Across the Pond

Moving on from the utter devastation that was the LA Kings game last night, Columbus travelled to Anaheim for their final fight of the California road trip.

The Blue Jackets couldn’t generate any kind of momentum on their power plays. Indeed, the Kings scored two short handed goals a mere 59 seconds apart on the same penalty.

Columbus gave up an early goal in the first period, allowing LA to end their scoring drought; the club hadn’t scored a goal in the first period in five games.

In the past three games, Columbus has given up three shorthanded goals and have failed to score on 14 power plays. The Jackets have failed to score on a power play since October 25 against the St. Louis blues.

"We've got to figure it out amongst us, it's not the coaches," defenseman Zach Werenski said "It's no one else. It's on us, the players that are on it. They put a plan in place for us to succeed and we have to go out there and everyone has to do their job.”

The CBJ looked great in their 4-1 victory over the San Jose Sharks, so what happened? Captain Nick Foligno had some very strong feelings on the matter:

"I just don't see the commitment that's needed to win consistently in this league. I don't know why guys haven't realized that," he said. "We talk about, 'Oh, we learned from the Washington series (2018 Stanley Cup playoffs).' Well, we haven't learned (bleep), obviously, with the way we're playing. Talk is cheap on this team, and I'm tired of seeing guys talk and not do it. That's my challenge to everybody in here.

"I mean, enough's enough. There are only so many rah-rah speeches you can give. Only so much the coach can say. Eventually you have to go out and do it, do your job, play for the right reasons, play for your team, accept the role that you need to play and just do what you need to do to help us win. We do it on some nights, but there are too many nights early in the season where we haven't done it. That's (bleep).”

Columbus was a force to be reckoned with last season, but that swagger seems to have all but disappeared. Their PP have been lackluster, and they know it. They’re getting stupid penalties, not taking shots, and letting the other teams walk all over them. If Columbus wants to be a playoff contender, they need to step up their game.

Head Coach John Tortorella confirmed that Joonas Korpisalo would be in net tonight. Despite Bobrovsky’s rough game last night, the plan all along was to start Korpisalo tonight, so it seems unlikely this is a form of punishment for the veteran.

On Anaheim’s end, the team is looking for their own redemption after losing 3-2 in a shootout against the New York Rangers. This marks their seventh straight defeat. Their longest losing streak is eight games in a row set all the way back in 1996 and was later matched in 2005.

Both teams have a lot riding on tonight’s game. May the best team win.

CBJ Projected Lineup

Artemi Panarin — Pierre-Luc Dubois — Cam Atkinson

Nick Foligno — Boone Jenner — Josh Anderson

Oliver Bjorkstrand — Alexander Wennberg — Anthony Duclair

Riley Nash — Brandon Dubinsky — Markus Hannikainen

Zach Werenski — Seth Jones

Ryan Murray — Markus Nutivaara

Scott Harrington — David Savard

Joonas Korpisalo

Sergei Bobrovsky

Anaheim Ducks Projected Lineup

Richard Rakell — Ryan Getzlaf — Pontus Aberg

Andrew Cogliano — Ryan Kesler — Jakob Silfverberg

Isac Lundestrom — Adam Henrique — Patrick Eaves

Brian Gibbons — Kalle Kossila — Kiefer Sherwood

Cam Fowler — Andy Welinsky

Hampus Lindholm — Jocob Larsson

Marcus Petersson — Brandon Montour

John Gibson

Ryan Miller