PREVIEW: Blue Jackets face Boston for second time in a week

When it comes to first impressions, the Blue Jackets didn’t exactly deliver on Friday night.

Columbus took a trio of minor penalties in the opening minutes, and when visiting Ottawa converted on its third power play, the Blue Jackets found themselves in a 2-0 hole.

But as often said, it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish. Thanks to a pair of goals in 43 seconds, Columbus tied the game by the end of the first period, then took a 4-2 lead in the second and finished it off in the third.

It was a good statement in the team’s mentality, as the Blue Jackets showed some resiliency in their fourth comeback win of the season.

“We trust in each other, we trust in our systems and we were staying within our structure,” said rookie Adam Fantilli, who scored the game-winning goal in the second. “When we play that way and play fast in our structure and play disciplined, that’s when we play our best and games like tonight happen.”

The victory was the Blue Jackets’ fourth in the last six games, and it could have been more as Columbus was leading in the third period of one of the losses and was tied late in the other. The team is still learning how to close out games – there was improvement in that regard against Ottawa – but its level of play keeps improving, head coach Pascal Vincent said.

“We’ve been growing and growing,” Vincent said. “What we wanted to do was learn from the last game. We had a few things in place that we wanted to get better at, and the guys accepted the challenge.”

As the Blue Jackets head to Boston for tonight’s game on its annual parents’ trip, the challenge will be in taking on a good team for the second time in a week. Columbus just beat Boston by a 5-2 score on Nationwide Arena on Monday night, so the Bruins will be looking to strike back.

Columbus heads to The Hub with some confidence, though, after the win over the Senators.

“It was a huge two points,” Laine said. “We’re more happy to go to Boston after a win than after a loss.”

Know The Foe: Boston Bruins

Head coach: Jim Montgomery (Second season)

Team stats: Goals per game: 3.35 (8th) | Scoring defense: 2.52 (4th) | PP: 21.9 percent (12th) | PK: 88.5 percent (3rd)

The narrative: Boston’s 2022-23 season was a tale of two outcomes – after an NHL-record 65-win regular season, the Bruins took a 3-1 lead in their opening round series with Florida only to watch the Panthers win three straight to advance. It’s a very different Bruins team this time around, but the results so far have been similar – Boston is 16-4-3 and is tied for the lead in the NHL in points through its first 23 games. But postseason success will be the barometer for one of the most consistent squads in the league as the Bruins chase their first Stanley Cup since 2011.

Team leaders: David Pastrnak remains one of the top scorers in the league, as the superstar’s 14-22-36 line places him tied for fifth in the league in goals, fifth in assists and tied for second in goals. Brad Marchand is second on the team in scoring with an 8-12-20 line after scoring the OT winner last night in Toronto, Charlie Coyle has posted 9-10-19 andPavel Zacha has eight goals and 18 points. Charlie McAvoy is the top-scoring defenseman with a 3-12-15 line.

The team’s two-headed goalie tandem again has been impressive, with both Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman posting impressive numbers. Ullmark skated last night in Toronto, so Swayman (8-1-2, 2.17 GAA, .930 save percentage) seems likely to get the call tonight.

What's new: Boston has reconfigured quite a bit of its roster after Patrice Bergeon and David Krejci retired, Taylor Hall and Nick Foligno hit free agency, and deadline acquisitions Dmitri Orlov, Tyler Bertuzzi and Garnet Hathaway weren’t re-signed. The Bruins have kept on humming, though, with veteran James van Reimsdyk posting 15 points so far and the team getting good contributions from rookie forwards Matthew Poitras and John Beecher, veteran forwards Morgan Geekie and Danton Heinen, and new defensemen Kevin Shattenkirk and rookie Ohio State product Mason Lohrei.

Boston lost three in a row capped by Monday’s setback vs. the Blue Jackets, being outscored 17-8 in that span, before two straight wins including last night's 4-3 OT triumph in Toronto.

Trending: Columbus broke an 0-3-3 run in the series with the win six days ago.

Former CBJ: None

Roster Report

Projected Lineup (subject to change)

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

Scratches: Eric Robinson, Cole Sillinger (upper body injury, day to day), Andrew Peeke

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: The Blue Jackets will use the same skater lineup as Friday night’s win over Ottawa but with Martin getting another crack at the Bruins after earning the win Monday.

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 fifth in points while Fantilli is tied for eighth.
• With 17 assists, Zach Werenski is tied for fifth among NHL defensemen in helpers. He has 12 assists in the last 12 games.
• Milestone watch: Johnny Gaudreau is four points from 700 for his NHL career (234-462-696, 707 GP). … Kent Johnson is three games from 100 for his NHL career (17-29-46, 97 GP).

Who’s Hot

Johnny Gaudreau has notched two goals and five assists in the last eight games, while Boone Jenner has five goals in the last seven games. … Jenner is also tied for 11th in the NHL with 12 goals on the year, and he has 12 goals in the first 25 games of a season for the first time in his career. ... Columbus ranks first in the NHL penalty kill percentage since Oct. 20, killing off 54 of 59 (91.5 percent) power-play chances over the last 22 games. The Blue Jackets have allowed a power-play goal in just four of those games. … The Blue Jackets have 60 points from defensemen this season, tied for fourth in the league.

This Day in CBJ History

Dec. 3, 2013: Sergei Bobrovsky and Curtis McElhinney post the only combined shutout in franchise history, backstopping the Jackets to a 1-0 win over Tampa Bay in Nationwide Arena. Bobrovsky makes 18 saves before leaving with an injury in the third period, with McElhinney stopping eight more to finish things off.

Dec. 3, 2016: Columbus posts a franchise-record 60 shots on goal at Arizona, but it takes until a shootout before the Blue Jackets can post the 3-2 victory. Cam Atkinson notches the winning goal in the skills competition.