PREVIEW: Blue Jackets renew acquaintances with Penguins

The Blue Jackets have lost five games in a row, and four of them have been by one-goal margins.

If you’re frustrated as a fan, you can imagine how that feels for the men on the ice.

“I thought we played hard, played a good game,” Justin Danforth said after the Rangers scored with 11 seconds to play Sunday and then won in a shootout to extend the CBJ losing streak. “But it’s another moral victory, and we're not looking for those. We are looking to close out games. We've been talking about it for quite some time now, so it's just closing out games.”

Blown leads have been perhaps the biggest bugaboo for the Blue Jackets, who have held the lead at one point in each of the past four losses. In two of those – Sunday at the Rangers and last Monday at Florida – Columbus led with less than a minute to go but was unable to close things out before falling in extra time.

The good news is that in Madison Square Garden, the Blue Jackets played some of their best minutes of hockey of the season coming off a loss the previous day in Detroit. The bad news was they got close to the finish line but couldn’t get over it.

“I’m really, really happy with the team’s effort,” head coach Pascal Vincent said. “I thought we played the right way. We put ourselves in a position to win this game. We have to close them out. Now we’re 11 seconds short. We’re gonna get there.”

Things don’t get any easier tonight in Nationwide Arena as the Blue Jackets welcome Pittsburgh to town. Six of the last eight games have come against teams that made the playoffs a season ago, and the Penguins come into Nationwide Arena playing as well as anyone in the league.

It’s a challenge the Blue Jackets say they’re ready to embrace.

“We don’t have room for error right now,” Sean Kuraly said. “It’s tough to get two points for us, and it’s how it’s gonna be until we figure it out. We’re just going to have to learn how to make that slim margin for error, and right now it’s not coming easy. We’re going to have to battle through it.”

Know The Foe: Pittsburgh Penguins

Head coach: Mike Sullivan (Ninth season)

2023-24 Stats: Goals per game: 3.54 (7th) | Scoring defense: 2.62 (6th) | PP: 18.4 percent (19th) | PK: 83.3 percent (11th)

The narrative: The Penguins entered the season as one of the most fascinating squads in the NHL, as the team is coming off its first season without playoff hockey since 2005-06. The Pens remain tied to franchise legends Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang – who show no real signs of slowing down – and added Erik Karlsson to the mix this season in a blockbuster trade. Will it be enough to return the Pens to the ranks of the league’s elite?

2023-24 leaders: You’ll recognize the names here. Malkin continues to be an elite player at age 37, posting a team-high eight goals among his 16 points to tie for the team lead with Jake Guentzel (5-11-16) in 13 games. Crosby is right behind with seven goals and eight assists for 15 points, while Karlsson is operating a point-per-game clip (4-9-13) and is tied for sixth among league defensemen in points. Bryan Rust (7-5-12) and another new addition, veteran Reilly Smith (6-6-12) also provide offense.

In net, Pittsburgh yet again is in the hands of Tristan Jarry, especially with backup Alex Nedeljkovic on the shelf with injury. Jarry is currently 5-5-0 with a 2.23 GAA and .920 save percentage.

What's new: New general manager and president of hockey operations Kyle Dubas tweaked a lot this offseason, making the big move for Karlsson to bolster the defense and adding such pieces as Smith, centers Lars Eller and Noel Acciari, wing Matt Nieto and defenseman Ryan Graves. A 3-5-0 start led to questions as to how the whole group was coming together, but it’s gelled in a four-game winning streak in which the Pens have outscored opponents by a 20-5 margin.

Trending: If you’re a CBJ fan, you know how hard it is to beat the Penguins. Columbus has a 3-11-5 mark since the start of the 2017-18 season, though the Jackets did win the last matchup in overtime near the end of last season.

Former CBJ: The end appears close for Jeff Carter, as the 38-year-old forward is scoreless in 10 games and has been a scratch at times this season.

Roster Report

Projected Lineup (subject to change)

Dmitri Voronkov – Adam Fantilli – Kirill Marchenko
Yegor Chinakhov – Boone Jenner – Patrik Laine
Johnny Gaudreau – Cole Sillinger – Emil Bemstrom
Alexandre Texier – Sean Kuraly – Justin Danforth
Zach Werenski – Erik Gudbranson
Ivan Provorov – Damon Severson
Jake Bean – David Jiricek
Elvis Merzlikins
Spencer Martin

Scratches: Mathieu Olivier, Adam Boqvist, Andrew Peeke

Injured reserve/Injured Non-Roster: Jack Roslovic (fractured ankle, out four to six weeks as of Nov. 13); Daniil Tarasov (knee, week to week)

Roster Report: The Blue Jackets recalled Jiricek on Monday with Roslovic going on IR, and the defenseman returns to the lineup in place of Boqvist. Bemstrom will get the chance to re-enter the lineup with Roslovic out.

3 Stats to Know

• With 672 games played, captain Boone Jenner is two games away from tying Rick Nash for the franchise record. He has moved into third place this season in franchise annals in both goals (177) and points (338).
• Dmitri Voronkov has a 2-5-7 line in his first eight games, becoming just one of three CBJ players in franchise history to have at least seven points in their first nine career NHL contests along with Werenski (2-8-10) and Jakub Voracek (3-4-7).
• Milestone watch: With 173 career assists, Zach Werenski has tied Seth Jones for most career assists by a defenseman in franchise history. … Andrew Peeke is one game away from 200 in his career. … Johnny Gaudreau is three games from 700 for his NHL career. … Patrik Laine notched his 200th career goal Saturday, while Roslovic played in his 400th career game Sunday.

Who’s Hot

Both Adam Fantilli and Sean Kuraly have scored in consecutive games, while Kuraly has three goals in the last four contests. … Fantilli ranks tied for fourth among NHL rookies in goals and points. … Erik Gudbranson has a 1-5-6 line in the last six games. … Kirill Marchenko saw a career-best five-game point streak (3-2-5) snapped Sunday. … Alexandre Texier has scored in two of the last four games and has a 2-2-4 line in that span. … Columbus ranks first in the NHL penalty kill percentage since Oct. 20, killing off 33 of 35 (94.3 percent) power-play chances over the last 12 games. The Blue Jackets have not given up a power-play goal in 21 chances in the last eight contests, and it’s tied for the third longest streak of games in franchise history.

This Day in CBJ History

Nov. 14, 2017: Zach Werenski scores 1:09 into overtime and the Blue Jackets post a 2-1 win at Montreal.