PREVIEW: Blue Jackets complete back-to-back vs. Blues

Pascal Vincent has noted a few times this year that a team’s performance is never as good as it seems and never as bad as it seems, and again the Blue Jackets likely felt that way after last night’s 7-3 loss at the New York Islanders.

At 5-on-5, the Blue Jackets had advantages in shot attempts (69-51), scoring chances (30-23) and expected goals (2.41-2.40) per Natural Stat Trick, yet the final score became an Islanders blowout as New York scored six times in the last 25:30.

There were bad bounces. There were also lost coverages and mistakes by the Blue Jackets. And in the end, there was a third straight loss, with the Jackets holding a lead at one point in all three games.

The frustration is there, especially as Columbus players battle a bug that kept multiple regulars out of the lineup and prevented around a third of the team from practicing the past few days.

“Puck management. Some battles lost. Energy level,” Vincent said after the game when asked how this one got away from the squad. “We have a bunch of guys that are fighting a virus right now. I’ll have to watch the game again. Some mistakes here and there.”

Two big issues for the Blue Jackets have been consistent throughout the season. First, the team has trouble building off of its own momentum, each of the last two CBJ goals were followed by three straight tallies by the Islanders. Second, long stretches of good hockey seem to be undone quickly by mistakes and misplays that end up as goals for the opposition.

Adam Fantilli finished with two goals and an assist for the Jackets for his first career three-point night, but the rookie was left trying to explain how quickly this one got away from his team.

“They scored more goals than we did,” Fantilli said. “A couple of breakdowns, a couple of bad bounces. I thought for the most part of that game, we were playing really well. We were playing our best. A couple of breakdowns and it ends up in the back of the net.”

The major positive for the Blue Jackets came from that line, as the trio of Fantilli, Kent Johnson and Emil Bemstrom scored all three Columbus goals and finished with a combined seven points.

“We played with pace and shot a lot of pucks,” Bemstrom said. “We just played simple. They’re very talented players, and you get them going, it’s fun out there.”

Know The Foe: St. Louis Blues

Head coach: Craig Berube (Sixth season)

Team stats: Goals per game: 2.88 (22nd) | Scoring defense: 3.16 (15th) | PP: 9.5 percent (31st) | PK: 78.3 percent (19th)

The narrative: The Blues’ magical, Gloria-fueled run to the Stanley Cup championship in 2018-19 has been followed by just one playoff series win the past four seasons, and St. Louis missed the postseason last year for just the second time in 12 seasons. They appear to be a 50-50 shot to return, with the squad hovering around .500 and in fifth place in the Central Division.

Team leaders: St. Louis has done it with depth the past few seasons, and it’s no different this season as 10 different Blues have at least 10 points on the season, led by Robert Thomas’ point-per-game mark of 8-17-25 on the season. Pavel Buchnevich is next with nine goals among his 19 points, while Jordan Kyrou has a 5-12-17 line and captain Brayden Schenn has eight goals and seven assist for 15 points. Jake Neighbours, a 21-year-old wing and first-round pick, is actually the team leader with 10 goals but has just one assist.

In net, Jordan Binnington has a team-best 19 appearances and is 8-7-1 with a 2.99 GAA and .912 save percentage. He’s backed up by Joel Hofer (9 GP, 5-4-0, 3.04, .901).

What's new: There haven’t been a ton of changes to the Blues over the past few years, and the team’s big offseason acquisition was Kevin Hayes, who has six goals and six assists on the season. Perhaps fitting for a team sitting around the .500 mark, the Blues have alternated wins and losses over the past eight games, so the bad news for the Jackets then might be that they are coming off a 6-3 home loss to Vegas on Wednesday night.

Trending: The Blues swept the season series a year ago, ending a stretch of three straight seasons in which the teams played that they split the two games.

Former CBJ: Brandon Saad is in his 13th NHL season and has posted a 5-6-11 line while playing in all 25 games this year.

Roster Report

Projected Lineup (subject to change)

Johnny Gaudreau – Boone Jenner – Justin Danforth
Yegor Chinakhov – Dmitri Voronkov – Kirill Marchenko
Emil Bemstrom – Adam Fantilli – Kent Johnson
Alexandre Texier – Sean Kuraly – Mathieu Olivier
Zach Werenski – Nick Blankenburg
Ivan Provorov – Andrew Peeke
Jake Bean – David Jiricek
Jet Greaves
Spencer Martin

Scratches: Patrik Laine (illness), Erik Gudbranson (illness)

Injured reserve: Cole Sillinger (upper body, day to day); Elvis Merzlikins (illness, out approximately a week as of Dec. 6); Adam Boqvist (shoulder strain, out approximately four weeks as of Dec. 6); Daniil Tarasov (knee, in Cleveland on conditioning assignment); 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: Coming off the Thursday night game, the Blue Jackets will use the same skater lineup but Greaves will get his second career NHL start.

3 Stats to Know

• Adam Fantilli is coming off the first two-goal, three-point night of his career last night. At 19 years, 56 days, he’s the fourth-youngest player in team history to notch his first three-point game, following Cole Sillinger, Rick Nash and Nikita Filatov.
• The Blue Jackets dressed four University of Michigan products last night – forwards Fantilli and Kent Johnson as well as defensemen Zach Werenski and Nick Blankenburg – marking the first time ever four Wolverines skated on the same team in an NHL game.
• Milestone watch: Gaudreau is two points from 700 for his NHL career (235-463-698, 710 GP). … Kent Johnson played in his 100th career NHL game last night against the Islanders.

Who’s Hot

Fantilli is now tied for second among NHL rookies with 15 points and fourth in goals with seven. … Johnny Gaudreau has eight points in the last nine games with a 2-6-8 line and has three multipoint games in that span. … With 19 assists, Zach Werenski is tied for fifth among NHL defensemen in helpers. He has 14 assists in the last 15 games and is plus-5 in that span. … The team’s rookie stat line of 13-19-32 is second in the NHL in goals and ranks third in points. … Boone Jenner has six goals in the last 10 games. … Columbus has allowed power-play goals in just five of the past 21 games, killing off 49 of 55 (89.1 percent) opponent power-play chances since Oct. 28. … Columbus is fourth in the NHL in even-strength goals with 60. … The Blue Jackets have 64 points from defensemen this season, tied for sixth in the league.

This Day in CBJ History

Dec. 8, 2000: Geoff Sanderson scores the first overtime winner in CBJ franchise history, beating Boston’s Peter Skudra off assists from Frantisek Kucera and Lyle Odelein to give the Jackets a 3-2 win in Nationwide Arena.

Dec. 8, 2005: David Vyborny sets a CBJ record that still stands for ice time for a forward, skating 27:43 and notching the shootout goal in a 4-3 win against the New York Islanders.

Dec. 8, 2017: Artemi Panarin matches a CBJ record for assists and points in a game with five helpers in a 5-3 win at New Jersey.