PREVIEW: Blue Jackets end road trip by taking on Mammoth

In the eyes of the Blue Jackets, not all 4-0 losses are created equal.

There are games when you’re shut out and fall by that score and feel like it was a flat, disappointing performance. But while the Blue Jackets didn’t like the fact they suffered their second blanking of the year Saturday in Colorado, they felt like they could take some good things out of the setback considering that not only do the Avs lead the NHL in points by a comfortable margin, they ran their home winning streak to 17 in a row.

Everyone in the NHL has found winning in Colorado to be a tall – well, all but impossible – task this season, but the Blue Jackets believed they brought the kind of effort that would have led to success on many afternoons.

“I really like the way we played,” defenseman Zach Werenski said. “There’s bad losses and losses you can be upset about, and rightfully so, but I feel like today against a team like that, outside of not scoring for us, I feel like we played hard. If we play hard like that, that’s our standard. We just have to score now. It sucks obviously, but I like the way we worked.”

Chief at the top of the list of things the Blue Jackets liked was they limited Colorado’s big guns, keeping the league’s leading scorer, Nathan MacKinnon, and top-scoring defenseman, Cale Makar, off the board. Head coach Dean Evason also felt his team created goal-scoring opportunities even if they didn’t convert.

“I know it sounds crazy, but we saw a lot of good things,” Evason said. “We checked really well against their top guys. ... Did we make some mistakes? Sure, but honestly we thought our offensive sequences, our directness, our willingness to get to the net, get to (the) inside, there were pucks rattling around all over the place. We got pucks through at the top.

“We did some good things. I know it sounds kind of silly when you lose 4-0, but obviously that’s a great team. We think we can build on some stuff.”

The Blue Jackets will have an opportunity to do so quickly, as the schedule hands them the second half of a back-to-back this evening in Utah. Getting two points to end this so-far-winless four-game road trip feels like a necessity, especially with seven of the next eight after tonight coming in Nationwide Arena.

“Obviously we don’t want to leave the road trip empty-handed,” Werenski said. “Every game is big moving forward here. I don’t know how many we have until the Olympic break. We have to get ourselves back into a good spot. Everything is really important. Tomorrow is another really tough task, but if we work like we did today, I feel like we’re going to give ourselves a good chance for success.”

Scratches: Zach Aston-Reese, Jake Christiansen

Injured Reserve: F Mason Marchment (upper body injury, week to week); F Miles Wood (lower body injury, week to week); D Erik Gudbranson (upper body injury); F Isac Lundeström (lower body injury, week to week); D Brendan Smith (knee surgery, out three to four months as of Jan. 8)

Roster Report: The Blue Jackets had some game-time decisions because of injury leading into the Colorado game, so we’ll have to see if any changes need to be made in the second half of the back-to-back, while Greaves is likely to get the net.

This Day in CBJ History

Jan. 11, 2006: The Blue Jackets set a franchise record that still stands with 21 penalties but still leave Nationwide Arena with a 6-1 win over Pittsburgh. The game features two major scraps, with Ron Hainsey and Jody Shelley involved with 3:09 left in the second period – Shelley gets a game misconduct – while Hainsey and Rick Nash are assessed fighting majors of 13:51 of the third. Jaroslav Balastik scores twice for the Blue Jackets while Nash and Sergei Fedorov each have three-point nights.

Jan. 11, 2014: Boone Jenner scores on his first career penalty shot as part of a two-goal night, while Mark Letestu adds a pair of tallies as the Blue Jackets take a 6-3 win at Winnipeg.

Jan. 11, 2020: Elvis Merzlikins earns his first career shutout – and the first of five in an eight-game span – with 27 saves in a 3-0 victory at Vegas.

The Numbers Game

Zach Werenski saw a nine-game point streak (7-9-16) end Saturday but has scored seven times in the last eight games. He is first among NHL defensemen in goals (16), second in points (46), second in average ice time (26:33) and is first in multipoint games (16). He has points in 20 of his last 24 games (12-23-35). ... Kirill Marchenko has points in seven of the last nine games (6-3-9), while Sean Monahan has a 1-4-5 line in his last four contests. ... In the last 10 games, Denton Mateychuk has a 2-6-8 line and is plus-8, while Damon Severson has a 1-6-7 line. ... Blue Jackets defensemen have scored 34 goals this season, the most in the NHL. … Ivan Provorov is one point from 300 in his NHL career, while Boone Jenner is two assists away from 200 in his CBJ/NHL career. ... With two points Thursday night, Jenner broke a tie with Cam Atkinson for third in franchise history and now has 404 career points.

Know The Foe: Utah Mammoth

Head coach: André Tourigny (Fifth season)

Team stats: Goals per game: 3.04 (18th) | Scoring defense: 2.82 (8th) | PP: 15.1 percent (27th) | PK: 81.8 percent (8th)

The narrative: Now in their second year in Utah, the Mammoth have just one playoff appearance in the past 13 seasons dating back to their time in Arizona. After increasing their point total in each of the past three seasons, Utah has a talented young team and had high hopes that this year would deliver playoff hockey to the new market, and the Mammoth are in the mix in the Western Conference. Columbus will also get a look at a newly renovated Delta Center, which saw major work over the offseason to better suit it for hockey action.

Scoring leaders: Clayton Keller has become one of the most underrated scorers in the league, averaging 84 points the past three seasons, and the U.S. Olympian leads the Mammoth with 41 points on 13 goals and 28 assists. Nick Schmaltz is right behind with a 16-24-40 line, while 22-year-old Dylan Guenther has a team-high 21 goals among his 37 points. Mikhail Sergachev (6-25-31) leads the defense, while JJ Peterka has 15 goals in his first season in Utah.

In net: Karel Vejmelka has established himself as the Mammoth’s No. 1, leading the NHL with 20 wins against 11 losses and two OT setbacks along with a 2.63 GAA and .898 save percentage. Vitek Vanečěk is the backup and is 2-9-1 this season.

What's new: Utah is without 21-year-old standout center Logan Cooley, who is out with a lower-body injury after scoring 14 goals in 29 games. It’s a big loss for the Mammoth, who are 8-8-0 in their last 16 games but have won three straight vs. the Rangers, Senators and Blues. Utah enters one point behind Los Angeles for the final wild card spot in the Western Conference.

Trending: Columbus posted a 3-2 overtime victory against the Mammoth in their first visit to Utah last Jan. 31, but the Mammoth responded with a 3-2 OT triumph of their own Feb. 6 in Nationwide Arena.

Former CBJ: The well-traveled Ian Cole is on his ninth team, and his second year with Utah has yielded a 2-11-13 line and plus-15 rating. Kevin Stenlund has played in 44 games this year, notching three goals among 10 points.