PREVIEW: Blue Jackets head to Detroit for matinee

BLUE JACKETS (0-2-0) at RED WINGS (1-1-0)

Coming off a minus-3 showing in Saturday night's 5-2 loss, including a turnover early in the third period that led directly to a Nashville goal, Werenski sounds more than ready to get a quick chance to get back on the ice and erase what happened against the Predators.
"For me, since last night's game, all I can think about is the third period for me -- the turnover to (Filip) Forsberg and a couple other plays," Werenski said Sunday. "For me, it's nice just waking up tomorrow and now really thinking about anything, just playing a hockey game.
"The best part of hockey is you don't have to wait too long between games, so hopefully tomorrow I can forget about that and as a team we can just move on and try to get a win.
The rest of the team likely feels the same way after losing both of their opening games in the Music City. It's not exactly how Columbus drew it up after speaking of getting off to a hot start in a 56-game season that won't feature nearly as much runway to overturn a losing record in the early part of the campaign.
It's not unfamiliar territory, though, for the Blue Jackets, and there are some positive lessons to be taken from history. The Blue Jackets are off to their fourth 0-2-0 start in the past six seasons (2015-16, 2016-17 and 2019-20), although the club rebounded to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2017 and 2020.
In both of those playoff seasons, the Blue Jackets won the third game of the season to keep from falling too far into an early hole.
"(It's) very important," Seth Jones said. "You don't want to start a season 0-2, and we need to get the first one under our belt. It may not be pretty. It may be 1-0 or something like that like we're used to winning, but we have to find a way to get the first one and we'll start gaining some confidence."
The good news is that head coach John Tortorella was pretty pleased with the way the team played in Saturday night's loss. The 5-2 result became a blowout when the Predators scored three times in the last 10 minutes thanks to a series of CBJ defensive mistakes, but on the whole, Tortorella saw a team that played with energy, put 44 shots on goal and had strong offensive zone time.
"(Scoring) chances were 29-16 last night in favor of us," Tortorella said Sunday. "I really liked a lot of the things we did off the rush, some of the movement in the offensive zone. I thought we did some good things defensively also, but where there needs to be some teaching points off of the first two games is just understanding some of the patience that is needed in the game."
Know the Foe
The Red Wings are in the midst of what looks to be a long-term rebuild under franchise legend Steve Yzerman, but the belief is this year will be much better than last.
Detroit had one of the worst seasons in the salary cap era a year ago, winning just 17 of the 71 games they played and posting 39 points, 23 behind the league's 30th-place team in Ottawa. The Wings were last in both scoring offense and scoring defense, being outscored by an average of 3.73-2.00 per game.
Yzerman made some big changes, as longtime goalie Jimmy Howard as well as Justin Abdelkader, Brendan Perlini, Christoffer Ehn, Madison Bowey and Trevor Daley are all gone from last year's roster. Brought in to replace that group are NHL veterans Bobby Ryan, Sam Gagner and Vladislav Namestnikov up front, Troy Stecher, Jon Merrill and Marc Staal on the blue line and Thomas Greiss in net.
So far, Detroit is off to a 1-1 start, dropping its opener by a 3-0 score to Carolina before rebounding Saturday with a 4-2 victory over the Canes. In the win, Ryan and Dylan Larkin scored in a 2-2 game before Robby Fabbri tallied in the final three minutes and Larkin added an empty-net goal.
Up front, the team does have a solid young core in Larkin (24 years old), Anthony Mantha (26), Tyler Bertuzzi (25), Fabbri (25) and Filip Zadina (21). Larkin is coming off a season in which he led the team with 53 points (19-34) in 71 games, while Bertuzzi had a team-best 21 goals among his 48 points. Mantha had a 16-22-38 line in 43 games during an injury-plagued year, while Fabbri had a 14-17-31 line in 52 games last year and Zadina is the team's first-round pick in the 2018 draft.
The issue last year was depth as just five players got to 30 points, while the team was a defensive disaster. The rebuilt blue line could help in that regard, with Merrill, Stecher and Staal each playing in both of the first two games, while Czech youngster Filip Kronek is coming off a 9-22-31 season at age 22.
In net, Greiss -- the former New York Islanders goalie -- and returnee Jonathan Bernier have split the starts, with Greiss suffering the shutout loss despite 40 saves. Bernier got the win in game two, stopping 29 of 31 shots.
3 Keys to the Game
Big guns firing: The top line of Mikhail Grigorenko, Pierre-Luc Dubois and Oliver Bjorkstrand as well as the top defensive pairing of Jones and Werenski are all without a point this season. It's a small sample size, but it can't go on forever if the team is to contend.
Score consecutive goals: All three CBJ goals this season against Nashville were answered by multiple tallies from the Preds. Sustaining momentum is a key to success.
Good vibes: Columbus should feel pretty good about heading to Detroit, where the Blue Jackets have not suffered a regulation loss since Oct. 15, 2013. The Jackets are 8-0-1 in that stretch, so it's time to keep that streak going.
Of Note
Columbus has gone 21-4-2 vs. Detroit since Mar. 17, 2011, including an 11-1-0 mark since the start of the 2016-17 season. … The Blue Jackets are yet to score or allow a power-play goal (0-4 on PP, 6-6 on PK). ... Cam Atkinson is two goals from 200 in his CBJ and NHL careers. He would be the second Blue Jackets to reach the milestone after Rick Nash. … Jones has 195 points in his Blue Jackets career, leaving him five away from the 200 mark. The defenseman also has 198 career assists. … With his 224 career points, Boone Jenner is seventh on the team's all-time points list, one behind Brandon Dubinsky for sixth. … Greiss has played more games (22) against Columbus than any other NHL team, going 10-8-3 with a 2.78 GAA and .908 save percentage. He has a .951 save percentage against the CBJ in seven starts over the last two years.
Projected Lineup
(Subject to change)
Mikhail Grigorenko - Pierre-Luc Dubois - Oliver Bjorkstrand
Boone Jenner - Max Domi - Cam Atkinson
Nick Foligno - Alexandre Texier - Liam Foudy
Eric Robinson - Riley Nash - Emil Bemstrom
Zach Werenski - Seth Jones
Vladislav Gavrikov - David Savard
Michael Del Zotto - Dean Kukan
Joonas Korpisalo
Elvis Merzlikins
Scratches:Kevin Stenlund, Gabriel Carlsson, Scott Harrington
Roster Report:Columbus did not practice Sunday as the team traveled to Detroit in the early afternoon. Tortorella said Sunday he was unsure if any changes would be made to the lineup.