PREVIEW: Blue Jackets face Kraken on a Saturday night

It feels like Pascal Vincent kind of saw it coming.

As the head coach made a homecoming to Winnipeg earlier this week, he was asked by the writers he knew in his time with the Jets about the progress of the Blue Jackets this season.

The team’s offense has been the strength of the club this season, with the Jackets among the top teams in the NHL in scoring at 5-on-5, but Vincent knew a challenge would be on the horizon against one of the league’s hottest – and most defensively sound – teams.

"It’s gonna be interesting because now the second part of the season, teams are getting better and better,” he said. “The game is getting faster. There’s not much space. It will be interesting to see how our team reacts.”

It is true that as the NHL season goes by, the league’s best teams dial up the defense and start shifting into playoff mode, and one team that’s already there is Winnipeg. The Jets entered the game against the Jackets as the top defensive team in the league, as it had been two months since the squad had given up more than three goals in a game.

There may be no tougher team in the league to create offense against, and the Blue Jackets found out the hard way in a 5-0 loss in Manitoba. The Blue Jackets didn’t exactly give up a ton defensively – Winnipeg capitalized on the chances it had rather than endlessly hemming Columbus in the zone – but the Jets kept them from generating much of anything on offense.

“They’re No. 1 in the league, and there’s a reason for it,” Vincent said postgame. “They don’t give anything, and they’re well-structured. That’s a team that really protects the inside of the ice, so it was hard to get there. That’s a team that plays a playoff style, and it was complicated for us to create offense.”

For the Blue Jackets’ young core of offensive threats, many of whom have started to prove they can be high-level scorers at the NHL level, this might be the next step in the process of learning how to win. And it doesn’t get any easier tonight against a Seattle team that has been about as good as the Jets at preventing offense in recent weeks.

“It gets tighter, it gets faster,” Vincent said of the league’s action as the year goes on. “There’s a step that’s gonna be taken from now until the All-Star break. And then after the All-Star break, it’s a different league. Teams are pushing for playoff spots and a lot of them are in the race for the playoffs. Those that are in the playoffs, they’re pushing to keep their spots and they want to move up. The level and the intensity of the league just goes way up.

“It gets tighter, and when the level goes up, there’s less plays, less room, less chances to create offense because playoff hockey is all about defending. So yes, it’s gonna get harder for sure.”

Know The Foe: Seattle Kraken

Head coach: Dave Hakstol (third season)

Team stats: Goals per game: 2.78 (27th) | Scoring defense: 2.78 (9th) | PP: 20.7 percent (17th) | PK: 80.9 percent (13th)

The narrative: Seattle is the latest NHL expansion team to make good use of the loosened player acquisition rules, not only making the playoffs a season ago in the franchise’s second year but knocking the defending Stanley Cup champion Avalanche out of the bracket. It’s a team built around a team concept rather than superstars, and after a rough start, the Kraken has found its groove and is in the mix for a return trip to the postseason.

Team leaders: Seattle is one of the rare teams led by a blueliner when it comes to scoring, as defenseman Vince Dunn has a team-best 34 points (eight goals, 26 assists) to place tied for seventh in scoring among league defensemen. Old friend Oliver Bjorkstrand follows with 11 goals among 31 points, while Eeli Tolvanen has proved to be a shrewd acquisition with a 10-17-27 line. Jared McCann is the team leader in goals with 14, and Jaden Schwartz has a 9-9-18 line in just 25 games.

In net, Joey Daccord has taken over, and the former Arizona State goalie is on an all-time heater in his last 11 games that includes a 9-0-2 record, just 15 goals allowed in that span and a .957 save percentage. In all, the 27-year-old Boston native is 12-5-8 this season with a 2.23 GAA and .925 save percentage.

What's new: Columbus draws the Kraken at the wrong time, as since an 8-14-7 start to the season, Seattle is on a 12-game point streak (10-0-2) and an eight-game winning streak. At their best under Hakstol, the team comes in waves, and that’s been the case of late as Seattle has allowed just 16 goals in the last 12 games and only nine during the eight-game winning streak.

Trending: The all-time series between the squads is tied at two wins apiece, as the Blue Jackets swept the expansion Kraken in 2021-22 and were swept last year, falling 3-1 in Seattle on Jan. 28 and 4-2 at Nationwide Arena on March 3.

Former CBJ: Bjorkstrand is in the midst of a season that will send him to the All-Star Game for the first time, while Alexander Wennberg has posted a 7-10-17 line in 41 games thus far this season. Devin Shore is also on the squad, notching a 1-3-4 line in 18 games.

Roster Report

Projected Lineup (subject to change)

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

Scratches: Mathieu Olivier, David Jiricek, Spencer Martin

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: The Jackets will make wholesale changes to the forward lines after struggling to create offense in the past few games, as Sillinger moves up while Fantilli and Johnson are reunited. Gaunce and Peeke will enter the lineup for Olivier and Jiricek, while Vincent said Friday that Tarasov will get the start.

3 Stats to Know

• Cole Sillinger became the youngest Blue Jackets player with multiple hat tricks in his career with his three-goal game last Saturday vs. Minnesota. He is also now one of just 12 CBJ players with multiple hat tricks, and he has a 6-2-8 line and a plus-6 rating in the last 10 games.
• Emil Bemstrom is set to play in his 200th NHL game (30-38-68, 199 GP), while Kirill Marchenko will skate in his 100th (34-13-47, 99 GP).
• Milestone watch: Johnny Gaudreau is one point from 100 for his Blue Jackets career (28-71-99, 123 GP). … Jack Roslovic is one point from 200 for his NHL career (73-126-199, 406 GP).

Who’s Hot

Rookie Adam Fantilli has a 7-7-14 line in his last 18 games and is tied for second among NHL rookies in points (24) and placed third in goals (11). ... Dmitri Voronkov also is tied for seventh among NHL rookies in goals (seven) and tied for sixth in points (20). … Adam Boqvist has two assists in two games since returning to the lineup. ... Johnny Gaudreau has a 3-7-10 line in the last 12 contests. … Kent Johnson has posted 5-5-10 in his last 15 games. ... Yegor Chinakhov has a 7-5-12 line in the last 14 games. ... The team’s rookie stat line of 19-34-53 is second in the NHL in both goals and points. … The Jackets’ 93 goals at 5-on-5 are tied for fifth in the NHL. ... CBJ defensemen rank fourth among NHL defensive units in assists and eighth in points with 15-82-97 in 42 games this season.

This Day in CBJ History

Jan. 13, 1997: Columbus Hockey Limited partnership representatives make a formal presentation to the NHL in New York City in an effort to bring a team to Ohio’s capital city.

Jan. 13, 2022: Elvis Merzlikins makes 31 saves as the Blue Jackets post the team’s last shutout, blanking Carolina by a 6-0 score. Rookie Yegor Chinakhov notches his first career two-goal game.