Gameday Preview: Blue Jackets vs. Golden Knights

On Nov 28, 2022

The Details

A season-best six-game homestand has become a seven-gamer with Saturday’s game in Nashville being postponed. The Blue Jackets will try to finish it strong tonight against a good Vegas team; while Columbus has lost two in a row, the Jackets have played some good hockey and have just been unable to find the needed goals to emerge with wins in setbacks vs. Montreal (3-1) and the New York Islanders (3-2).

What They’re Saying

It’s a small sample size, but there is reason to like the way the Blue Jackets have played in recent games.

Columbus followed up Sunday’s win over Florida with back-to-back losses to the Canadiens and Islanders, but the biggest takeaway would be just how well the team has played defensively in those contests. In fact, over the past eight days, per Natural Stat Trick, no team in the NHL has been better at preventing high-danger scoring chances than the Jackets.

“The last two have been really good as far as what we’re giving up at 5-on-5,” head coach Brad Larsen said. “It’s minimal. Again, some teams are a little bit more dangerous than others. You play Florida, they’re gonna get some chances. It’s a really dangerous team. They are high-scoring, they were busting records last year. You know you’re going to give up some chances, especially as thin as we are.

“Now we have Vegas coming in, that’s a pretty loaded lineup, so you’re probably going to have to defend a little more. But as far as what we’re doing, our concept, guys are grasping it.”

What makes it even more impressive is the Jackets remain without four of their top defensemen with Zach Werenski, Nick Blankenburg, Jake Bean and Adam Boqvist remaining out of the lineup. But Columbus has been able to find chemistry over the past five games, keeping together pairings that include Vladislav Gavrikov with Marcus Bjork, Jake Christiansen with Erik Gudbranson and Andrew Peeke alongside Gavin Bayreuther.

“At the end of the day, we’ve spread it out a bit and they’ve built some chemistry,” Larsen said. “You get a few games together, you start to get more comfortable.”

Know The Foe: Vegas Golden Knights

Head coach: Bruce Cassidy (First season)

Season Stats: Goals per game: 3.48 (7th) | Scoring defense: 2.65 (6th) | PP: 21.2 percent (17th) | PK: 73.7 percent (25th)

The narrative: The Golden Knights missed the playoffs a season ago for the first time, prompting a change behind the bench. Peter DeBoer was let go with Cassidy being brought in from Boston, and the results have been impressive with the team leading the Pacific Division at the quarter pole. Last year’s trade for Jack Eichel is paying dividends, as he leads the way for a team has been getting it done on both ends of the ice.

2022-23 leaders: Eichel has 11 goals and 15 assists for 26 points, good for a tie for 13th in the NHL, and his plus-16 rating is tied for first in the league among forwards. Alex Pietrangelo has a 3-18-21 line to place tied for fourth among defensemen in the league in scoring. Chandler Stephenson is having another big year with a 6-13-19 line while Mark Stone has nine goals and nine assists for 18 points.

In net, Logan Thompson is having a tremendous season, posting an 11-4-0 record in 15 starts with a 2.48 GAA and .920 save percentage.

What’s new: With Robin Lehner expected to miss the season with a hip injury, Thompson has taken over the cage and excelled. The only other big new piece on the squad this year is Phil Kessel, with the NHL’s all-time ironman now up to 1,004 straight appearances; he has a 4-4-8 line this year. Despite the hot start, Vegas has lost two in a row and is 3-4-1 since a 13-2-0 start.

Trending: Columbus is 5-3-0 all-time against the Golden Knights, including a 3-1 mark at home that includes last year’s 6-4 victory on March 13 that featured a hat trick from Cole Sillinger.

Former CBJ: Jonathan Marchessault is just off the top scorers list, posting eight goals among his 17 points, while William Karlsson has a 5-10-15 line. Keegan Kolesar was a third-round pick of the Jackets in 2015 and has played in 21 games, posting three goals.

3 Keys to the Game

Power play moves: Columbus is 8 for 25 (32.0 percent) on the power play in the last 10 games, while Vegas has struggled on the kill this year. This is a place you can sneak in some goals.

Contributions from all over: The Blue Jackets have struggled to find goals the past two games, and they’ve been at their best when they get scoring from up and down the lineup.

Stick with structure: Vegas can put pressure on you and get to the hard areas, one reason the squad is fourth in the NHL per Natural Stat Trick in high danger chances percentage at 5-on-5. The Jackets have to bring the same structure of the past two games into this one.

3 Stats to Know

With five goals on the season, Kent Johnson is tied with Dallas’ Wyatt Johnson for third among NHL rookies. Ottawa’s Shane Pinto leads the way with eight and Seattle’s Matty Beniers, Johnson’s college teammate, is next with six. Coming off a 1-1-2 line Friday, he is also tied for third among NHL rookies in points.
Blue Jackets rookies collected 1-2-3 on Friday and have combined for 8-14-22 in 20 games in 2022-23, ranking tied for second among NHL teams in goals and fifth in points.
Milestone watch: Cole Sillinger is set to play in his 100th career NHL game. … Gudbranson is one point from 100 for his NHL career (27-72-99, 660 GP). … Jenner is two points from 300 for his NHL career (152-146-298, 609 GP).

Who’s Hot

Yegor Chinakhov has a 2-3-5 line in the last six games. … Sean Kuraly has four goals in the past six games while Mathieu Olivier has notched goals in two of the last five. … Johnny Gaudreau has a 2-8-11 line in the last eight games. … Boone Jenner has a 7-2-9 line in the last eight home games. … Twenty different Blue Jackets have scored goals on the season, tied for the second most in the NHL with Boston. Sixteen of those players have multiple goals. … With the CBJ’s two overtime winners, Gavrikov is just the fourth Blue Jackets defenseman to have multiple overtime goals in a season. … With 11 goals by defensemen, the Jackets are tied for eighth in the NHL.

This Day in CBJ History

Nov. 28, 2013: The Blue Jackets signed Corey Tropp off waivers from Buffalo. He would go on to play 105 games for the team over two seasons.

Roster Report

Projected Lineup (subject to change)

Johnny Gaudreau – Boone Jenner – Gustav Nyquist
Trey Fix-Wolansky – Jack Roslovic – Kent Johnson
Yegor Chinakhov – Cole Sillinger – Carson Meyer
Eric Robinson – Sean Kuraly – Mathieu Olivier
Vladislav Gavrikov – Marcus Bjork
Jake Christiansen – Erik Gudbranson
Gavin Bayreuther – Andrew Peeke
Joonas Korpisalo OR Daniil Tarasov

Scratches: Liam Foudy, Brendan Gaunce, Billy Sweezey

Injured reserve: Elvis Merzlikins (hip, out 1-2 weeks as of Nov. 17); Patrik Laine (ankle sprain, out three to four weeks as of Nov. 14); Nick Blankenburg (ankle, out six to eight weeks as of Nov. 11); Adam Boqvist (broken foot, out six weeks as of Oct. 26); Jake Bean (shoulder, out indefinitely); Jakub Voracek (upper body, out indefinitely); Zach Werenski (shoulder, out for season); Justin Danforth (shoulder surgery, out six months as of Oct. 25)

Roster Report: The Blue Jackets used largely the same lines at practice Sunday as in Friday night’s game, with the exception of Foudy in Gaudreau’s place as the latter battles illness. Larsen said he’ll have an update on Gaudreau’s availability Monday after morning skate.