CBJ VS. Dallas Stars

These past several games have been hard fought for Columbus. They’ve had some excellent scoring opportunities, but the goals just aren’t happening. The puck always seems to bounce off the posts, the shots get blocked, or they’re just not taking enough chances. They’re a strong playoff contender, but right now, they’re not playing that way. With any luck, the break allowed them to refocus for the remainder of the 2017-2018 season.

Columbus has taken a mandatory 5-day break following the loss to Vancouver. All of Vancouver’s goals came in the second period with the final blow coming in the form of an open-netter in the third. Columbus scored once in the first period and then got their second goal in the third as well. This marks the second loss for Columbus as they also dropped the ball in Buffalo 1-3. The second period has spelled nothing but trouble for the young team as this has been a constant struggle throughout the season. Torts said that he would have preferred to have another game immediately after the loss to get their minds off of it, but to others, the break is a welcome reset. Goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, who allowed four goals on 28 shots, believes the break will be good for them. “It’s good to have a month like January, to reset, refocus, and prepare ourselves for the end.” The Jackets will also get another break at the end of the month as the NHL takes a pause for the All-Star Game in Tampa Bay. There’s only 10 games scheduled this month and six of them have already been played. The other four will be stretched out over a period of 13 days. Hopefully January will be a good way to ease back into a winning position as the Jackets face off the second half of their season.

Another positive of the break is it allows time for injured players to get healthy without causing any issues to the rest of the team. Wennberg was activated off IR after suffering a back injury against the Penguins December 21st, but they’re still without Cam Atkinson, Brandon Dubinsky, Ryan Murray, and the latest injured player, Sonny Milano. The rookie has missed the past two games with a torn oblique and was placed on IR. The Jackets have recalled Tyler Motte to fill the void. Veteran defenseman, Jack Johnson, also welcomes the break saying, “when you have games like this, you look forward to getting back on the ice and playing right away, but this month we've had some key injuries and this has been a good month [to heal up]. If you're going to pick a month during the season [to have multiple injuries], this was it, and these few days will give our guys a little extra time too. Hopefully, we'll get some of those guys back soon.” At the very least, Murray will hopefully be returning to the lineup soon not only because we have been lacking in defense lately, but also to possibly fill an upcoming void.

The Columbus Dispatch reported earlier this week that Johnson has asked for a trade. No sources were cited, but they report that Johnson made his request weeks ago in an attempt to come to a deal before the NHL Trade Deadline on February 26. He is not unhappy in Columbus, but feels that he has taken on a lesser role on the team and with his unrestricted free-agency coming up, he wants one more multi-year contract before the end of his career. He enjoys Columbus and you can see the camaraderie with his teammates, but he feels that signing with another team will overall be better for his career and his financial situation. After Friday’s loss to the Canucks, Torts was reported to have taken Johnson aside, although it is not known what was said between the two of them. Johnson’s agent has not offered a statement to the Dispatch, and Kekalainen said that Johnson’s situation is the same as any other player, “we’ll make a trade when we have something that makes sense for the Blue Jackets.”

On Wednesday, Columbus claimed veteran forward Jussi Jokinen on waivers from the LA Kings. He’s here to fill the missing forwards in Dubinsky, Atkinson, and Milano, so he was added to simply finish out his $1.1 million contract of one-year. The veteran began his season with the Edmonton Oilers as a free-agent. In his 14-game stint, he totaled one assist and was then traded to LA for forward Mike Cammelleri. In 18 games with the Kings, he totaled one goal and five assists before being scratched. He was moved to a defensive position where his possession numbers dropped, so Columbus is looking to get some offense out of him, which is exactly what they need. Jokinen is expected to go straight into to the line-up and play amongst the bottom six forwards to take Milano’s place.

After the break, the Jackets are back at it against the Dallas Stars. The restart comes on home ice when the club will face-off against the Dallas Stars for the second time this season; the first occurring January 2 in Texas where the Jackets claimed victory 2-1. This will be Dallas’ third time in four days. The Stars are currently 7-3-0 in their last ten games which includes a sweeping back-to-back set in Boston and Detroit. The Bruins fell 3-2 and the Wings 4-2. Columbus is 4-5-1 in their previous 10 games, and 8-10-2 in their last 20. They sit at 15th in the league, while the Stars are 8th. Joonas Korpisalo is expected to start tonight which will only be his second appearance against the Stars, his first on December 15, 2015 where he allowed four goals on 27 shots causing the Jackets to fall 5-1. During the break, Korpisalo was sent to the Monsters to get some practice in. He started one game while he was in Cleveland and made 35 stops on 36 shots to garner the win. Bob will be getting some rest after starting the past six games with a 2.15 GAA and .932 save percentage. In his career, Bobrovsky is 10-1-0 against Dallas including their previous 2-1 win. It’ll be interesting to see if Korpisalo can not only redeem himself from their last fight, but also fill Bobrovsky’s skates.

Puck drop is at 7:00 and it’s also military appreciation night. They will be accepting donations to the USO and in return, you will receive a voucher for two tickets to an upcoming game in February. The players will also be sporting camouflage-styled jersey’s during pre-game warmups which will then be either auctioned off (Anderson, Dubois, Panarin) or raffled. They will also be auctioning game sticks. Nationwide will be hosting over 1,000 military personnel and their families, and I wish them all good tidings and prosperity. See you at Nationwide!

Blue Jackets Projected Lineup Artemi Panarin — Pierre-Luc Dubois — Josh Anderson Boone Jenner — Alexander Wennberg — Oliver Bjorkstrand Matt Calvert — Lukas Sedlak — Nick Foligno Jordan Schroeder — Jussi Jokinen — Tyler Motte Zach Werenski — Seth Jones Markus Nutivaara — David Savard Scott Harrington — Jack Johnson Joonas Korpisalo

Stars Projected Lineup Jamie Benn — Tyler Seguin — Alexander Radulov Mattias Janmark — Jason Spezza — Devin Shore Antoine Roussel — Radek Faksa — Tyler Pitlick Remi Elie — Martin Hanzal — Brett Ritchie Esa Lindell — John Klingberg Dan Hamhuis — Greg Pateryn Dillon Heatherington — Stephen Johns Ben Bishop