The Blue Jackets get a tough test at home tonight, and they’ll have to lean on the kind of effort they showed in Dallas on Saturday if they want to slow down the Colorado Avalanche.
That game in Dallas stood out because Columbus looked sharp for most of the night, even if it ended with the frustration of coming up one goal short in the third period. Against an elite opponent on the road, it was the kind of performance that at least gave the Blue Jackets something to build on as the calendar flips and the roster gets close to full health.
Colorado brings plenty of firepower into the matchup. The Avalanche are 9-5-1 and riding a three-game winning streak, with the league’s fourth-best goal differential at +18. They also played in Chicago last night and beat the Blackhawks 5-2, which gives Columbus a rest edge going into this one.
The bigger challenge, though, is the offense Colorado brings every night. The Avalanche are averaging 4.27 goals per game, the best mark in the NHL, and they have five players scoring at a point-per-game pace or better.
Nathan MacKinnon leads the way and is tied for fourth in the NHL in scoring with 25 points. Between the top-end talent and the depth on both ends of the ice, this is a team that can make life miserable fast.
That said, Columbus does have a few paths to making this interesting.
First, the Blue Jackets have to play the full 60. With two days off and Colorado coming in on less than 24 hours of rest, there’s no reason for Columbus to be dragging early. If they bring the same energy they had in Dallas and avoid the sluggish stretches that hurt them there, they give themselves a real shot.
They also need to make this a physical game. Colorado wants speed and skill to drive the action, so Columbus has to make that harder to access.
A strong forecheck, a clogged neutral zone, and a tougher net-front presence could all help disrupt the Avalanche rhythm. A few heavy hits wouldn’t hurt either.
And then there’s the obvious one: the Blue Jackets have to score. If you take away Kent Johnson, Zach Werenski, and Charlie Coyle, no other Columbus player has more than 6 points this season.
That’s not enough production, especially with veterans on the roster. The lines have been shuffled again, with the second line getting more of an offensive push tonight, but the time for waiting is over.
This is the first of two meetings between the teams this season, with the other set for Denver in February. For Columbus, tonight is about making the most of the home ice and trying to turn a promising effort into points.
In Other News...
Blue Jackets Already Face An Early Truth Fans Wont Like
The early returns on the Blue Jackets have been hard to ignore, and not in the way anyone around the team wanted. Columbus closed out October with a 5-7-0 mark, a start that left it near the bottom of the NHL standings and searching for answers on both sides of the puck. The offense has had trouble creating sustained pressure, the defense has been stretched thin at times, and injuries to key defensemen have only made the opening month more difficult to manage.
There have been bright spots, with Kent Johnson and Adam Fantilli showing enough promise to give the season some long-term hope, but the bigger picture is still defined by inconsistency. The Blue Jackets have struggled to generate offense and hold onto possession, which has made too many nights feel like a chase instead of a push. For a team trying to take a step forward, the early truth is uncomfortable: the talent is there in flashes, but the overall results are not keeping pace. [Read more 🡒]
Blue Jackets Fans Just Got An Easier Way To Watch This Season
Blue Jackets fans will have a few more ways to follow the team this season, thanks to a new broadcast arrangement involving Columbus, Sinclair Broadcast Group and Gray Media. The deal will put regular-season games on over-the-air stations across Ohio, West Virginia and Kentucky, broadening access beyond the usual cable and streaming options and giving the team a wider reach in markets where fans may not always have an easy path to the telecast.
The coverage will run on a mix of Gray Media stations and WWHO CW Columbus, adding another layer to a viewing setup that already includes cable, satellite and streaming services such as Prime Video. For a fan base that has watched TV distribution shift and expand in recent years, the practical upside is simple: more households should be able to find the Blue Jackets without having to chase down a subscription or a login. [Read more 🡒]
Blue Jackets Prospect Is Forcing A Bigger Future Role Conversation
William Whitelaw keeps giving the Blue Jackets a reason to pay closer attention. The 2023 draft pick has been lighting it up for Western Michigan, piling up four goals and three assists over two games while continuing to look like one of the more dangerous offensive players in college hockey. His production has put him near the top of the national scoring picture, and his plus-11 rating only adds to the sense that this has become more than a hot stretch.
For Columbus, the appeal is obvious: Whitelaw is starting to look like a prospect who could push the conversation about his future role sooner rather than later. He is already viewed as a promising offensive piece, and if his college season keeps trending this way, the next stop could be a jump to the Cleveland Monsters once the year wraps up. The Blue Jackets have had enough young talent to monitor, but Whitelaw is making himself hard to ignore. [Read more 🡒]