PREVIEW: Blue Jackets welcome Hurricanes on New Year's Eve

The Blue Jackets return to Nationwide Arena tonight, where the confines have certainly been friendly.

Columbus is 11-4-3 at home this season, with their total of 25 home points tied for ninth in the NHL, and the cannon has gotten a workout as no team has scored more goals in its home building than the Jackets’ 73 tallies.

Unfortunately, the road record is nearly the exact opposite at 4-12-3, with another loss going on the balance sheet Saturday in Boston. As they often have been this year, the Blue Jackets weren’t necessarily disappointed with their effort away from home, but they were left frustrated by mistakes at key times that allowed the Bruins to pull away.

Three of the Boston goals came directly from CBJ turnovers, which makes it tough to win anywhere, but certainly away from home.

“All our analytics point toward us having a very strong game,” head coach Dean Evason said of the performance in Boston. “Which is disappointing, obviously, because we keep talking about the road, and we seemed to start correctly, we have a good road game going, and then we talked after the game that we gave them three goals and maybe even four because of what we did from our standpoint as a team, so that’s the tough part.

“The majority of the game was real good. We felt our chances were there. We felt we limited them. It’s just that those turnovers in that particular game ended up in our net.”

But as we noted earlier, the road struggles won’t be a storyline tonight, as the Blue Jackets will take the ice in front of a celebratory holiday crowd in Nationwide Arena. Columbus often rings in the new year in front of Blue Jackets fans and has a 9-4-1 all-time record at home on New Year’s Eve, so the hope is the planned postgame fireworks won’t be the only pyrotechnics the home crowd sees.

“We have a lot of confidence here at home right now,” said Zach Werenski, who has points in a CBJ record 12 straight home games. “It feels like we’re keeping it simple. Our fans are obviously giving us a boost.”

Know The Foe: Carolina Hurricanes

Head coach: Rod Brind’Amour (Seventh season)

Team stats: Goals per game: 3.47 (5th) | Scoring defense: 2.81 (8th) | PP: 25.7 percent (6th) | PK: 85.7 percent (2nd)

The narrative: The Canes just keep on Canesing, as the team’s pressuring, speedy style continues to lead to turnovers, shots on goal and a lot of wins. Fresh off six consecutive playoff appearances, Carolina went through major changes in the offseason – including the departure of GM Don Waddell to Columbus – but just keeps on rolling. The Canes are again one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference and in the mix for a fourth Metro title in five seasons, but the Stanley Cup is the one thing that has eluded the group to this point.

Team leaders: Though he hasn’t notched a point in the last six games, Martin Necas has been one of the most productive players in the NHL this season, getting off to a hot start and leading Carolina with 44 points on 14 tallies and 30 helpers. Sebastian Aho continues to produce with 12 goals among his 38 points, while veteran Shayne Gostisbehere leads the defensemen in scoring with a 6-21-27 line. Jack Roslovic (a team-best 16 goals) and Andrei Svechnikov (12) have reached double digits in tallies.

With goalie Frederik Andersen out with a knee injury, Pyotr Kochetkov has stepped into a full-time starting role after some strong seasons, and the Russian is 14-7-0 with a 2.51 GAA and .900 save percentage.

What's new: Carolina saw a shakeup in the front office and also in the lineup this offseason, as the team said goodbye to Jake Guentzel, Teuvo Teravainen, Stefan Noesen and Brady Skjei and welcomed in former Blue Jackets Roslovic and Eric Robinson as well as William Carrier, Gostisbehere and Sean Walker. After a hot start that had the team 16-5-1 through the first 22 games, Carolina is 6-8-0 over the last month and is facing a potential injury layoff for Gostisbehere (upper body).

Trending: The teams have split the season series thus far, with the Blue Jackets taking a 5-4 shootout win at home Nov. 23 and Carolina replying with a 4-1 win in Raleigh on Dec. 15.

Former CBJ: Robinson is seventh on the team in scoring this season, posting a 9-10-19 line, while Roslovic’s goal-scoring touch has been on full display. Goalie Spencer Martin is back in the minors but has played in nine games with a 3.89 GAA and .846 save percentage.

Scratches: Kevin Labanc, Jordan Harris

Injured reserve, Injured/Non-Roster list: Justin Danforth (lower body), Yegor Chinakhov (upper body), Erik Gudbranson (upper body), Boone Jenner (upper body)

Roster Report: The Blue Jackets have gone with 11 forwards and seven defensemen each of the last three games and apper set to continue tonight. Merzlikins gets the net after Tarasov’s start Saturday, but otherwise the lineup should be the same.

The Numbers Game

With 40 and 39 points respectively, Kirill Marchenko and Zach Werenski are second and tied for third for the most points for a CBJ player through the first 37 games of a season. Artemi Panarin holds the franchise record with 43 in 2018-19. … The NHL’s third star for the week with a league high-tying seven points (all assists) in three games, Werenski has 15 points (3-12-15) in December and is one away from tying a CBJ record for a defenseman in a calendar month, which he set in November with 16 points. He has an 8-21-29 line in the last 22 games, leads all NHL players with an average ice time of 26:18 per game and is tied with Cale Makar atop the chart for league defensemen with 11 goals and third with 39 points. ... Marchenko’s 17 points (5-12-17) are one away from tying for second for a CBJ player in a calendar month in franchise history. He has a 4-9-13 line in the last eight games and 24 points in the last 19 (8-16-24). … Sean Monahan has a 7-15-22 line with seven multipoint efforts in his last 22 games. ... Dmitri Voronkov has 10 points (5-5-10) in the last seven games and multiple points in three of the last four games. ... Columbus has power-play goals in eight of the last 11 games (10 for 33, 30.3 percent). ... The Blue Jackets are third in the NHL with 87 goals at 5-on-5, and their 3.30 goals per game are ninth in the NHL. ... Blue Jackets defensemen have 25 goals this season, most in the NHL.

This Day in CBJ History

Dec. 31, 2007: Rick Nash notches his second career hat trick in a 4-2 win vs. Edmonton in Nationwide Arena.

Dec. 31, 2008: Steve Mason earns his third consecutive shutout, stopping 27 shots in a 2-0 victory at Anaheim. He is the first goalie in team history to post three straight blankings, part of a franchise-record shutout streak of 199:19.

Dec. 31, 2016: The Blue Jackets win their 15th straight game, snapping the Wild’s 12-game winning streak with a 4-2 win at Minnesota in the first-ever game in any of the four major North American professional sports leagues to feature two teams on winning streaks of at least 12 games.

Dec. 31, 2018: Columbus ties a franchise record for goals in a period with five tallies in the third in a 6-3 win vs. Ottawa. Pierre-Luc Dubois breaks a 1-1 tie after 40 minutes with a pair of goals, Zach Werenski adds his second of the game to give the Jackets a 4-3 lead with 2:01 to go, and Cam Atkinson and Josh Anderson add empty-net goals.

Dec. 31, 2019: The Blue Jackets ruin Sergei Bobrovsky’s return to Nationwide Arena, as Werenski notches his first career hat trick and Elvis Merzlikins earns his first NHL win in net in a 4-1 victory over Florida.

Dec. 31, 2022: Gus Nyquist becomes the first Blue Jackets player to score two shorthanded goals in a game, leading the Blue Jackets to a 4-1 win over Chicago in Nationwide Arena.