The Detroit Red Wings head to Ohio’s capital city to battle the Columbus Blue Jackets this evening (7 PM EST start on FanDuel Sportsnet Detroit/FanDuel Sportsnet Columbus/97.1 FM), and there are several Wings-Blue Jackets previews of note this morning.
NHL.com summarizes the storylines heading into tonight’s game most succinctly:
Detroit Red Wings at Columbus Blue Jackets (7 p.m. ET; FDSNOH, FDSNDET)
The Red Wings (15-18-4) are 2-1-0 since hiring coach Todd McLellan. The Blue Jackets (16-16-6) have won three of four games. Zach Werenski has a home point streak of 13 games as the Blue Jackets have moved within two points of the final Wild Card spot in the East. Werenski has 25 points (eight goals, 17 assists) in the streak.
The Columbus Dispatch’s Brian Hedger also notes that the Blue Jackets are in the thick of the playoff hunt…
Going into the game, the Blue Jackets are tied with the Philadelphia Flyers at 38 points after outlasting the Carolina Hurricanes in a shootout Tuesday to ring in the new year at Nationwide Arena. They’re just two points behind the Ottawa Senators for the Eastern Conference’s second wildcard spot and one back of the Pittsburgh Penguins for fourth place in the Metropolitan Division.
For the Red Wings, tonight’s game is something of an acid test, as DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills notes:
Looking to carry over the momentum from the second half of their recent four-game homestand, the Detroit Wings will go for their third straight win when they visit the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena on Thursday night.
Puck drop between the Red Wings (15-18-4; 34 points) and Blue Jackets (16-16-6; 38 points) is set for 7 p.m., with broadcast coverage on FanDuel Sports Network Detroit and the Red Wings Radio Network (97.1 The Ticket). Thursday’s matchup begins the season series between the Eastern Conference clubs, who will face off next in Detroit on Feb. 27 and then at Ohio Stadium in Columbus, Ohio, for the NHL’s 2025 Stadium Series on March 1.
“I’m excited to see how our team will respond on the road because we’re a week into [being] together as a group,” Detroit head coach Todd McLellan said. “We have concepts in place, and they feel good about themselves.”
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Currently ranked fifth in the Metropolitan Division, the Blue Jackets improved to 12-4-3 on home ice after rallying to defeat the Carolina Hurricanes in a shootout, 3-2, on Tuesday.
Aside from Kirill Marchenko (16-26—42) and Zach Werenski (11-29—40), both of whom have passed the 40-point mark this season, Columbus has gotten offensive contributions from Sean Monahan (13-23—36), Dmitri Voronkov (13-11—24) and Kent Johnson (10-11—21). Between the pipes, goaltender Elvis Merzlikins has a 12-9-3 record with a 3.07 goals-against average, .891 save percentage and one shutout in 24 games this season.
“They have a real good home record,” McLellan said about the Blue Jackets. “They’ve played really well there, and then we’re going to play one of the best teams in the league. So these six, seven, eight periods we’re going to play are—I think, again, I talked about roadmaps— going to provide us a roadmap to where we’re going to go as a group. Can we keep forging forward or do we have to go back and review things? I’m excited to see how the group will play.”
ColumbusBlueJackets.com’s Jeff Svoboda wrote a preview from Columbus’ perspective…
Columbus has 16 victories this year, and 10 of them have been against teams that made it to the Stanley Cup Playoffs a season ago. The latest came New Year’s Eve, as the Blue Jackets won a 4-3 shootout final over a team that’s made the postseason six straight years and won three of the last four Metropolitan Division titles.
Perhaps more important was the way the Blue Jackets did it. Carolina led 3-2 going into the third period, but the Blue Jackets played their best hockey in the final frame, equalized the score and earned just their second victory when trailing after two periods this season.
“I hope it’s a wonderful sign, obviously, moving forward,” head coach Dean Evason said. “We’ve handled adversity up to this point, and now you’re going to have to handle a lot more. But to do it against that team, such a good hockey club – Carolina is so good, put so much heat on us. We didn’t handle it in (some) areas, but at the end of the day we got the job done. We’re resilient. We stayed the course, we don’t panic on our bench, and that’s exciting for us.”
The victory moved Columbus to within two points of the final wild card spot in the Eastern Conference as the calendar turns to 2025, and there’s a lot of reasons to like the way the team is playing of late. The Blue Jackets have points in five of the last six games (4-1-1), as the team’s best players like top-line forwards Dmitri Voronkov, Sean Monahan and Kirill Marchenko and top defenseman Zach Werenski have been among the league’s top scorers in that span.
The next step is finding some consistency and perhaps some scoring balance in the lineup, but the most important part might be learning how to win and believing you can go toe-to-toe against the best. The Blue Jackets have made major strides in those categories this season, and they hope they can carry the momentum from the Carolina win into the new year.
“When you win games like this – you come back, you do it on home ice – those are fun, and those are the ones you have to try to build off of,” Monahan said.
