PREVIEW: Blue Jackets hit the road again to take on Sabres

Are the Blue Jackets becoming road warriors?

A year ago, a young CBJ squad took tremendous steps forward in the standings, but the Blue Jackets weren’t the same team on the road as at home.

Columbus tied a franchise record with 57 points earned at home a year ago, and their 161 home goals (3.92 per game) led the league. On the road, it was a different story; the Jackets went just 14-23-4 in the white sweaters while averaging 2.59 tallies per game.

But so far this year, the tide has turned going into tonight’s game at Buffalo. In the team’s first four road games, Columbus is 3-1-0 and outscoring teams by a 17-11 margin, with those 4.25 goals per game good for second in the NHL.

Since taking over as head coach, Dean Evason has said he wants his team to play the same way no matter where the game is played. And when asked Monday what makes it hard to play on the road in the NHL, he had a simple answer.

“Nothing,” Evason said. “There should be nothing.”

There is one inherent advantage for the home squad, which is being able to make the last line change before faceoffs, so the matchups occasionally turn out more favorable for the hosts. The data a year ago showed that it was easier for home squads than visitors, as the NHL’s 32 teams averaged 50.0 points on the season in their own buildings and just 40.4 away from home.

Whether it’s sleeping in your own bed or being able to stick to an established routine, it’s clear there is some advantage to being in familiar surroundings. But Evason counters that by pointing out that teams have it easier than in the old days, whether it be from a travel perspective to the reality that imposing old buildings like the Spectrum in Philadelphia aren’t quite what they used to be.

“I tried to explain to the team a couple of times last year in particular that the road should not be a hard place to play anymore,” Evason said. “It’s not like back in the day when you went into the Spectrum, right? That was hard. So we got into the coaches meeting after I had a little chat with the team, and the coaches said, ‘They don’t know what the Spectrum is. They think it’s cable.’

“But the next time we spoke, we talked about, where you play shouldn’t matter anymore. Teams aren’t tougher in one place than they are in another. The fans aren’t as raucous as they used to be and all that kind of stuff.”

Whatever the reason, the road has been much kinder to the Blue Jackets so far, with wins at 2025 postseason squads Minnesota and Dallas as well as Saturday’s shootout victory at Pittsburgh – just the franchise’s second win in the Steel City since 2016.

Tuesday also marks the return of the NHL's Frozen Frenzy, with all 32 teams in action in staggered start times throughout the night. While the Blue Jackets' game will be televised as usual on FanDuel Sports Network, fans can also watch live highlights from throughout the league on ESPN2 (6-7:30 p.m.) and ESPN+ (6-11 p.m.).

Scratches: Zach Aston-Reese, Jake Christiansen

Injured reserve/Non-Roster: None

Roster Report: Wood will return to the lineup for the first time since suffering an upper-body injury Oct. 13 vs. New Jersey, going in for Aston-Reese, while Greaves will get the net as the CBJ goalie rotation continues.

This Day in CBJ History

Oct. 28, 2005: Adam Foote scores at 19:18 of the third period and Trevor Letowski gets the tiebreaking winner in the eighth round of the shootout as the Blue Jackets take a 2-1 victory over Minnesota in Nationwide Arena. It was the first shootout victory in team history, as Mark Hartigan scored the first shootout goal for the franchise and goalie Martin Prusek stopped seven of eight Wild shots against.

Oct. 28, 2016: Sergei Bobrovsky posts his second shutout in seven days, making 35 saves in a 4-0 victory at Anaheim.

Oct. 28, 2022: First-round draft pick David Jiricek, 18, makes his NHL debut in a game vs. Boston in Nationwide Arena, becoming the second-youngest defenseman to do so in club history after Rostislav Klesla.

Oct. 28, 2024: The Blue Jackets romp to a 6-1 win over Edmonton at Nationwide Arena. Sean Monahan scores twice and Mikael Pyyhtiä tallies his first career goal.

The Numbers Game

Captain Boone Jenner is set to play in his 750th career game, becoming the first CBJ player to reach the milestone. ... Dmitri Voronkov notched his sixth career two-goal game Saturday and has points in eight of nine games this year (5-4-9), while Kirill Marchenko has points in six of the last seven games (5-3-8). ... Denton Mateychuk and Kent Johnson each have two goals in the last four games. ... The Blue Jackets have outscored opponents 18-11 at 5-on-5 thus far and given up the fewest goals in the NHL at 5-on-5. ... Sean Monahan is two points from 600 in his career. He would become the third player from his 2013 draft class to reach the mark (Nathan MacKinnon, 1,029; Aleksander Barkov, 782; Elias Lindholm, 611). ... Charlie Coyle is one assist shy of 300 in his NHL career, while Dante Fabbro is one point shy of 100.

Know The Foe: Buffalo Sabres

Head coach: Lindy Ruff (Second season)

Team stats: Goals per game: 3.00 (T-16th) | Scoring defense: 3.00 (T-14th) | PP: 23.3 percent (T-10th) | PK: 93.9 percent (1st)

The narrative: Is this the year? Buffalo’s NHL-record run of 14 straight seasons without a postseason appearance had led to considerable pain – and at times, apathy – in Western New York, but the Sabres hope they have learned from the struggles of past seasons and are ready to be in the Eastern Conference race. After a tough start, the Sabres have righted the ship over the last six games and hope to have improved defensively enough to be a viable contender for the Stanley Cup Playoffs this year.

Scoring leaders: It should come as no surprise that one of the NHL’s top goal scorers, Tage Thompson, leads the way thus far with eight points on four goals and four assists. Alex Tuch has three goals among seven points and 23 penalty minutes already, while youngster Zach Benson and defenseman Rasmus Dahlin are next with matching 0-7-7 lines. There’s scoring depth, as well, as Jason Zucker, Ryan McLeod, Jack Quinn and offseason acquisition Josh Doan each have six points.

In net: Buffalo has already played three goaltenders, a list that doesn’t include highly touted prospect Devon Levi and NHL veteran Alexandar Georgiev, who are both with AHL Rochester. Well-traveled veteran Alex Lyon has led the way with a 3-4-0 record, 2.61 GAA and .922 SV% in seven games, while rookie Colten Ellis and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen have each started one game.

What's new: The Sabres had a disastrous start, dropping the first three games by a combined score of 10-2, but have rebounded to a 4-1-1 mark in the last six while scoring on 7 of 19 power plays (36.8 percent) in that span. They’ve done so despite a bevy of injuries that have led to 27 players already seeing action this season. Center Joshua Norris suffered an upper-body injury in the early going while forwards Justin Danforth, Jordan Greenway and Tyler Kozak as well as defenseman Michael Kesselring – a marquee offseason acquisition in a deal for forward J.J. Peterka – have missed time.

Trending: The Blue Jackets went 2-1-0 against the Sabres last year, winning both games in Nationwide Arena and dropping a 3-2 final in Buffalo on Feb. 4. Columbus had won four in a row in the Nickel City before losing the last two.

Former CBJ: Danforth signed with Buffalo in the offseason after four seasons in Columbus but went on injured reserve (lower body) after playing four games. With the spate of injuries hitting the squad, forward Joshua Dunne has been recalled and played in three contests without a point.