PREVIEW: Blue Jackets continue Western swing against Avalanche

Thursday’s 5-3 loss in Vegas unfortunately followed a familiar script for the way the season has gone for the Blue Jackets.

After getting out to a 2-0 lead on the Golden Knights, the Blue Jackets made the kinds of mistakes at key times that lose hockey games. Twice, Columbus gave up a goal within two minutes of scoring, the Blue Jackets gave up a power-play goal and another on a delayed penalty to get outscored on special teams, and what was once a two-goal lead turned into another dispiriting loss.

Head coach Dean Evason said he has no doubt the Blue Jackets are putting in the effort to turn the season around, but it’s those types of errors that they have to eliminate from their game.

“I think our guys are committed,” Evason said. “They’re working their (butts) off trying to score, trying to defend. It’s just at this point, we’re getting one or two glaring mistakes as far as that clear-cut opportunity (for the other team), and we are just going to have to keep grinding and keeping talking about it and keep showing it. I know our heart is there. I know our desire is there, our grind is there.

“We’re doing the right things to score goals, but we just have to really limit those clear-cut opportunities at crucial times in hockey games to at least give ourselves a chance to get back into that.”

The loss in Vegas was a third straight for the Blue Jackets, who remain in last place in the Eastern Conference, eight points behind the final wild card spot. It’s a gap that can be made up, but Columbus has to start stringing wins together, and it has to start with belief, a sense of urgency, and playing sound, fundamental hockey.

“We have to find ways to win games,” Sean Monahan said. “We know we have a good team. We believe in each other. We have to up that belief. When you do that, you know you can try to come back in games if you’re down, or if you have a lead, you believe you keep that lead and you’re a hard team to play against. That’s something we have to get back to and we have to do that the right way.”

Things don’t get any easier today, though, as Columbus faces a Colorado team that has five more wins and 11 more points than anyone else in the NHL. But what better time to ignite a winning streak than doing so against the best team in the league?

“I think it’s fantastic,” Evason said of the challenge. “They’re clearly the best team in the league. Their record shows it. They’re doing a lot of amazing things up to this point. We liked a little bit of our game when we played against them last time (in October), but not a lot, so we can hopefully take a lot from that.

“Listen, I don’t care who we’re playing, we better be desperate. We put the skates on the same as they do, so we’ll compete our (butts) off and see where we sit.”

Scratches: Danton Heinen, 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: Merzlikins will get the start against the Avs, while Evason said every player will take warmups and they'll see the lineup from there.

This Day in CBJ History

Jan. 10, 2003: Marc Denis starts his 21st consecutive game, posting 27 saves in a 3-2 victory at Vancouver. Denis would go on to play an then-NHL record 4,510 minutes that season in 77 games, both still CBJ franchise marks.

Jan. 10, 2008: Nikita Filatov becomes the youngest Blue Jackets player (18 years, 230 days) and first CBJ rookie to post a hat trick when he scores three goals in a 4-2 victory vs. Minnesota at Nationwide Arena.

Jan. 10, 2009: The Blue Jackets acquire forward Mike Blunden from Chicago for Adam Pineault.

Jan. 10, 2010: Mathieu Garon stops all 26 shots against to earn the shutout as the Blue Jackets earn a 2-0 victory vs. Dallas at Nationwide Arena. Raffi Torres scores in the first period before Antoine Vermette’s empty-net clincher.

Jan. 10, 2014: Sergei Bobrovsky makes 36 saves in a 3-0 home victory vs. Carolina to notch the Blue Jackets’ fifth shutout of the season. Boone Jenner and Brandon Dubinsky score 1:10 apart in the first period and Cam Atkinson adds a power-play goal in the third.

Jan. 10, 2019: Artemi Panarin’s goal 1:22 into overtime gives the Blue Jackets a 4-3 victory vs. Nashville at Nationwide Arena. Head coach John Tortorella becomes the 19th coach in NHL history (sixth active) to post 600 career wins with the victory.

The Numbers Game

After notching an assist Thursday, Zach Werenski has points in each of his last nine games (7-9-16) and has scored seven times in the last seven games. He is first among NHL defensemen in goals (16), second in points (46), second in average ice time (26:40) and is first in multipoint games (16). He has points in 20 of his last 23 games (12-23-35) and at least one point in his last 14 home games (10-16-26). ... Kirill Marchenko has points in seven of the last eight games (6-3-9), while Sean Monahan has a 1-4-5 line in his last three contests. ... In the last nine games, Denton Mateychuk has a 2-6-8 line and is plus-8, Damon Severson has a 1-6-7 line, and Ivan Provorov is plus-6. ... 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: Colorado Avalanche

Head coach: Jerad Bednar (10th season)

Team stats: Goals per game: 4.05 (1st) | Scoring defense: 2.21 (1st) | PP: 16.8 percent (24th) | PK: 85.4 percent (1st)

The narrative: Led by such core players as 2024 Hart Trophy winner Nathan MacKinnon and two-time Norris Trophy winner Cale Makar, the 2002 Stanley Cup champs are in the midst of a historic season, with just four losses in regulation thus far and an 18-0-2 record at home. Championships aren’t won in the first half, but the Avs have been a complete team thus far, scoring 24 more goals than any other team and allowing 16 less than anyone else. Imagine if the power play ever gets going.

Scoring leaders: Everything starts with MacKinnon, who is coming off three straight 100-point campaigns and may pass that mark by the Olympic break, as his 36 goals, 78 points and plus-48 rating all lead the NHL. Makar could be in line for a second straight Norris as his 38 assists and 51 points both lead league defensemen, and he’s ninth overall in scoring. Martin Nečas and Brock Nelson have proved to be shrewd acquisitions over the past year, as Nečas is seventh in the NHL with 55 points (20 goals, 35 assists) and Nelson has 21 goals among 37 points this year.

In net: With Mackenzie Blackwood (16 appearances) on the injury list, Scott Wedgewood has played as the team’s No. 1, and the 33-year-old is posting career numbers with a 19-3-4 record, 2.19 GAA and .917 save percentage. Trent Miner has been recalled as the backup and played in two games.

What's new: Perhaps the scariest part is that the Avs have been this dominant without some key players, as Blackwood has recently been joined on the shelf by captain Gabriel Landeskog and top-pair defenseman Devon Toews. Colorado is 26-3-3 since a 5-1-4 start, and the Avs rebounded from their first back-to-back regulation losses of the season in early January to Florida and Tampa Bay with an 8-2 drubbing of Ottawa on Thursday. They’re particularly scary at home, averaging 4.70 goals per game and topping six goals eight times on home ice.

Trending: Colorado won the first matchup of the season Oct. 16, posting a 4-1 victory in Nationwide Arena. Columbus won 6-4 in the second game of the year a season ago in Denver, and it’s been a fairly even series dating back to 2016-17, with the Avs posting nine wins and Columbus eight.

Former CBJ: Forward Gavin Brindley was acquired by the Avs this offseason and has appeared in 30 games, posting five goals among nine points.