Next up is taking on a Detroit team that the Blue Jackets will face March 1 in the Navy Federal Credit Union NHL Stadium Series game in Ohio Stadium. Columbus has been excellent at home, posting a 12-4-3 record and leading the league with 76 goals scored at home (4.00 average).
The Blue Jackets have already posted a “hype video” regarding tonight’s game…
The Hockey News’s Jason Newland posted a Wings-Blue Jackets preview as well…
Columbus welcomes the Detroit Red Wings into Nationwide Arena tonight as the two rivals play each other for the first time this season.
The Jackets have lost the last three games against the Wings, and are going to want to stop that streak tonight. They get a Wings team that is very pedestrian on the road, while the Jackets are hot at home, winning their last four. So there’s no better time than now to stop the streak.
Detroit comes into this game on a modest two-game winning streak themselves and has gone 5-5 in the last 10. The Red Wing rebuild is a hot topic up north, so being where they are in the standings is a touchy subject for Detroit fans.
The Wings have a good power play, ranked at 9th in the league, but the Jackets PK is clicking at 90% over the last 10 games, which is 3rd in the league over that time.
Detroit is currently 7th in the Atlantic, 14th in the East, and 27th in the league.
The Blue Jackets are 5th in the Metro, 10th in the East, and 21st in the league.
MLive’s Tyler Kuehl offers a short preview…
The Red Wings ended the tumultuous calendar year by giving their new coach something to be excited about heading into 2024. After getting bench boss Tod McLellan his first win with the team last weekend, Detroit doubled down with a gutsy effort against the Pittsburgh Penguins on New Year’s Eve, using a couple of late goals to snag a 4-2 victory.
Now, the Wings head into Ohio trying to win three games in a row for the first time this season. With just a few months left in the regular season, Detroit needs to start stringing victories together if they want any chance of getting back into the playoff race. The Red Wings are seventh in the Atlantic Division, six points back of the last Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference.
The Blue Jackets, despite all of the adversity this team has faced, are still in postseason contention. Like Detroit, they ended 2024 with a solid stretch of games, winning three of their last four. With players like Sean Monahan, Kirill Marchenko and Zach Werenski leading the charge, Columbus sits fifth in the Metropolitan Division, two points out of a Wild Card spot.
This will be the first of three meetings this season between the former division rivals. Last year, the Wings won all three games against the Jackets.
If you’re into stats, the AP offers them in bulk…
BOTTOM LINE: The Detroit Red Wings visit the Columbus Blue Jackets after the Blue Jackets took down the Carolina Hurricanes 4-3 in a shootout.
Columbus has a 12-4-3 record in home games and a 16-16-6 record overall. The Blue Jackets are 2-2-6 in games decided by one goal.
Detroit has a 6-8-2 record on the road and a 15-18-4 record overall. The Red Wings have gone 11-5-2 in games they score three or more goals.
The teams meet Thursday for the first time this season.
TOP PERFORMERS: Sean Monahan has scored 13 goals with 23 assists for the Blue Jackets. Kirill Marchenko has six goals and nine assists over the last 10 games.
Alex DeBrincat has 15 goals and 13 assists for the Red Wings. Lucas Raymond has five goals and five assists over the past 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Blue Jackets: 4-3-3, averaging three goals, 5.2 assists, 2.7 penalties and 7.1 penalty minutes while giving up 3.4 goals per game.
Red Wings: 5-5-0, averaging three goals, 5.1 assists, 2.6 penalties and 5.4 penalty minutes while giving up 3.4 goals per game.
And finally, Field Level Media posted a set of quotes from the Blue Jackets after their 4-3 shootout win over Carolina:
The Blue Jackets have won three of their last four after a 4-3 shootout win over the Carolina Hurricanes in Columbus on Tuesday night.
Kent Johnson and Adam Fantilli scored in the shootout for the Blue Jackets, and Elvis Merzlikins denied two of the four Hurricanes shooters.
“It’s a great result,” Kirill Marchenko said. “I think everybody wants to win (in) three periods, but it’s a great win. Great comeback and gives confidence for us, like everybody play hard today, and it’s awesome. Everybody enjoyed today.”
Dmitri Voronkov tied the game 3-3 with 15:02 left in the third period after assisting on an earlier goal. Marchenko scored twice and Sean Monahan added three assists, while Merzlikins stopped 32 shots.
“Wonderful sign, obviously, moving forward, that we’ve handled adversity up to this point, and now you’re going to have to handle a lot more, right?” Blue Jackets coach Dean Evason said. “But to do it, that team, such a good hockey club like Carolina, is so good, put so much heat on us. We didn’t handle it in areas, but at the end of the day, we get the job done. And, yeah, we were resilient. We stayed the course.”
Defenseman Zach Werenski had an assist to stretch his home point streak to 13 games.
“Any team in this league can win on any night, but I think our mindset is to come in, it doesn’t matter who we’re playing or what the situation is. We’re going out there trying to get two points,” Monahan said.
Here are tonight’s game notes:
