PREVIEW: Blue Jackets right back on the road to take on Stars

It’s a good news, bad news scenario.

The Blue Jackets are producing offensive chances this season but just not scoring goals. The latest example of that came in Saturday night’s 2-0 loss to the New York Islanders, where according to Natural Stat Trick, Columbus created 3.39 expected goals in all situations based on where they shot the puck from, yet zero went by goalie Semyon Varlamov. On the season, the Jackets have 16.6 expected goals at 5-on-5 per Natural Stat Trick but have scored just 12 times.

Such notable names as Johnny Gaudreau, Kirill Marchenko, Alexandre Texier and Cole Sillinger are yet to get off the schneid from a goal-scoring standpoint, so Vincent remains positive that good things are coming if the Blue Jackets just keep doing what they are doing.

“It’s going to come,” Vincent said. “I think when it starts, it’s going to go really well offensively for those guys. But right now, the dangerous part about this is they’re gonna cheat the game to create more offense, and we want to stay away from that. Once you start cheating the game, you may create more offense but you’re not improving. But we’re not cheating the game, so I’m satisfied with that.”

For Gaudreau, he’s eight games into the season and hasn’t scored a goal, the longest he’s gone into an NHL campaign without tallying. At the same time, he’s becoming more and more noticeable each night, creating chances and making plays that just haven’t ended up in the back of the net.

As a veteran of the league, Gaudreau feels similar to Vincent that if he keeps doing what he’s doing, things will work out.

“We’re getting looks and we’re getting chances,” he said. “They’re just not going in right now. It’s a matter of time. You go through these things at some point in the season. It’s just happening to be right now.”

Columbus will try to get untracked tonight in Dallas against a team that has produced some of the best defensive numbers in the league. It’s a similar task to playing the Islanders, and Vincent thought the Blue Jackets were processing things a bit in the early going against New York before really finding their game as Saturday night’s tilt progressed.

“In the third period, you saw the real Blue Jackets,” Vincent said. “I think we had grade-A chances. We were on the puck. We were tracking hard, forechecking hard, creating chances. We need to bring that period and play it for 60 minutes.

“It’s a process, but so far this season the way the team is improving, I’m really pleased, yes.”

Know The Foe: Dallas Stars

Head coach: Peter DeBoer (second season)

Team stats: Goals per game: 2.67 (23rd) | Scoring defense: 2.33 (5th) | PP: 11.1 percent (29th) | PK: 94.7 percent (2nd)

The narrative: The Stars have had some wild swings the past few seasons, reaching the Stanley Cup Final in the 2020 bubble, failing to make the postseason a year later, falling to Johnny Gaudreau and Calgary in the first round in 2022 and then reaching the conference final last season. They’ve had a hot start this year at 4-1-1 and are thought to be among the top contenders to emerge from the Western Conference thanks to excellent balance and depth as well as strong defense.

Team leaders: Joe Pavelski simply doesn’t age, it appears, as the 39-year-old forward remains atop the Stars’ scoring chart with a 3-3-6 line. On the other end of the spectrum is 20-year-old forward Wyatt Johnson, who had a breakout campaign last season and two goals among his five points this year. Jamie Benn and Roope Hintz have matching 2-2-4 lines, Jason Robertson has a goal among his four points and Miro Heiskanen has a 1-3-4 line to lead the defense.

In net, Jake Oettinger has started four games and still looks like one of the best young goaltenders in the game, posting a 3-0-1 record with a 1.44 GAA and .952 save percentage. Per MoneyPuck.com, he’s third in the league in goals saved above average per 60 minutes.

What's new: Dallas has largely the same squad as a season ago but did add some depth in a few places in veteran forwards Matt Duchene and Craig Smith. The Stars had won three straight before a loss Thursday vs. Toronto, the team’s last game.

Trending: The teams have split the season series the past two years, and the Blue Jackets got the win in Dallas a season ago when they claimed a 4-1 victory against the Stars on Feb. 18.

Former CBJ: Duchene played for the Blue Jackets during the 2019 playoff run, scoring five goals in 10 games as the Blue Jackets beat Tampa Bay in the first round and then fell to Boston in the following series. He has two assists thus far this year but is yet to score.

3 Stats to Know

• Boone Jenner is currently tied for third all-time in points (334) in CBJ history with Nick Foligno. Jenner also now has 174 goals in team history, passing Foligno (172) for third earlier this season.
• Jack Roslovic had a three-point night (1-2-3) on Thursday in Montreal, the seventh game with at least three points in his CBJ career. He has six points in the last five games (2-4-6).
• Milestone watch: With 665 games played, Jenner is nine games away from tying Rick Nash for the franchise record. … Kent Johnson is six games from 100 for his NHL career (17-28-45, 94 GP). ... Jack Roslovic is four points from 200 and seven games from 400 for his NHL career (73-123-196, 393 GP).

Who’s Hot

Emil Bemstrom tallied twice at Montreal and has three goals in the past three games. … Ivan Provorov had a four-game point streak snapped vs. the Islanders but has six assists in the last seven games. … Rookie forward Adam Fantilli has a 2-1-3 line in the past four games. … Rookie forward Dmitri Voronkov notched his first career assist and fight Thursday. ... Johnny Gaudreau is yet to score this season but has 10 goals in 22 career games against the Stars, plus the OT winner in Game 7 of the Calgary/Dallas playoff series two years ago. ... Columbus has killed off 15 of 17 opponent power-play chances (88.2 percent) over the past five games of the season.

This Day in CBJ History

Oct. 30, 2003: The Blue Jackets make a trade, sending defenseman Zenith Komarniski to Vancouver for center Sean Pronger.

Oct. 30, 2017: Artemi Panarin scores the deciding goal in a shootout as the Blue Jackets earn a 4-3 win against Boston in Nationwide Arena.

Roster Report

Projected Lineup (subject to change)

Johnny Gaudreau – Boone Jenner – Jack Roslovic
Alexandre Texier – Adam Fantilli – Emil Bemstrom
Dmitri Voronkov – Cole Sillinger – Kent Johnson
Justin Danforth – Sean Kuraly – Mathieu Olivier
Zach Werenski – Damon Severson
Ivan Provorov – David Jiricek
Jake Bean – Erik Gudbranson
Elvis Merzlikins
Spencer Martin

Scratches: Kirill Marchenko, Adam Boqvist, Andrew Peeke

Injured reserve/Injured Non-Roster: Patrik Laine (upper body, day to day as of Oct. 20), Daniil Tarasov (knee, week to week)

Roster Report: Gudbranson did not skate yesterday after blocking a shot vs. the Islanders on Saturday, but he appears ready to go tonight. Merzlikins will return to the net but there are no other changes expected in the CBJ lineup.