PREVIEW: Blue Jackets face another top team Tuesday

The Blue Jackets got another reminder Sunday that when facing a top team, the little details of the game can become big things pretty quickly.

They’ll have a chance to put that lesson into use without delay, as another one of the league's best comes to Nationwide Arena tonight when the Jackets host a Los Angeles team that is third in the NHL in points percentage.

Two nights ago in Boston, the Blue Jackets held a 1-0 lead through 40 minutes and were playing a good road game, only to see the Bruins come back to take a 3-1 victory. One mistake led to the tying goal on the rush, and the Bruins added a pair of power-play goals to put the game away.

“Chances are 3-3 in the third,” CBJ head coach Pascal Vincent said afterward. “One shot block, they came back, missed assignment on a track. That’s one play, and then two PK goals. And things we can prevent, too, on the PK. We didn’t today. But I don’t think it was the whole team, it was just a few events.”

It was the first time this year that the Blue Jackets didn’t get a point when leading after two periods, but holding late leads has been an issue at times. As such, captain Boone Jenner wasn’t really in the mood to take a moral victory out of the squad’s performance in Boston.

“We can’t look at that right now,” Jenner said when asked about the first 40 minutes of play. “We lose a game, we didn’t keep playing our game in the third. We let them back into it, and you’re not going to get wins in this league with that. Lots of good, but it’s just finding that extra gear late, or even if they score one, get back on the attack and then find that next one. But they were able do to that. It’s frustrating for us.”

Things don’t get any easier as the Kings come to town boasting one of the best records in the league, but the Blue Jackets hope to take the lessons from Sunday night into tonight’s battle.

“They know how to win,” Mathieu Olivier said of the Bruins. “They’ve been doing it for years now. We can definitely learn from that. That’s what we’re trying to become here. They just stayed with it. It’s a late goal at the end of the second period (we scored), and they came out and they did what they had to do. I don’t think it’s a bad game per se, it’s just another learning lesson for this group here.”

Know The Foe: Los Angeles Kings

Head coach: Todd McLellan (Fifth season)

Team stats: Goals per game: 3.86 (1st) | Scoring defense: 2.29 (1st) | PP: 19.7 percent (17th) | PK: 89.7 percent (1st)

The narrative: The Kings haven’t won a playoff series since raising the Stanley Cup in 2013-14, but they’ve made the postseason each of the past two seasons and are off to a tremendous start this season that includes a perfect 9-0-0 road record. LA hopes its built a championship roster that includes longtime stalwarts Anze Kopitar and Drew Doughty, young studs like Quinton Byfield and Arthur Kaliyev, and a core that also features Adrian Kempe, Trevor Moore, Kevin Fiala and Phillip Danault.

Team leaders: The Kings have done it with depth this season, with four players at 20 points or more and nine in double digits in points. Coming off a 41-goal season, Kempe leads the way with eight goals among his 22 points, while Moore leads the team in goals with a 12-8-20 line. At age 36, Kopitar keeps steaming along with a 10-10-20 line, while Fiala has a 6-14-20 line and the 21-year-old Byfield is in the midst of a breakout season with six goals and 12 assists.

In net, Cam Talbot has led the way in his first season with the Kings, going 11-4-1 in 16 appearances with a 1.96 GAA and .930 save percentage. His GAA is second in the league behind Adin Hill of Vegas.

What's new: Los Angeles has been one of the most dominant teams in the league at 5-on-5, posting a 55-36 goal margin, and the Kings are outscoring teams 25-8 while winning six of the last seven. They’ve been largely lucky on the injury front, too, having to dress only 22 players all season, though Viktor Arvidsson has been out with a back injury since the start of the season. The biggest addition in the offseason for the team, other than Talbot, is former CBJ center Pierre-Luc Dubois, who has a 5-6-11 line on the season.

Trending: The teams split last year’s series, with the Blue Jackets winning 6-5 in overtime in Columbus on Dec. 11. It’s been an even series for the past few years, with Columbus posting a 4-3-1 mark in the last eight games.

Former CBJ: Dubois is joined by Vladislav Gavrikov, who signed a two-year deal with the team this summer after being traded to the Kings at the deadline last year. He has two goals among his six points on the season and is plus-5.

Roster Report

Projected Lineup (subject to change)

Johnny Gaudreau – Boone Jenner – Justin Danforth
Yegor Chinakhov – Dmitri Voronkov – Kirill Marchenko
Patrik Laine – Adam Fantilli – Kent Johnson
Eric Robinson – Sean Kuraly – Alexandre Texier
Zach Werenski – Adam Boqvist
Ivan Provorov – Andrew Peeke
Jake Bean – David Jiricek
Elvis Merzlikins
Spencer Martin

Scratches: Mathieu Olivier, Cole Sillinger (upper body injury, day to day), Erik Gudbranson (illness)

Injured reserve: Jack Roslovic (fractured ankle, out four to six weeks as of Nov. 13); Daniil Tarasov (knee, in Cleveland on conditioning assignment)

Roster Report: Robinson skated on the fourth line during morning skate and appears set to go in for Olivier, while Gudbranson is a game-time decision. If he can't go, it will be Peeke who enters in his place.

3 Stats to Know

• Dmitri Voronkov (5-7-12) and Adam Fantilli (5-6-11) are tied for fifth among NHL rookies in goals and both are in the top 10 in scoring among first-year players. Voronkov is tied for seventh in points while Fantilli is tied for ninth.
• With 18 assists, Zach Werenski is fifth among NHL defensemen in helpers. He has 13 assists in the last 13 games.
• Milestone watch: Gaudreau is four points from 700 for his NHL career (234-462-696, 708 GP). … Kent Johnson is two games from 100 for his NHL career (17-29-46, 98 GP). ... Andrew Peeke will be playing in his 200th career game if he does go in for Gudbranson (9-26-35, 199 GP). 

Who’s Hot

Boone Jenner has six goals in the last eight games and is tied for 11th in the NHL with 13 goals on the year. ... Elvis Merzlikins is 3-2-0 with a 2.42 GAA and .937 save percentage in his past five games dating back to Nov. 22. He ranks tied for fourth in the NHL with a .921 save percentage since Nov. 12 (minimum six games played). … Columbus has allowed power-play goals in just four of the past 19 games, killing off 46 of 51 (90.2 percent) opponent power-play chances since Oct. 28. … Columbus is tied for third in the NHL in even-strength goals with 55, trailing only Vancouver (57). … The Blue Jackets have 61 points from defensemen this season, seventh in the league.

This Day in CBJ History

Dec. 5, 2006: Fredrik Norrena earns his second shutout in a four-day span, stopping 42 shots in a 3-0 victory at Colorado.