PREVIEW: Blue Jackets welcome Wild for Throwback Night

The old saying goes that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and given how this season has gone for the Blue Jackets, any victory feels like a Rembrandt at the moment.

So Columbus wasn’t about to apologize for sneaking out of Philadelphia with a 3-2 shootout victory on Thursday night that extended the team’s road point streak to five games. Daniil Tarasov was the star of the show with 39 saves and three more in the shootout, while Johnny Gaudreau scored in the skills competition and both Damon Severson and Jake Bean tallied in regulation.

At the same time, though, the Blue Jackets knew it wasn’t a 60-minute masterpiece, as Columbus struggled to generate much of anything until Severson’s goal about five minutes into the third period.

“It was an ugly, ugly win,” Severson admitted afterward. “We were not good for two periods, and then we found a way in the third to get something going there. We took advantage of a team that came off a Western road trip, maybe ran out of a little bit of gas late in the third there.

“But I thought third period was our best period. Obviously, first two, we struggled to get out of our zone a little bit, but a win is a win no matter how ugly they are. Tarasov played great obviously, and we get two points.”

Indeed, Tarasov was the best player for the Jackets and deservedly received the Kepi hat postgame. The Russian netminder missed the start of the season with a knee injury but has found his groove in his last two starts, posting a .940 save percentage

“This night especially I was feeling really good,” Tarasov said. “I’m getting back this feeling like I was like two years ago, just trying to build the same way. It doesn’t matter how the game is going to be, lose or win, you’re just trying to take some lessons in this, some new plays from this game and just trying to build. I’m trying to be more focused and solid, especially for the team.”

In a season in which the Blue Jackets have often found ways to lose games, this was one where they were able to come back and earn a victory. It was also a key lesson in how to make a breakthrough against teams that play a strong defensive game, which is something Minnesota will try to do when it visits Nationwide Arena tonight.

“Their style of play, they have an identity – it's a forechecking team and it’s a good tracking team,” head coach Pascal Vincent said of playing the Flyers. “They’re one of the best teams if not the best in the neutral zone. Their gap is right, their tracking is right. It’s hard to create anything, and there’s some physicality to their game.

“So I felt we didn’t manage the puck, we didn't win enough battles the first two periods. And after the second, in the third period, we were better and we were winning more battles. We were spending less time in the D-zone. So I think our best period was the third.”

Know The Foe: Minnesota Wild

Head coach: John Hynes (first season)

Team stats: Goals per game: 2.95 (24th) | Scoring defense: 3.19 (18th) | PP: 18.0 percent (22nd) | PK: 72.7 percent (29th)

The narrative: The CBJ’s expansion brother has just never been able to get over the hump, as Minnesota has made the playoffs 10 of the last 11 years but hasn’t won a postseason series since 2014-15. The hope was a squad with a good mix of veterans and youth, plus skill and physicality, would be able to make a big step this year, but the team got off to a difficult start and head coach Dean Evason was fired. The Wild has been better under Hynes, but the team remains five points out of a playoff spot.

Team leaders: Kirill Kaprizov is the Wild’s superstar, as the Russian wing took some time to get going this year but is producing at a point-per-game pace (13-21-34 in 34 games). He and Mats Zuccarello, has a 6-22-28 line in 28 games, have both been on injured reserve but the latter is expected back tonight. Joel Eriksson Ek is next with a team-best 15 goals among 25 points, Marco Rossi is the NHL’s third-leading rookie in scoring with 11-12-23, and Matt Boldy has 11 goals and 10 assists.

In net, top goalie Filip Gustavsson (10-9-2, 2.96 GAA, .903 save percentage) is also hurt, and 39-year-old Marc-Andre Fleury (6-8-2, 3.09, .896) is the only other goalie to play this year. The team has recalled veteran Zane McIntyre to fill the open spot.

What's new: As we said, the Wild are absolutely hammered by injuries at the moment, with the team missing its top forward in Kaprizov, two of its top three defensemen in captain Jared Spurgeon and Jonas Brodin, and its top goalie in Gustavsson. Add in Marcus Foligno and Vinni Lettieri and nearly half the lineup is out, one reason Minnesota has lost four in a row after an 11-3-0 start under Hynes.

