PREVIEW: Blue Jackets return home to face Sabres

In many ways, the Blue Jackets’ 7-4 win Wednesday night in Anaheim was a tale of three different games.

The Blue Jackets built a 4-0 lead early in the second thanks to a little luck but also by doing the right things. But that led to the Jackets searching for more offense, opening themselves up defensively and allowing the Ducks to rally back to tie the score at 4 by the end of the second.

It wasn’t a happy locker room, then, during the second intermission, but the Blue Jackets put that anger to constructive use. Columbus got the lead back in the third and closed things down from there, scoring three times to finish off the victory.

“We played the right way in the third period, not in the second,” Vincent said. “We get the lead for nothing. We just can’t be sniffing, thinking offense and only offense against a team that their transition game is pretty good. So we had an honest chat after the second period, and the guys, they played the right way in the third.”

As a result, the Blue Jackets were left with a lot to like – and a lot to nitpick about their performance. It was another game in which the team fell short of its goal of putting in a full 60 minutes, but the strong start and even stronger response in the third are things to build on.

“Everyone collectively, starting with myself, we all need to be better throughout the whole 60 minutes,” Johnny Gaudreau said. “Hopefully we can learn from a few of these things that we’ve been going through this season. But you know, I was happy the way we responded, but we have to try to find a way to play a full 60.”

The good news is that the Blue Jackets continued to get strong performances from their top players, with Gaudreau and Boone Jenner each having three-point games, Zach Werenski scoring twice and veteran Sean Kuraly also adding a pair of goals.

It led to the team’s sixth-ever three-game trip to California that featured at least four points, and the first since the squad went 2-1-0 in January 2020. It was a successful trip leading into what will be a busy end to the season – 27 games in 54 days starting with tonight’s game vs. Buffalo.

“I think it was really good trip for us actually; we were two out of three on this California trip,” goalie Daniil Tarasov said. “It was a huge win (in Anaheim) and I think we need the momentum from this.”

Know The Foe: Buffalo Sabres

Head coach: Don Granato (Fourth season)

Team stats: Goals per game: 2.93 (22nd) | Scoring defense: 3.05 (14th) | PP: 14.9 percent (27th) | PK: 80.2 percent (13th)

The narrative: Buffalo missed the playoffs by just a point a season ago and looked primed to ride a wave of young talent into playoff contention this year, but the squad never really got going and comes to Columbus 10 points out of a wild card spot. Whereas last year’s Sabres filled up the net (3.57 goals per game, third in the NHL), the team has struggled offensively enough to offset some major defensive improvements from a season ago.

Team leaders: The emergence of Casey Mittelstadt has been a positive development for the Sabres the past two seasons, as the 25-year-old center leads Buffalo with 44 points (13 goals, 31 assists) and a plus-13 rating. All-Star defenseman Rasmus Dahlin is next with a 14-29-43 line that puts him second among NHL blueliners in goals. The Sabres do have some scoring depth, as Alex Tuch (16-22-38), John-Jason Peterka (19-18-37), Jeff Skinner (18-17-35), Dylan Cozens (11-23-34) and Tage Thompson (16-17-33) follow.

In net, 24-year-old Finn Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen has become the team’s No. 1 with a 15-14-2 record, 2.52 GAA and .911 save percentage, which has led the team to send 22-year-old prospect Devon Levi to the minors. The man known as UPL has a 1.81 GAA and .934 save percentage in 14 games since Jan. 1.

What's new: Injuries are also piling up at the worst possible time for the Sabres, as Victor Olofsson and Jack Quinn are dinged up in the forward group as well as Owen Power and Mattias Samuelsson among the defensemen. The play of Luukkonen has been a plus, and Buffalo is 10-8-0 since the calendar flipped to 2024, but they’ll need more than that to make a late playoff push. The squad has alternated wins and losses in the last six games and is coming off a 3-2 win at Montreal on Tuesday.

Trending: Columbus has three points in two games this year, both in Buffalo, including the 9-4 win Dec. 19 and a 3-2 overtime loss on Dec. 30. In all, the Blue Jackets are 17-9-3 in the series since 2013-14.

Former CBJ: Since being acquired in a midseason trade, wing Eric Robinson has a 1-5-6 line in 21 games.

Roster Report

Projected Lineup (subject to change)

Johnny Gaudreau – Boone Jenner – Jack Roslovic
Yegor Chinakhov – Dmitri Voronkov – Kirill Marchenko
Kent Johnson – Cole Sillinger – Justin Danforth
Alexandre Texier – Sean Kuraly – Mathieu Olivier
Zach Werenski – Adam Boqvist
Ivan Provorov – Damon Severson
Jake Bean – Erik Gudbranson
Daniil Tarasov
Elvis Merzlikins

Scratches: Adam Fantilli (calf laceration, out eight weeks as of Jan. 31), Alex Nylander, Andrew Peeke

Injured reserve: None

Roster Report: Texier is a game-time decision, while Nylander is set to arrive this afternoon after being traded to the Jackets yesterday. Pascal Vincent said he wouldn't play tonight, so if Texier is out, the Jackets would likely have to make a roster move to add a forward or go 11-7.

3 Stats to Know

• With his three-point night Wednesday in Anaheim, Johnny Gaudreau has 25 points in the last 25 games (4-21-25), 15 points in the last 13 (1-14-15) and 11 in the last eight (1-10-11). He has three multipoint games in the last five contests as well (1-7-8).
• Boone Jenner has five goals and three assists in the last five games since returning from the NHL All-Star Game and now leads the Blue Jackets with 18 goals. He’s tied a career-high for points in a five-game span, matching a 3-5-8 run he had Feb. 15-24, 2022.
• Milestone watch: Adam Boqvist is set to play in his 200th career NHL game tonight (23-60-83, 199 GP). ... Jenner is three games away from becoming the first player in CBJ history to play 700 games (188-167-355, 697 GP). ... Sean Kuraly is five games from 200 for his CBJ career (34-31-65, 195 GP). ... Zach Werenski is five assists from 200 for his NHL career (83-195-278, 459 GP).

Who’s Hot

Jack Roslovic has a four-game point streak (1-4-5) since joining the top line with Boone Jenner and Johnny Gaudreau. ... That trio has a 77-40 edge in shot attempts and outscored teams 8-2 at 5-on-5 the past four games. ... Dmitri Voronkov has seven goals in the last 12 games and is among NHL rookie leaders in goals (14, third) and points (27, tied for fourth). ... After notching the game-winning goal vs. Anaheim, Yegor Chinakhov has collected a 4-4-8 line in his last eight contests played and has totaled 12-10-22 over his last 26 games. ... The team’s rookie stat line of 27-36-63 is first in the NHL in goals and third in points.

This Day in CBJ History

Feb. 23, 2008: Pascal Leclaire makes 31 saves in a 3-0 shutout at Montreal. It’s Leclaire’s then-CBJ record ninth shutout of the season and came in his first start in Montreal, near his hometown of Repentigny, Quebec, on the night the Habs retired Bob Gainey’s jersey number.

Feb. 23, 2012: The Blue Jackets acquire defenseman Jack Johnson and a conditional first-round pick from Los Angeles in exchange for Jeff Carter.

Feb. 23, 2019: Acquired a day earlier in a blockbuster trade with Ottawa, Matt Duchene scores a goal and adds an assist in his Nationwide Arena debut as the Blue Jackets post a 4-0 win over San Jose. Sergei Bobrovsky stops 26 shots and earns his second shutout in as many nights.