PREVIEW: Hockey is for Everyone as Blue Jackets host Canucks

When the Blue Jackets took the ice for practice Sunday, head coach Pascal Vincent called the team together for a chat.

Usually, such messages take only a minute or two to deliver, but Vincent kept the team gathered in front of the white board for nearly 10 minutes. And there were no dry-erase markers being used; this chat was about how the Blue Jackets will approach the rest of the season.

With the team in last place in the Metropolitan Division standings and the playoffs likely out of the question, Vincent delivered a message that the Blue Jackets must stay in the moment and bring a consistent level of effort in the second half of the season.

"Performance will dictate your job in the future,” Vincent said he told his charges. “You have your jobs today because you've done something in the past, but for tomorrow and the next few weeks and the next few months, what you're doing today will dictate your ice time.”

It was a message delivered with the understanding the Blue Jackets are entering a tough time in the schedule, facing a stretch in which it would be easy to get bogged down by the reality of the standings. While the Jackets are staring a fourth straight season without playoff hockey in the face, other teams around the league are tightening up and looking ahead for what can be accomplished in the spring months.

“The standings are not exactly where we want them to be, but the thing that we can’t do is start pointing fingers, all of that that comes with NHL teams that are not necessarily winning,” Vincent said. “We need to stay focused on your job as a player, you as a teammate, your effort in practices and in the gym.”

Vincent has stressed the Blue Jackets have good people in the room, but it’s natural perhaps for focus to wane in the dog days of the season. Still, he was heartened a bit by the Blue Jackets performance on Saturday night in a 7-4 loss to Seattle. The Kraken won its ninth straight game, but the Jackets had advantages in most of the possession stats and had an 18-12 edge in scoring chances in the game.

The results haven’t quite caught up to the underlying play at times thanks to defensive lapses and the way the Jackets are stil learning how to handle momentum swings and adversity in games, but Vincent sees improvement in some of the key areas. The next step is for the young Jackets to keep making steps and stay on their game, especially as another top team in Vancouver comes to town for today’s matinee.

“We have to keep things in perspective,” Vincent said. “We’re aware of where we are. But allowing to lower the standards is not an option.”

Know The Foe: Vancouver Canucks

Head coach: Rick Tocchet (second season)

Team stats: Goals per game: 3.84 (1st) | Scoring defense: 2.53 (4th) | PP: 22.3 percent (12th) | PK: 78.7 percent (20th)

The narrative: Despite a core featuring some of the top players in the game in Elias Pettersson, J.T. Miller and Brock Boeser, among others, the Canucks have been one of the most confounding teams in the NHL the past few years. Vancouver has just one playoff appearance in the past eight seasons, and not a ton was expected this year either in Tocchet’s first full season in charge. But the Canucks got off to a red-hot start and remain one of the top squads in the league, leading the Pacific Division as we pass the midway point.

Team leaders: Vancouver has five All-Stars, so we’ll start there. Miller and Pettersson are in a spirted race to lead the team in scoring, as the East Palestine, Ohio, native Miller currently heads the way with 19 goals and 39 assists for 58 points, while Pettersson has a 22-35-57 line. The two are fifth and sixth, respectively, in scoring in the NHL. Quinn Hughes’ 11-40-51 line puts him first in the league among defensemen in scoring, while Boeser’s 27 goals are tied for fourth in the NHL.

In net, Thatcher Demko also has earned an All-Star bid thanks to a 22-8-1 record in 31 starts that includes a 2.47 GAA and .919 save percentage. He’s third in the league per MoneyPuck.com in goals saved among expected per 60 among goalies with at least 20 games played.

What's new: Vancouver’s 12-3-1 start caught the attention of the league, but it’s not like the Canucks have slowed down of late, as the squad comes to Columbus on a five-game winning streak that is the cap on a 13-2-2 run since early December. As they have all season, the Canucks are doing it at 5-on-5, outscoring foes 113-70 this season at that state.

Trending: The teams have split the season series each of the past two years and seven of the last nine dating back to 2013-14; Columbus is 9-8-1 in that span vs. Vancouver. The Blue Jackets won 4-3 in overtime last Oct. 18 at home, then lost 5-2 at Vancouver on Jan. 27.

Former CBJ: Oft-traveled defenseman Ian Cole has landed in Vancouver and played in 42 games, posting a goal and six assists.

Roster Report

Projected Lineup (subject to change)

Johnny Gaudreau – Cole Sillinger – Yegor Chinakhov
Kent Johnson – Adam Fantilli – Emil Bemstrom
Dmitri Voronkov – Jack Roslovic – Kirill Marchenko
Alexandre Texier – Sean Kuraly – Justin Danforth
Damon Severson – Adam Boqvist
Ivan Provorov – Andrew Peeke
Jake Bean – Erik Gudbranson
Elvis Merzlikins
Spencer Martin

Scratches: Mathieu Olivier, David Jiricek, Daniil Tarasov

Injured reserve: Zach Werenski (ankle, out four to six weeks as of Dec. 27); Nick Blankenburg (upper body, day to day); Patrik Laine (fractured clavicle, out six weeks as of Dec. 15); Boone Jenner (fractured jaw, out six weeks as of Dec. 9)

Roster Report: Kuraly (costal cartilage fractures) was activated from injured reserve Sunday and will return after being out since Dec. 23, while Merzlikins is expected to get his first start since Dec. 29.

3 Stats to Know

• With a goal in his 100th career game Saturday night, Kirill Marchenko tied Rick Nash with 35 goals in his first 100 CBJ games, the most in team history. Marchenko’s 13 power-play goals are second in team history in a player’s first 100 games, while his 22 even-strength tallies are tied with Cam Atkinson for the most in a player’s opening 100.
• Ivan Provorov is coming off the fourth two-goal game of his career Saturday, and the defenseman became the first player in CBJ history to score twice on his birthday in the game.
• Milestone watch: Jack Roslovic is one point from 200 for his NHL career (73-126-199, 407 GP).

Who’s Hot

The Blue Jackets are 7-2-1 in games played on Martin Luther King Jr. Day in franchise history... Cole Sillinger has a 6-2-8 line and a plus-5 rating in the last 11 games. ... With an assist Saturday, Johnny Gaudreau became the 41st player to notch 100 career points in a CBJ uniform (28-72-100, 124 games played). He has a 3-8-11 line in the last 13 contests. ... Rookie Adam Fantilli has a 7-8-15 line in his last 19 games and is second among NHL rookies in points (25) and placed third in goals (11). ... Dmitri Voronkov also is tied for ninth among NHL rookies in goals (seven) and tied for sixth in points (20). … Adam Boqvist has three assists in three games since returning to the lineup. ... The team’s rookie stat line of 19-35-54 is second in the NHL in both goals and points. … The Jackets’ 96 goals at 5-on-5 are tied for fifth in the NHL. ... CBJ defensemen rank fourth among NHL defensive units in assists and tied for sixth in points with 17-85-102 in 43 games this season.

This Day in CBJ History

Jan. 15, 2001: Ron Tugnutt earns the second shutout in Blue Jackets history and the first ever in Nationwide Arena, posting a total of 31 saves in a 3-0 victory vs. Minnesota.

Jan. 15, 2008: Columbus wins a then-franchise record sixth straight home game, downing Vancouver by a 3-2 score behind goals from Ron Hainsey, Nikolai Zherdev and Jason Chimera.

Jan. 15, 2019: John Tortorella coaches his 285th game in charge of the Blue Jackets, passing Ken Hitchcock for the most games coached in franchise history.