Trending: The Blue Jackets won a thrilling contest Oct. 21 in St. Paul earlier this year, capturing a 5-4 overtime final to snap a four-game losing skid in Minnesota. The teams have alternated wins and losses in Nationwide Arena since 2014-15, and the good news is the Jackets are due in that regard as the Wild won 2-0 in Columbus last season.

Former CBJ: None

Roster Report

Projected Lineup (subject to change)

Johnny Gaudreau – Adam Fantilli – Justin Danforth
Yegor Chinakhov – Cole Sillinger – Kirill Marchenko
Kent Johnson – Jack Roslovic – Emil Bemstrom
Alexandre Texier – Dmitri Voronkov – Mathieu Olivier
Damon Severson – Adam Boqvist
Ivan Provorov – David Jiricek
Jake Bean – Erik Gudbranson
Danill Tarasov
Spencer Martin

Scratches: Brendan Gaunce, Andrew Peeke, Elvis Merzlikins

Injured reserve: Sean Kuraly (abdominal, day to day); 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: Boqvist will return after being activated from IR yesterday, while Jake Christiansen was returned to Cleveland. The forward lines will be a little shaken up as well after some retooled trios played well late in Philadelphia, while Tarasov gets another start in net.

3 Stats to Know

• Adam Fantilli notched an assist Thursday in Philadelphia to give him a 7-7-14 line in his last 16 games. In that span he has points in five of the last six games, seven of the last eight and 10 of the last 14.
• Blue Jackets defensemen Jake Bean and Damon Severson scored against Philadelphia, and blueliners added two assists for a four-point night from the defensive crew. CBJ defensemen rank fourth among NHL defensive units in assists and tied for fifth in points with 15-79-94 in 40 games this season.
• Milestone watch: Johnny Gaudreau is one point from 100 for his Blue Jackets career (28-71-99, 121 GP). … Jack Roslovic is one point from 200 for his NHL career (73-126-199, 404 GP). … Emil Bemstrom is three games from 200 for his NHL career (30-38-68, 197 GP). … Kirill Marchenko is three games from 100 for his NHL career (34-12-46, 97 GP).

Who’s Hot

Adam Fantilli needed just 37 games to get to 10 goals, making him the fourth fastest CBJ player ever to the mark. He is also tied for second among NHL rookies in goals (11) and second alone in points (24). … Dmitri Voronkov also is tied for seven among NHL rookies in goals (seven) and fifth alone in points (20). … Johnny Gaudreau has a 3-7-10 line in the last 10 contests. … Kent Johnson has notched goals in two of the past four contests and has posted 5-5-10 with three multipoint efforts in his last 13 games overall. ... Yegor Chinakhov has registered points in eight of his last 12 games (7-5-12). He has tallied 9-6-15 with four multipoint games in the past 18 outings. ... The team’s rookie stat line of 19-34-53 is second in the NHL in both goals and points. … The Jackets’ 91 goals at 5-on-5 are second in the NHL.

This Day in CBJ History

Jan. 6, 2014: Mark Letestu and Ryan Johansen score in a shootout past Henrik Lundqvist as the Blue Jackets take a 4-3 win over the Rangers at Madison Square Garden. Rick Nash scored twice for the Rangers, including getting the tying goal in the third period, but Brandon Dubinsky had a goal and an assist in a battle of players traded for one another. It would be the first of a then-franchise record eight straight wins for the CBJ.

Jan. 6, 2016: In a blockbuster trade, the Blue Jackets send center Ryan Johansen to Nashville for defenseman Seth Jones. Both players were taken fourth overall in their respective drafts – Jones by the Predators in 2013 and Johansen by the Jackets two years earlier.

Jan. 6, 2022: Jakub Voracek becomes the 361st player – and fourth in a CBJ uniform – to play in 1,000 career NHL games. He is just the 12th Czech-born player to accomplish the feat.