The Blue Jackets came back from their respectively 4 Nations Face-Off break destination tanned, rested, and hopefully ready.
They enter the final 26-game mad dash to the end of the season just one point out of a playoff spot and are set to play meaningful games down the stretch for the first time in years.
And reinforcements are on the way. Captain Boone Jenner is set to make his season debut tonight vs. Chicago after suffering a shoulder injury in the days before the start of the season, while leading goal scorer Kirill Marchenko and top-pair defenseman Dante Fabbro are also set to return from injuries.
Those players re-enter the lineup to help bolster the club going into the stretch run, and they know just how important these upcoming games will be.
“I think they get bigger every game, every week here,” Jenner said. “With 26 games left, you look at the schedule, it’s a couple of months. It’s super tight right now as it stands, and it’s only going to be tighter and these games mean more and more as you come down the stretch. The job the guys have done to get ourselves in this position has been outstanding, and it’s going to take more from all of us to get to where we want to be by the end of this.
“We know what’s at stake. Each game is a big one for us.”
So how do things setup for the Blue Jackets on the flip side of the break? The good news is that of the 26 games, 14 of them will be at Nationwide Arena, one of the friendlier schedules in the league in that regard and something that should help one of the best home teams in the NHL.
The bad news, though, is that of the remaining games, 17 of them will be against teams currently in playoff position, and six more will be against teams within six points of a postseason spot. Tonight, though, will not be one of them as the Blackhawks enter second-to-last in the league in points percentage.
How will the Blue Jackets handle it?
“It’s just one game at a time,” head coach Dean Evason said. “Are we excited about the finish, the stretch, whatever you want to call it? Of course. We’re excited to play meaningful hockey games. We’re looking forward to getting back after it and competing our butts off and see where we sit.”
The Blue Jackets spent the last three days getting their legs back underneath them with a trio of practices. It’s all in an effort to hit the ground running starting tonight against the Blackhawks.
“This is why you play,” veteran forward James van Riemsdyk said. “You get a chance to play in the playoffs, and that’s the first goal everyone has going into the season is to try to find a way to make the playoffs. Obviously down the stretch, the games are going to get tighter and tighter, and the margin for error gets less and less. We’re going to be playing against a lot of the teams that we’re jockeying with for those spots, so it’s going to make for an entertaining stretch run to the end.”
Know The Foe: Chicago Blackhawks
Head coach: Anders Sorensen (First season)
Team stats: Goals per game: 2.69 (28th) | Scoring defense: 3.44 (30th) | PP: 24.6 percent (8th) | PK: 82.0 percent (7th)
The narrative: The team of the 2010s – Chicago won three Stanley Cups in a six-year span from 2010-15 – has fully entered rebuild mode, with the aim on being the team of the late 2020s. The No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 draft, Connor Bedard, is the centerpiece, but the Blackhawks have made eight first-round picks in the last three drafts to try to bring in the talent to contend down the road. This will be the fifth straight season without playoff hockey at the Madhouse on Madison, but better days seem to be ahead.
Team leaders: Much ink has been spilled about the ups and downs of Bedard’s season, but the second-year forward still leads the team at age 19 with 49 points, including 16 goals and a team-best 33 assists. Teuvo Teravainen follows with a 12-28-40 mark, while fellow veteran Ryan Donato has turned into a possible trade target with a team-best 19 goals among his 37 points. Tyler Bertuzzi adds 17 goals including eight on the power play, while a pair of former Blue Jackets are next on the scoring chart in Seth Jones (6-20-26) and Nick Foligno (11-14-25).
Petr Mrazek leads the team with 31 starts in net and is 10-8-2 with a 3.27 GAA and .897 save percentage, while Arvid Soderblom is 7-12-5 in 25 appearances with a 3.01 GAA and .906 save percentage.
What’s new: Luke Richardson went 8-16-2 as the team’s head coach at the start of the season, but the lack of progress led to the team replacing him with Sorensen, and the NHL’s third-ever European coach has amassed a 9-19-5 record at the helm. It’s been a long season, as the Blackhawks have just one three-game winning streak on the year and have emerged victorious in just three of their last 14 games (3-6-5).
Trending: A 6-4 win in Chicago on Dec. 1 extended the Blue Jackets’ winning streak in the series to four games, and Columbus has captured five of the last six.
Former CBJ: Foligno is the team captain and Jones has been its top defenseman this season.
