PREVIEW: Blue Jackets host Canucks at Nationwide Arena | Columbus Blue Jackets (2025)

BLUE JACKETS (32-29-9) vs. CANUCKS (34-26-12), 7 PM, NATIONWIDE ARENA

HOW TO FOLLOW

Thankfully, nobody had misplaced the donkey hat or the ABBA playlist.

When an NHL team loses, the locker room is a quiet place. On the road, players quickly pack their bags, go through their postgame routine, put on their dress clothes and shuffle in silence to the bus for the trip to the next city.

But after a win, spirits are much higher. For the Blue Jackets this season, that means celebrating with the postgame player of the game honor, the donkey hat, and cranking some Swedish classics in the locker room before a much happier ride to the airport.

After a six-game losing streak, the hat and the music were back in full force on Long Island on Monday night. Columbus battled back from 2-0 and 3-2 deficits to take a 4-3 win over the Islanders in a shootout, earning two critical points that leave the Blue Jackets just two back of the final wild card spot with 12 games to play.

“It’s great,” captain Boone Jenner said. “Obviously, the last little bit here, we’ve not had the results, but we’ve played some good hockey. To get the result is huge for us, and hopefully we can just continue on with that and run with it here obviously. It feels great to come in and get those two points and hear the music again.”

It would have been particularly tough to fly home on the losing end considering the Blue Jackets had three days off between games. It was a welcome respite in what’s about to become a packed schedule to finish the season, as Columbus will play its final 12 contests in a 21-day window.

The marathon of the season has become a sprint, and the Blue Jackets can head into tonight’s game against Vancouver at Nationwide Arena with some momentum.

“There was a good feeling in the room after,” head coach Dean Evason said when the team got back on the ice with an optional practice Wednesday. “It’s certainly nice to see the smiles, even though we’ve talked about us playing well. Yeah, the result is key, obviously, especially this time of year. It’s nice to get points, and we’re fortunate to get a couple the other night.”

The key now is not to squander the good vibes. The ice-cold sticks that had marked the losing streak – Columbus had just one goal in a four-game span – have thawed, with the Blue Jackets getting a trio of goals in each of the last two games. The possession and scoring chance analytics show Columbus has been doing a lot of the right things in recent contests without getting the wins, but this time of year, nothing feels better than hearing that postgame music.

Know The Foe: Vancouver Canucks

Head coach: Rick Tocchet (Third season)

Team stats: Goals per game: 2.82 (23rd) | Scoring defense: 3.03 (20th) | PP: 21.9 percent (15th) | PK: 82.7 percent (4th)

The narrative: Tocchet has brought a measure of stability to a franchise that seemed to be foundering for a while, as Vancouver made the playoffs just once from 2016-23 before getting to the second round last year in his first full season. Tocchet is 104-61-25 since taking over the Canucks, but injuries to key players Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes and the midseason trade of J.T. Miller have hurt the team down the stretch. The Canucks are on the outside looking in for a playoff spot right now, three points behind the red-hot Blues.

Team leaders: Coming off of last season’s dominant Norris Trophy-winning campaign, Hughes is again filling up the scoresheet. Despite missing 14 games to injury, Hughes leads Vancouver in scoring and is third among all NHL defensemen – just behind Zach Werenski – with 68 points (16 goals, 52 assists) in 58 games. Up front, Pettersson is the top scorer with a 15-30-45 line but has returned home from the road trip with an injury. Brock Boeser (23-21-44), Conor Garland (18-25-43) and Jake DeBrusk (23-19-42) are next up in points.

In net, Thatcher Demko missed the first two months of the season with injury and has played just 19 games, going 8-6-3 with a 2.82 GAA and .892 save percentage. Kevin Lankinen first season in Vancouver has been a good one, as the Finn has started 44 games and is 24-14-8 with a 2.59 GAA and .901 save percentage.

What's new: The Canucks have been through plenty of ups and downs this year, with the injuries and blockbuster trade of Miller – who still leads the team with 26 goals – to the Rangers making it hard for the squad to get in any rhythm. The inconsistencies have continued of late, as Vancouver is 5-4-1 in its last 10 games, though the Canucks are coming off consecutive wins at New Jersey and the New York Islanders. Forwards Filip Chytil – who came over in the Miller deal – and Nils Hoglander are also out with injuries, continuing the theme of the season.

Trending: Columbus dropped the opening game of the season series Dec. 6 in Vancouver, as the Canucks rallied to score five unanswered goals in a 5-2 final. The Blue Jackets have won four in a row in the series in Nationwide Arena.

Former CBJ: There are no former Blue Jackets on the squad, but Columbus native Kiefer Sherwood has had a memorable season, posting a 17-15-32 line and setting a new NHL single-season record with 404 hits.

Projected CBJ Lineup (Subject to change)

Scratches: Yegor Chinakhov, Christian Fischer, James van Riemsdyk, Jack Williams, Jake Christiansen (upper body), Jordan Harris, Jack Johnson

Injured reserve: Kevin Labanc (shoulder)

Roster Report: Sillinger skated on the third line at practice Thursday and is set to return after being out since Feb. 27 with an upper body injury, with van Riemsdyk coming out of the lineup. The Blue Jackets have a lot of options, and Dean Evason said there are tough decisions to make, and the arrival of Williams – who signed as a free agent out of Northeastern University this week and took morning skate – leaves 16 forwards and nine defensemen on the active roster.

The Numbers Game

Columbus has tied a franchise record with five players with 20-plus goals on the season (Kirill Marchenko, 26; Kent Johnson, 22; Adam Fantilli, 22; Zach Werenski, 20; Dmitri Voronkov, 20). ... Sean Monahan had two assists in his return to the line Monday after missing 28 games with an upper body injury. His 43 points (14 goals, 29 assists) are the most ever for a CBJ player in his first 42 games with the team. ... Werenski has a single-season team record with 49 assists on the year, and his 20 goals are tied with his mark of 20 in 2019-20 as the most in team history. After playing a career-high 33:44 Monday, his average ice time of 27:06 leads all NHL players, and he’s second among league defensemen in goals (20) and second in points (69) on the season. ... Adam Fantilli has a 15-12-27 line in the last 31 games. ... Marchenko has set a new career high with his 26 goals on the season. He is tied for 14h in the NHL with a plus-28 rating. ... Johnson has 22 points (11-11-22) in the past 26 games. ... Mathieu Olivier has a career-high 16 goals and is one of two NHL players with 15-plus goals and 100 penalty minutes in 2024-25; he’s also fourth in the NHL with 267 hits, a franchise single-season record. ... The Blue Jackets are second in the NHL with 161 goals at 5-on-5 and tied for fourth with nine shorthanded goals. ... Blue Jackets defensemen have 43 goals this season, tied for second in the NHL, and 166 points, good for sixth place in the league. ... Erik Gudbranson is one assist from 100 in his NHL career.

This Day in CBJ History

March 28, 2012: 2011 second-round pick Boone Jenner signs his entry level contract with the Blue Jackets. Jenner would go on to become a team captain and play the most games (729) and seasons (12) in CBJ history through Monday.

March 28, 2013: Cam Atkinson scores 10 seconds into a game at Edmonton, tying Rick Nash’s CBJ record for the fastest goal at the start of a game. Columbus would go on to drop a 6-4 final to the Oilers.

March 28, 2023: Kirill Marchenko notches his 20th goal of the season, tallying in a 6-2 loss vs. the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden. With the goal, Marchenko ties the CBJ rookie record for goals in a season, set in 2017-18 by Pierre-Luc Dubois.