PREVIEW: Blue Jackets face another Metro foe in Pittsburgh

The historical record will forever state the Washington Capitals won a 5-1 game in Nationwide Arena last night, but it didn’t feel that way by any means.

Columbus outshot the visiting Caps by a 35-30 margin and had 15 high-danger chances at 5-on-5 to Washington’s eight, yet the Blue Jackets got on a plane Friday night having suffered a four-goal loss on home ice.

It was, simply, a game that got away from the Blue Jackets for a variety of reasons. Columbus was as fast, detailed and sharp as it had been all year through the first 38 minutes, but Washington scored with 1:41 left in the second when John Carlson’s long-range shot tipped off a CBJ stick and got by goalie Jet Greaves.

The Caps then scored twice in a 1:04 span early in the third, with Alex Ovechkin scoring off a faceoff for his NHL-record 899th goal before Justin Sourdif’s breakaway tally. The Blue Jackets thought they had righted the ship when Denton Mateychuk scored with just under 10 minutes to go, but Washington scored two power-play goals down the stretch to seal the win.

In many ways, it was a tale of two games – a tightly contested, cat-and-mouse opening two periods before the third turned on a couple of key moments.

“That’s not a 5-1 hockey game,” CBJ head coach Dean Evason said. “It was such a great game. It really was. We come in after the first period and we’re just like, ‘This is fast. It’s great. Guys are playing hard.’”

And in many ways, the difference was Washington goalie Logan Thompson, who made a number of highlight-reel saves among his 34 stops. It likely would have been a different story if the Blue Jackets had scored on a litany of chances throughout, but Thompson also took a couple of goals off the board with his play.

If there was a lesson to be had for the Blue Jackets, it was the importance of sticking with their game for a full 60 minutes against a quality opponent.

“Obviously we felt we put a lot of good minutes in in the first and second (periods),” captain Boone Jenner said. “We weren’t able to get one by him, and obviously that’s up to us to stay with it, stay patient. It’s going to come if we keep playing like that, but it got away from us in the third and we just gave them too many chances.”

Columbus gets another opportunity to show its mettle tonight in Pittsburgh against a foe that can just as easily jump on the Blue Jackets if they have any lulls in play. But the reality is if the Blue Jackets bring the same level of play as long stretches on Friday night, they have a good chance to complete the back-to-back with a good result.

“The players know how hard they played,” Evason said after Friday night’s loss. “They know how well they played, and they know they just need to keep doing that and we’ll get rewarded.”

Scratches: Miles Wood (upper body), Jake Christiansen

Injured reserve/Non-Roster: None

Roster Report: The Blue Jackets won’t have a morning skate, so any changes to the lineup will be discussed pregame by Evason, but it seems likely Merzlikins gets the start in the second half of the back-to-back.

This Day in CBJ History

Oct. 25, 2007: Pascal Leclaire earns his fourth shutout in the first nine games, stopping all 36 shots in a 3-0 win vs. St. Louis at Nationwide Arena. Jared Boll, Rick Nash and Jiri Novotny score in the CBJ victory.

The Numbers Game

Kirill Marchenko saw a five-game point streak (5-2-7) end Friday night. His tally Saturday vs. Tampa Bay moved him into 10th place alone in Blue Jackets franchise history with 80 goals. ... Dmitri Voronkov has points in six of seven games this season (3-4-7). ... Denton Mateychuk has scored in two straight games while Kent Johnson has goals in two of the last three. ... The Blue Jackets have won 52.2 percent of faceoffs this season, good for 10th in the NHL. ... With a goal and assist at Dallas on Tuesday, Boone Jenner moved into second place in CBJ history with 82 career multipoint games. ... The Blue Jackets have outscored opponents 14-9 at 5-on-5 thus far. ... Charlie Coyle is one assist shy of 300 in his NHL career, while Zach Aston-Reese is one point shy of 100 and Dante Fabbro is two points shy of 100. Sean Monahan is three points from 600 in his career

Know The Foe: Pittsburgh Penguins

Head coach: Dan Muse (First season)

Team stats: Goals per game: 3.50 (T-7th) | Scoring defense: 2.38 (T-4th) | PP: 33.3 percent (1st) | PK: 76.0 percent (17th)

The narrative: The season began with talk that the Penguins were fully embracing a rebuild this season, with longtime head coach Mike Sullivan off to New York and such veterans as Bryan Rust, Rickard Rakell and Erik Karlsson on the theoretical trading block. But before you could say Gavin McKenna, the Penguins got off to a red-hot start to the season under Muse, winning six of the first eight games including four in a row heading into tonight. Time will tell if the Penguins can make a first playoff appearance since 2021-22, but there’s no faulting the team’s start out of the gate.

Scoring leaders: And as you might expect, two familiar names – Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin – have paced the Penguins in the early going. No matter that Malkin is 39 and Crosby 38, as the two ageless wonders have propelled the Pens; Malkin leads the team with 12 points (two goals, 10 assists), while Crosby has posted a 6-5-11 line. Crosby is tied for sixth in the NHL in goals, while Malkin is tied for fourth in assists and sixth in points. Offseason additions Justin Brazeau (5-3-8) and Anthony Mantha (3-3-6) have pulled their weight, while Rakell has three goals among eight points.

In net: Perhaps the biggest factor in the Pens’ strong start has been goaltending, as Pittsburgh struggled getting stops a year ago. Tristan Jarry (3-1-0, 2.52 GAA, .921 SV%) and Arturs Silovs (3-1-0, 2.25, .919) have each made four starts and performed well in the early going.

What's new: The Penguins had a fair amount of roster shakeup in the offseason, and such additions as Brazeau, Silovs and defensemen Parker Wotherspoon and Caleb Jones have contributed in the early going. Add in a dose of youth – 2024 second-round pick Harrison Brunicke and 2025 first-rounder Ben Kindel didn't just make the opening roster but have impressed – and Pittsburgh has found a mix that works in the early going.

Trending: The Blue Jackets were 2-1-0 against the Pens a season ago and broke the longstanding hex in the Steel City, as their 4-3 shootout win Jan. 7 was the franchise’s first there since 2015. The Pens responded with a 6-3 win in Pittsburgh on March 21.

Former CBJ: None