PREVIEW: Blue Jackets continue road swing in Colorado

The Blue Jackets were moments away from a win on Tuesday night in Detroit, and, well, we all probably know what happened next.

Columbus was up 3-2 when the team iced the puck with 19 seconds to go. Just a few seconds later, the puck was in the back of the net, as Detroit used its extra attacker to win the faceoff battle, then Patrick Kane’s shot-pass led to a rebound Lucas Raymond slammed in the net to tie the score with 12.6 seconds to go.

Add in Kane’s overtime winner just 48 seconds into the extra frame and two points turned into one very quickly on the Blue Jackets. Asked yesterday how he felt about another loss where the Blue Jackets generally carried play and deserved to win, head coach Pascal Vincent couldn’t help but focus on the last few moments of regulation where the game got away.

“The mindset was right,” he said. "We played the right way. We iced the puck twice, we lose the faceoff, and the puck is in the back of your net. We showed it to the guys that were on the ice, and there's different plays to be made. It's not bad luck at all. We don't rely on luck. There's puck luck that we call it in our world, like sometimes the puck bounces off a shin pad and it goes in the net. Those things we don't control.

“But we had the control of that game, played a good game, but two icings that we don't need to take. We have to manage it differently.”

Such is part of the process when you’re struggling to win games and trying to shepherd a young team that’s learning how to win on the go. If you take out the ending, the Blue Jackets played another solid game against a Detroit team trying to make the playoffs, posting a 32-16 edge in shots on goal at 5-on-5 and carrying play for long stretches.

“I think we played our game, a simple game,” said forward Alexandre Texier, who had a breakaway goal in the opening period. “We were fast. We came back into our D-zone when they had the puck. Simple plays. We were pretty good. We were playing our style of hockey, We just have to do it for 60 minutes and get ready for the next game.”

Things don’t get any easier, though, as this five-game road trip heads out west to take on a Colorado team that might be playing its best hockey of the season.

Know The Foe: Colorado Avalanche

Head coach: Jared Bednar (Eighth season)

Team stats: Goals per game: 3.71 (1st) | Scoring defense: 2.99 (12th) | PP: 24.9 percent (7th) | PK: 81.7 percent (8th)

The narrative: After winning the 2022 Stanley Cup, Colorado had a disappointing end a season ago when it lost to Seattle in the opening round of the postseason. This year’s Avs squad appears determined to not let that happened again, as superstars Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen and Cale Makar are leading a group that is once again a bona fide contender to lift the crown.

Team leaders: Nathan MacKinnon is neck-and-neck with Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov in the scoring race, sitting just a point behind the Bolts star with a 42-75-117 line on the year. A three-time Hart Trophy finalist, MacKinnon appears to be in the race again as he’s fifth in the league in goals and third in assists. Rantanen isn’t that far behind, as the Finnish center is sixth in the league with 93 points, including 37 goals. Meanwhile, Makar’s 17-58-75 line has him second among NHL defensemen in goals, assists and points. Wing Valeri Nichushkin also has added 25-24-49 in 45 games.

Alexandar Georgiev was an All-Star in net this season for the Avs, and the Bulgarian's 53 starts are second in the league this year. He’s 35-15-3 on the campaign with a 2.83 GAA and .902 save percentage. Backup Justus Annunen has just eight appearances and is 5-2-1 with a 2.38 GAA and .926 save percentage.

What's new: Colorado was active at the trade deadline, adding perhaps the perfect middle-six center in Casey Mitteldstadt in exchange for young defenseman Bowan Byram, nabbing defenseman Sean Walker from Philadelphia, and adding some gritty depth forwards in Brandon Duhaime (Minnesota) and Yakov Trenin (Nashville). The Avs have seems to have found their game of late as well in the midst of those moves, winning seven in a row and nine of 10 while outscoring teams 42-19 in that 10-game span.

Trending: Colorado swept the two games a season ago in Finland, capturing games by the scores of 6-3 and 5-1 as part of the NHL Global Series. The teams last met stateside in 2021-22, with Columbus sweeping the season series, and the Blue Jackets have won five of the last seven in Colorado.

