PREVIEW: Blue Jackets take on Sabres in Buffalo

The Blue Jackets scored three goals on Saturday night, but the bad news generally came quickly afterward.

Columbus was unable to follow any of those goals with another tally, and twice, the Devils needed less than a minute to respond with a goal of their own. The result was a 6-3 victory for New Jersey at Nationwide Arena in a contest in which the speedy Devils took the lead and the Blue Jackets just weren’t able to catch them.

As the young Blue Jackets work to become a team that knows what it takes to win games, learning how to build on momentum will be a key lesson, head coach Pascal Vincent said.

“This is all about understanding what it takes to win hockey games,” Vincent said. “You score a goal, the next shift you want to be in the offensive zone. That’s the process of the growth we’re talking about – learning those situations, the score, the clock, understanding the tempo of the game, the moment of the game. That’s a big one we need to learn.”

The good news is that the Blue Jackets do continue to score goals, especially at even strength, where the team’s 68 tallies are tied for third in the league. But the team has to do a better job at understanding what’s coming next after a good team gets scored on, defenseman Andrew Peeke said.

“I think just those momentum shifts, you have to know who you’re on the ice with, know the situation of the game, understand sometimes you just have to get the puck and get the forecheck going,” he said. “When we get scored on, the first thing we say is ‘Let’s go right at them,’ That’s what teams are obviously saying, too, when we score, so we just have to manage that a little bit better.”

The next chance to keep getting better at it is tonight at Buffalo against a Sabres team that is battling to get back into the mix in the Eastern Conference after a slow start.

Know The Foe: Buffalo Sabres

Head coach: Don Granato (Fourth season)

Team stats: Goals per game: 2.81 (26th) | Scoring defense: 3.23 (21st) | PP: 13.3 percent (26th) | PK: 81.2 percent (12th)

The narrative: A long rebuilding process has led to the Sabres acquiring a bevy of talented, young players on all sides of the puck, and Buffalo came within one point last season of making its first Stanley Cup Playoffs appearance since 2010-11. Unfortunately, so far, the team hasn’t been able to recapture the form it had in the second half of last season, as the defense continues to give up too many goals while the offense has seen its production drop from its average of 3.57 goals per game last year.

Team leaders: The emergence of Casey Mittelstadt is one of the top stories for the Sabres, as the 2017 first-round pick has followed last year’s breakout season with a team-best line of 8-17-25. Defenseman Rasmus Dahlin, the top pick in the 2018 draft, is tied with 25 points including seven goals. John-Jason Peterka and Jeff Skinner have matching 12-10-22 lines, but Skinner recently went on injured reserve. Tage Thompson has been injured at times and hasn’t quite lived up to last year’s 47-goal campaign, posting 7-8-15 in 23 games.

In net, rookie Devon Levi was thought to be a potential white knight coming in after a standout career at Northeastern University and a strong finish last year, but he’s had an up-and-down season with a 6-4-2 record, 3.07 GAA and .898 save percentage. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen is 6-7-1 with a 2.92 GAA and .901 save percentage.

What's new: Skinner is joined by forwards Jordan Greenway and Zemgus Girgensons on IR, perhaps one reason the team just hasn’t really been able to get it going this season. It’s still one of the youngest outfits in the league, and Buffalo hasn’t been able to sustain success, as the Sabres are yet to win three consecutive games this season. Buffalo is 4-7-1 in its last 12 and given up 41 goals (3.42 goals per game) in that span, but the season debut of young standout Jack Quinn tonight could be a spark.

Trending: Columbus won all three games in 2021-22 to move to 15-7-2 in the series since 2013-14, but the Sabres took two of three last year. Buffalo won both games in Nationwide Arena but the Blue Jackets captured a 5-3 decision on Feb. 28 of last year in KeyBank Center – more on that below.

Former CBJ: The Blue Jackets recently traded veteran forward Eric Robinson to the squad, a somewhat ironic reality considering Robinson’s hat trick in Buffalo last season could be pointed to as one of the factors that kept the Sabres out of the playoffs. Robinson has notched a goal and two assists in his first six games with the squad.

Roster Report

Projected Lineup (subject to change)

Johnny Gaudreau – Adam Fantilli – Justin Danforth
Yegor Chinakhov – Dmitri Voronkov – Kirill Marchenko
Kent Johnson – Cole Sillinger – Emil Bemstrom
Brendan Gaunce – Sean Kuraly – Alexander Texier
Zach Werenski – Nick Blankenburg
Ivan Provorov – Andrew Peeke
Jake Bean – Erik Gudbranson
Daniil Tarasov
Elvis Merzlikins

Scratches: Mathieu Olivier, David Jiricek, Spencer Martin

Injured reserve: Patrik Laine (fractured clavicle, out six weeks as of Dec. 15); Boone Jenner (fractured jaw, out six weeks as of Dec. 9); Adam Boqvist (shoulder strain, out approximately four weeks as of Dec. 6); Damon Severson (oblique, out approximately six weeks as of Nov. 19); Jack Roslovic (fractured ankle, out four to six weeks as of Nov. 13)

Roster Report: Tarasov will get a second straight start in net as he gets back up to speed after a knee injury, while Gaunce is likely to make his season debut after being called up. Jiricek appears to be a healthy scratch, while Texier is a game-time decision.

3 Stats to Know

• Yegor Chinakhov has a four-game goal streak, the first of his career, and has tallied five times in that span. He is the first CBJ player to score in four straight contests since Patrik Laine from March 3-11, 2013.
• Kent Johnson is coming off his first two-goal game and three-point game at the NHL level Thursday in Toronto. He has six points in the last five games (2-4-6) and played a career-high 17:33 Saturday.
• Milestone watch: Johnny Gaudreau notched his 700th career NHL point with an assist Saturday.

Who’s Hot

With three goals and three assists in the last six games, Adam Fantilli is tied third among NHL rookies with eight goals and tied for second with 17 points. … Dmitri Voronkov is tied for seven among NHL rookies in goals (six) and tied for fourth in points (16). … Since being placed on a line together, Kirill Marchenko, Yegor Chinkahov and Voronkov have combined for nine goals and 16 points in eight games. … With 22 assists, Zach Werenski is seventh among NHL defensemen in helpers. … The team’s rookie stat line of 15-26-41 is second in the NHL in goals and points. … The Blue Jackets have scored a power-play goal in two straight games and are now 8 for 30 on the man advantage over the last 13 games (26.7 percent) to rank sixth in the NHL in power-play percentage since Nov. 22.

This Day in CBJ History

Dec. 19, 2002: Marc Denis earns the second shutout of his CBJ career, making 29 saves in a 3-0 victory over Calgary at Nationwide Arena.

Dec. 19, 2003: Rick Nash scores his 20th goal in the Jackets’ 31st game of the year, making him the earliest CBJ player to reach the milestone in a season. He would go on to win the Rocket Richard trophy, tying for the league lead in goals with a franchise-record 41.

Dec. 19, 2019: Boone Jenner ties the score with 1:43 to go and Pierre-Luc Dubois tallies in overtime as the Blue Jackets come from behind to post a 3-2 victory over Los Angeles at Nationwide Arena.