PREVIEW: Blue Jackets end season at home vs. Carolina

The Blue Jackets’ penultimate game of the season Saturday night in Nashville was one for the youngsters.

Trey Fix-Wolansky had his first career two-goal game and James Malatesta scored his first NHL goal, but it wasn’t enough for Columbus as it lost its last road contest of the season by a 6-4 score in Music City.

But as the Jackets have turned to a bevy of younger players down the stretch thanks to a seemingly unending run of injuries, one of the positives down the stretch has been seeing those players get more and more comfortable at the NHL level and even start to contribute.

“Maybe there’s a little bit more confidence and less thinking,” head coach Pascal Vincent said postgame. “That's where you want to get to that point where they just play. For young players like this, that's a huge step. They have a little bit more experience coming to the camp next year.

“You know, I've seen it before. You go in the summer, you come back three, four months later and you're a different player. We've seen it with Kent Johnson after the first year. So these are important moments for them and moments that they can grow quite a bit.”

While those youngsters made their mark Saturday, and two new players will have a chance to do so tonight. Gavin Brindley, a second-round draft pick of the Blue Jackets this past summer, is set to make his NHL debut after an All-American season at the University of Michigan where he was eighth in NCAA hockey with 53 points (25 goals, 28 assists) and earned Big Ten Player of the Year honors.

"This is a dream come true, right?" Brindley said. "A lot of excitement for tonight."

Luca Del Bel Belluz, a rookie who has spent this season with Cleveland, also will debut. A 40-goal scorer in the OHL last year, he's posted a 9-21-30 in 55 games with the Monsters.

They will be the fifth and sixth players this season to make his NHL debut for Columbus – joining Adam Fantilli, Malatesta, Dmitri Voronkov and Cameron Butler – and the 132nd and 133rd ever.

Know The Foe: Carolina Hurricanes

Head coach: Rod Brind’Amour (Sixth season)

Team stats: Goals per game: 3.38 (7th) | Scoring defense: 2.53 (3rd) | PP: 27.1 percent (2nd) | PK: 86.3 percent (1st)

The narrative: Is this the year for Carolina? The Canes have made five straight playoff appearances, two of which have ended in the Eastern Conference final, but have yet to get over the hump. The team’s up-tempo, relentless style exhausts teams in the regular season, but a squad many say is without a true superstar just hasn’t been able to get all the way to the Stanley Cup Final. That could change this season, though, as Carolina is as good as ever and landed perhaps the biggest fish in the pond at the trade deadline in Pittsburgh’s Jake Guentzel.

Team leaders: Sebastian Aho has long been one of the more underrated players in the NHL, but it’s hard to ignore his career-best 36-53-89 campaign that has him tied for 16th in the league in points. At just 21 years old, Seth Jarvis has proved to be a shrewd draft pick as he has 33 goals among his 67 points. Martin Necas adds 24-29-53 while Teuvo Teravainen (25-28-51), Andrei Svechnikov (19-33-52) and defensemen Brady Skjei (13-34-47) and Brent Burns (10-31-41) aren’t far behind.

The Hurricanes have used five netminders on the season, with young Russian Pyotr Kochetkov leading the way with a 23-13-4 record, 2.33 GAA and .911 save percentage. Frederik Andersen is back from injury and is 13-2-0 in 16 games, including a shutout vs. Columbus last Sunday.

What's new: A noted CBJ killer in his career, Guentzel has had little trouble settling in with the Hurricanes, posting an 8-17-25 line and plus-16 rating in 17 games. The Canes also got Evgeny Kuznetsov (2-5-7 in 19 games) at the deadline, boosting a squad that’s already one of the top-scoring teams in the league. They’re finishing strong, too, with a 35-9-3 record since late December and an 15-3-1 mark since the deadline.

Trending: The Blue Jackets have struggled with Carolina’s pressing ways in recent years and are 0-3 this year, including a 3-0 shutout loss last Sunday in Raleigh. In all, the Blue Jackets are 2-8-0 the past three seasons against the Canes.

Former CBJ: Carolina grabbed former CBJ goalie Spencer Martin on waivers earlier this season and he’s 4-0-1 with the team in five appearances with a 1.97 GAA and .922 save percentage, though Martin hasn’t played since the Feb. 29 win over Columbus.

Roster Report

Projected Lineup (subject to change)

Johnny Gaudreau – Justin Danforth – Alex Nylander
Alexandre Texier – Cole Sillinger – Kirill Marchenko
Mikael Pyythia – Luca Del Bel Belluz – Gavin Brindley
James Malatesta – Sean Kuraly – Mathieu Olivier
Zach Werenski – Damon Severson
Ivan Provorov – Erik Gudbranson
Nick Blankenburg – David Jiricek
Jet Greaves
Elvis Merzlikins

Scratches: Adam Fantilli (calf laceration), Yegor Chinakhov (upper body), Adam Boqvist (upper body), Boone Jenner (personal, day to day), Daniil Tarasov (upper body), Jake Bean (broken hand), Carson Meyer (upper body), Brendan Gaunce (upper body), Dmitri Voronkov (illness)

Injured reserve: Kent Johnson (torn labrum in left shoulder, out for season)

Roster Report: Merzlikins will back up Greaves while Brindley and Del Bel Belluz will make their debuts. Trey Fix-Wolansky and Malcolm Subban were optioned to AHL Cleveland on Monday to make room, while Voronkov is out sick.

3 Stats to Know

• Zach Werenski has tied James Wisniewski (2013-14) among defensemen for a CBJ single-season record with his 44 assists. He has set a career high with 53 points on the season, and his point total is second all-time for a single season among CBJ blueliners (Seth Jones, 57, 2017-18).
• Johnny Gaudreau notched his 500th career assist last week, making him one of 27 active NHLers to reach the mark. With 48 assists on the season, he’s two away from his second consecutive 50-helper season, which would make him only the second CBJ player to do so (Artemi Panarin).
• Milestone watch: Alexandre Texier played and scored in his 200th NHL game Saturday (34-45-79, 200 GP). ... Werenski is two points from 300 for his NHL career (88-210-298, 485 GP). ... Erik Gudbranson is four assists from 100 for his NHL career (34-97-131, 788 GP).

Who’s Hot

Justin Danforth had his first three-point (0-3-3) contest Saturday in Nashville. ... Kirill Marchenko has reached a new career high with 23 tallies on the season. He has a 5-2-7 line in the last eight games and three multipoint showings in that span. … Dmitri Voronkov has 18 goals on the season, moving him into third place alone in CBJ annals in goals for a rookie, behind only Marchenko (21, 2022-23) and Pierre-Luc Dubois (20, 2017-18). He is currently fifth this season among NHL rookies in tallies. … Zach Werenski has a 5-10-15 line in the last 16 games, and his eight goals since Feb. 17 are tied for second among NHL defensemen. ... Johnny Gaudreau has a 4-26-30 line in the last 33 games. ... The team’s rookie stat line of 32-43-75 is fourth in the NHL in goals and tied for fourth in points.

This Day in CBJ History

April 16, 2009: The Blue Jackets drop a 4-1 decision at Detroit’s Joe Louis Arena in the first Stanley Cup Playoff game in franchise history.

April 16, 2019: Columbus earns a 7-3 win over Tampa Bay in Game 4 of a first-round Stanley Cup Playoff series to sweep the top-seeded Lightning 4-0. Rookie Alexandre Texier scores twice in the game, Pierre-Luc Dubois adds a 1-2-3 line while Seth Jones, Matt Duchene and Oliver Bjorkstrand each had a goal and an assist.