PREVIEW: Blue Jackets welcome Blackhawks to Nationwide

There was finally a chance for the Blue Jackets to catch their breath the last couple of days.

Columbus is in the midst of a franchise record-tying nine-game winless streak, and the losses have come fast and furious of late. Sunday’s 5-2 setback at Philadelphia was the Blue Jackets’ sixth game in nine days, and the heavy legs were obvious at times as the Jackets saw yet another close game get away from them in the third period.

The Blue Jackets have led in seven of the nine setbacks, with sometimes the smallest of margins and breaks going against the team. It’s not how Pascal Vincent imagined starting his NHL coaching career, but he’s getting an early chance at seeing how his team responds to his coaching in such a situation.

“This is where we are now,” he said. “Adversity is a beautiful challenge, and we’re facing some. We're gonna be in the trenches. We're in the trenches with our guys. We're in this together.”

The hope is that having Monday off and then staging a practice Tuesday will provide the Blue Jackets with a little energy and prep time going into tonight’s contest with Chicago, which like Columbus is struggling at the moment. Captain Boone Jenner said he wants to see some more out of the squad as it looks to get back in the win column.

“We have better,” Jenner said in the locker room in Philadelphia. “Obviously the streak we're on, we have to have a lot better effort if we want to get out of it. … I think the urgency and the emotion need to be ramped up if we want to get out of this funk.”

Of particular note is the game will be the first-ever matchup between Chicago rookie standout Connor Bedard and the Blue Jackets’ top pick in last year’s draft, Adam Fantilli. The two became friendly in the summer as they went through all the prep for the NHL draft, with Bedard being chosen first overall by the Blackhawks and Fantilli going in the third slot to Columbus.

So far, Bedard leads NHL rookies in both goals (nine) and points (15), with Fantilli checking in with four goals and nine points to place in the top five among league rookies in both stats.

Know The Foe: Chicago Blackhawks

Head coach: Luke Richardson (2nd season)

Team stats: Goals per game: 3.50 (30th) | Scoring defense: 3.50 (24th) | PP: 11.3 percent (29th) | PK: 77.4 percent (19th)

The narrative: The Blackhawks’ dynasty is over, but is another building? Such longtime stalwarts as Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews and Duncan Keith are no longer in Chicago, but the team won the lottery last season and thus ended up with Connor Bedard. There’s a long way to go, but Bedard and fellow first-round picks Kevin Korchinski and Lukas Reichel are learning on the job and hope to be big pieces that will help Chicago get back to the top down the road.

Team leaders: Bedard has more than lived up to the hype, as his nine goals and 15 points through 16 games leads not just NHL rookies in both categories but the Blackhawks as well. Philipp Kurashev has played just 10 games but is playing at a point-per-game pace (4-6-10), while veterans Corey Perry (4-5-9) and Nick Foligno (2-7-9) were brought in to help lead the way but are also producing. Seth Jones is the top-scoring defenseman with seven assists thus far.

The goaltending chores have been split between veteran Petr Mrazek (10 starts) and youngster Arvid Soderblom (seven), with Mrazek posting a 4-5-0 record, 2.89 GAA and .915 save percentage.

What's new: Chicago is a much different team than a year ago, adding teenagers Bedard and Korchinski to the mix along with veterans like Foligno, Perry and Taylor Hall, to name a few. The team has found the road fairly rough thus far, though, with the team’s 10 points placing 31st in the NHL and the squad riding a four-game losing streak. Each of those setbacks was by one goal, though, if empty netters are taken out.

Trending: The teams have split the season series in six of the last eight seasons, including last year, as Chicago won at home by a 5-2 score Dec. 23 before the Blue Jackets returned the favor in a 4-1 win on New Year’s Eve.

Former CBJ: Richardson was the third captain in CBJ history before getting into the coaching ranks, while Foligno and Jones are fourth and 10th, respectively, in scoring in team history.

Roster Report

Projected Lineup (subject to change)

Johnny Gaudreau – Boone Jenner – Kirill Marchenko
Dmitri Voronkov – Adam Fantilli – Patrik Laine
Yegor Chinakhov – Cole Sillinger – Eric Robinson
Alexandre Texier – Sean Kuraly – Justin Danforth
Zach Werenski – Adam Boqvist
Ivan Provorov – David Jiricek
Jake Bean – Erik Gudbranson
Elvis Merzlikins
Spencer Martin

Scratches: Mathieu Olivier, Andrew Peeke, Damon Severson (out approximately six weeks with an oblique injury as of Nov. 21)

Injured reserve/Injured Non-Roster: Jack Roslovic (fractured ankle, out four to six weeks as of Nov. 13); Daniil Tarasov (knee, week to week)

Roster Report: Robinson was recalled Tuesday after a busy day that included the announcement of Severson’s injury as well as the loan of Trey Fix-Wolansky to Cleveland. Vincent said Laine will be in the lineup after being a healthy scratch in Sunday’s loss, but there are some game-time decisions to be had. 

3 Stats to Know

• Both Adam Fantilli (nine points, tied for sixth) and Dmitri Voronkov (eight points, tied for 10th) are among the top 10 rookies in the NHL in scoring.
• Ivan Provorov (11 assists) and Zach Werenski (10) make the Blue Jackets one of three teams with two defensemen who have double digits in helpers this season. The others are Vancouver (Quinn Hughes and Filip Hronek) and Tampa Bay (Victor Hedman and Mikhail Sergachev).
• Milestone watch: Jake Bean and Johnny Gaudreau are both set to play in their 100th games with the Blue Jackets. … Yegor Chinakhov played in his 100th career NHL game Sunday at Philadelphia.

Who’s Hot

Alexandre Texier has a 4-3-7 line in the last eight games. … Zach Werenski had a career-best five-game assist streak snapped Sunday. … Dmitri Voronkov has a 2-6-8 line in his first 13 games, becoming just one of five CBJ players in franchise history to have at least eight points in their first 13 career NHL contests along with Werenski (4-8-12), Jakub Voracek (3-7-10), Oliver Bjorkstrand (4-4-8) and Cole Sillinger (4-4-8). … Adam Fantilli is tied for fifth among NHL rookies in goals (four). … Justin Danforth has a 2-1-3 line in the last five games and played a career-high 20:54 on Sunday vs. Philadelphia, while Sean Kuraly has points in five of the last six games (2-3-5). … Columbus ranks first in the NHL penalty kill percentage since Oct. 20, killing off 40 of 44 (90.9 percent) power-play chances over the last 16 games.

This Day in CBJ History

Nov. 22, 2002: Marc Denis starts his 20th consecutive game in net to begin the season, making 28 saves in a 5-4 loss at Buffalo. Columbus fell to 8-8-2-2 with the setback, and Jean-Francois Labbe got the call a night later in the second half of the back-to-back in Ottawa.

Nov. 22, 2006: After five games under interim coach Gary Agnew following the firing of Doug MacLean as head coach, the Blue Jackets hire veteran Ken Hitchcock as the team’s fourth full-time head coach. The newly minted Hockey Hall of Famer would go on to win 125 games at the helm of the Jackets, now third in team history, and lead the team to the playoffs for the first time in 2008-09.

Nov. 22, 2008: Steve Mason makes just 15 saves – the fewest ever in a shutout performance by a CBJ goal – as the Blue Jackets take a 2-0 win at Atlanta.

Nov. 22, 2017: Sergei Bobrovsky makes 22 saves and Josh Anderson scores in overtime as Columbus takes a 1-0 victory vs. Calgary at Nationwide Arena. It is one of just 14 games in franchise history to see a 0-0 score at the end of regulation and one of just six wins by a 1-0 score in extra time.