PREVIEW: Blue Jackets back in Nationwide Arena to take on Wild

BLUE JACKETS (28-27-3) vs. WILD (34-19-3)

It will be a very quick chance to expunge the bad taste that is in the team's mouth following Thursday night's 6-0 loss at the New York Islanders. It wasn't all bad on Long Island, but things went from bad to worse as the game went along.
Columbus was in the game trailing 1-0 after one period on a 5-on-3 goal for the Islanders. But a three-goal second period left the Blue Jackets on the wrong side of things, as New York scored in transition to take a 2-0 lead and then pulled away by taking advantage of a pair of CBJ mistakes to make it 4-0 after two.
By then, it was all but over, with the Islanders adding two more tallies late in the third as Anders Lee completed his first career hat trick.
"We had a really good first even though they get one," Blue Jackets head coach Brad Larsen said. "They get a tough break there on the 5-on-3, but we're playing fine. We gave up two chances 5-on-5. And even the beginning of the second, we were fine, then we imploded ourselves. The stuff that we gave tonight, I haven't seen that in a period like that where we didn't make them work for their goals.
"We've maybe had a tough period here or there, but what's frustrating is when you're gifting them goals. The second period, gosh, I think they had 10 chances. Seven of them, I just looked at them again and they were just absolute gifts. That's the best way I can put it and they made us pay."
The Blue Jackets had their chances, but Zach Werenski and Jakub Voracek each hit the post in the first two periods and Islanders goalie Ilya Sorokin denied Boone Jenner and Gustav Nyquist on breakaways as well.
If any one of those goes in, it's likely a different game, but each key moment of the game went against the team.
"We haven't played that way in a long time," Werenski said. "We've been playing hard as of late. Tonight, we kind of let that slip and kind of handed that game to them a little bit. I think in the first we were down 1-0, but we were putting in some good minutes. We were playing the right way. Second period, just completed changed, and the next thing you know, it's 2-0, 3-0, 4-0 and at that point it's too hard to come back.
"Best part about it is we have a game tomorrow night in our building and we can get back at it there."

Know the Foe

The Wild enter Columbus having spent much of the season looking like a Stanley Cup contender, but a recent 2-8 stretch in which the team gave up 49 goals has left the squad in third place in the Central Division just five points clear of ninth-place Edmonton.
But Minnesota has won two in a row, including a 6-5 shootout victory on Thursday night in Detroit. The Wild still boasts one of the top offensive teams in the game, placing third in the NHL with 3.73 goals per game and scoring 144 goals at 5-on-5, also third in the NHL. Defense has been the tricky part for the Wild though, as the team is 23rd in the NHL with 3.23 goals allowed per game and also 23rd in penalty kill at 76.2 percent.
Russian forward Kirill Kaprizov at age 24 has proved to be one of the top scorers in the game, as "Kirill the Thrill" and last year's Calder Trophy winner is tied for sixth in the NHL with 72 points on 29 goals and 43 assists. Veteran Mats Zuccarello is next with an 18-40-58 line in just 48 games.
Kevin Fiala is putting together an impressive season, as the 25-year-old winger has fulfilled the promise he's had since his Nashville days with 20 goals and 32 assists for 52 points. Center Ryan Hartman is next with a 23-19-42 line, while Marcus Foligno (19-12-31) and Joel Eriksson Ek (18-13-31) follow. Defensively, Alex Goligoski is the top scorer with a 2-25-27 line and a plus-27 rating, sixth among NHL defensemen.
In net, Cam Talbot is the No. 1, starting 35 games (36 games overall) and going 22-12-1 with a 3.00 GAA and .906 save percentage. Kaapo Kahkonen has played in 23 games with a 12-7-2 record, 2.86 GAA and .912 save percentage.