri Voronkov – Kirill Marchenko
Kent Johnson – Cole Sillinger – Emil Bemstrom
Alexandre Texier – Brendan Gaunce – Jack Roslovic
Damon Severson – Ivan Provorov
Jake Bean – David Jiricek
Jake Christiansen – Erik Gudbranson
Spencer Martin
Elvis Merzlikins

Scratches: Mathieu Olivier, Andrew Peeke, Daniil Tarasov (illness)

Injured reserve: Sean Kuraly (abdominal, day to day); Zach Werenski (ankle, out four to six weeks as of Dec. 27); Nick Blankenburg (upper body, day to day); Patrik Laine (fractured clavicle, out six weeks as of Dec. 15); Boone Jenner (fractured jaw, out six weeks as of Dec. 9); Adam Boqvist (shoulder strain, out approximately four weeks as of Dec. 6)

Roster Report: The Blue Jackets don’t have any changes to the skater lineup, while Martin makes his first start since Dec. 7.

3 Stats to Know

• Adam Fantilli has scored in two straight games and posted a 7-6-13 line in December, both of which place third in CBJ history for a rookie in any month of the season. His seven even-strength goals during the month tied for fifth in the league, and he has a four-game point streak (2-2-4).
• Yegor Chinakhov has seven goals in the last 10 games and has posted 9-6-15 in the last 16 games to tie for 10th in the NHL in goals since Nov. 27.
• Milestone watch: Johnny Gaudreau is one point from 100 for his Blue Jackets career (28-71-99, 119 GP). … Jack Roslovic is two points from 200 for his NHL career (73-125-198, 402 GP). … Emil Bemstrom is five games from 200 for his NHL career (30-38-68, 195 GP). … Kirill Marchenko is five games from 100 for his NHL career (34-12-46, 95 GP).

Who’s Hot

Adam Fantilli needed just 37 games to get to 10 goals, making him the fourth fastest CBJ player ever to the mark. He is also tied for second among NHL rookies in goals (11) and second alone in points (23). … Dmitri Voronkov also is tied for sixth among NHL rookies in goals (seven) and tied for fifth in points (19). … Johnny Gaudreau has a 3-7-10 line in the last eight contests. … Justin Danforth has a four-game point streak (2-2-4). … Since being placed on a line together, the trio of Voronkov, Kirill Marchenko and Yegor Chinakhov has 15 goals in 14 games. … Cole Sillinger has a 3-2-5 line in the last six games. … Kent Johnson has a 4-5-9 line in the last 11 contests. … The team’s rookie stat line of 19-32-51 is second in the NHL in both goals and points. … The Jackets’ 88 goals at 5-on-5 are second in the NHL.

This Day in CBJ History

Jan. 2, 2009: Rick Nash notches the first penalty shot goal in his career as the Jackets race to a 6-1 victory at Colorado. The one goal allowed snapped rookie Steve Mason’s franchise-record shutout streak at 199:19.

Jan. 2, 2014: Curtis McElhinney makes 34 saves for his second shutout in a CBJ uniform as the Jackets post a 2-0 win at Phoenix.

Jan. 2, 2016: Brandon Saad ties the game with 1:08 to go and Ryan Johansen gets the shootout winner as the Jackets claim a 5-4 win over Washington in Nationwide Arena.

Jan. 2, 2020: Pierre-Luc Dubois scores 52 seconds into overtime to give the Blue Jackets a 2-1 win at Boston and run the squad’s point streak to 12 games (8-0-4).