Former CBJ: Defenseman Jack Johnson has found a regular shift back in Colorado, where he won the 2022 Cup, posting a 3-12-15 line in 67 games. Former CBJ center Ryan Johansen was with the squad to start the season and had 13-10-23 in 63 games before going to Philly in the Walker trade.

Roster Report

Projected Lineup (subject to change)

Johnny Gaudreau – Boone Jenner – Alex Nylander
Alexandre Texier – Cole Sillinger – Kirill Marchenko
Trey Fix-Wolansky – Dmitri Voronkov – Mikael Pyyhtia
Mathieu Olivier – Brendan Gaunce – Carson Meyer
Zach Werenski – Damon Severson
Jake Bean – Ivan Provorov
Jake Christiansen – Erik Gudbranson
Elvis Merzlikins
Daniil Tarasov

Scratches: Adam Fantilli (calf laceration, out eight weeks as of Jan. 31), Justin Danforth (concussion, out indefinitely), Sean Kuraly (lower-body injury, week to week), Yegor Chinakhov (upper-body injury, day to day), Adam Boqvist (upper body), David Jiricek

Injured reserve: Kent Johnson (torn labrum in left shoulder, out for season)

Roster Report: Werenski may have joined the walking wounded when he blocked a shot with his foot late in Tuesday’s game at Detroit; he’s a game-time decision. If he can’t go, Jiricek will enter the lineup after being added on emergency recall Thursday.

3 Stats to Know

• Johnny Gaudreau reached the 40-assist plateau for the second straight season on Tuesday in Detroit. He has posted two 40-assist seasons in his two campaigns in Columbus, joining Ray Whitney, David Vyborny and Artemi Panarin as the only players with multiple such seasons with the Jackets.
• Coming off a one-goal, two-assist game in Detroit on Tuesday, Zach Werenski has set a new career high with 38 assists. It was the eighth three-point game of his career, and Werenski ranks 11th among NHL blueliners in assists per game (.67) on the season. He is one of 24 active defensemen with at least five-plus 40-point campaigns.
• Milestone watch: With 204 career assists, Werenski is the CBJ record holder among defenseman and tied with Vyborny for second in team history.

Who’s Hot

Daniil Tarasov has posted a .934 save percentage in his last nine appearances, stopping 283 of 303 shots against and allowing just 20 goals. ... Alex Nylander’s eight goals since making his Blue Jackets debut Feb. 23 are a franchise record for a player in his first 13 games with the team. He's also tied for 10th in the NHL in goals in that span. ... Boone Jenner has notched his fourth career 20-goal season, making him just the fourth CBJ player to have four such campaigns in team history. He joins Rick Nash (eight), Cam Atkinson (six) and R.J. Umberger (four). ... Dmitri Voronkov has 17 goals on the year, tied for third among NHL rookies. His 31 points are also seventh among NHL rookies. ... Johnny Gaudreau has 22 points (4-18-22) in the last 22 games. ... The team’s rookie stat line of 30-37-67 is tied for first in the NHL in goals and fourth in points.

This Day in CBJ History

March 22, 2007: Returning to his former home in Detroit, Sergei Fedorov scores the winning goal in the sixth round of the shootout as the Jackets take a 2-1 win in Joe Louis Arena.

March 22, 2013: Furiously trying to hunt down a playoff spot, Columbus improves to 8-0-4 in its last 12 games and ties a then-franchise record for a point streak as it beats Calgary 5-1 in Nationwide Arena. Nick Foligno scores twice while Colton Gillies (1-1-2), R.J. Umberger (0-2-2) and Derek MacKenzie (0-2-2) have multipoint games.

March 22, 2016: Boone Jenner and Cam Atkinson score extra-attacker goals in the final two minutes – Jenner at 18:56 of the third, Atkinson at 19:52 – to tie the game and the Blue Jackets go on to beat Philadelphia 3-2 in a shootout. Jenner scores the only goal of the five-round shootout to claim the extra point for Columbus.

March 22, 2018: Sergei Bobrovsky earns a shutout in a 4-0 win vs. Florida at Nationwide Arena. The victory is Columbus’ 10th in a row, and Columbus ties a home record with its eighth straight home win.