3 Takeaways From Blue Jackets’ Shootout Win Versus Red Wings

The Columbus Blue Jackets opened their preseason with a 1-0 shootout win over the Detroit Red Wings on Monday night. Conor Garland scored the only goal of the shootout.

Here are our three takeaways from the game.

Greaves Impressed

Goaltender Jet Greaves made his season debut and was the Blue Jackets’ best player especially in the first period. His team was outshot 11-3 in the first 20 minutes. He looked cool and clam in stopping all 11 shots.

The Blue Jackets played a much better second period outshooting the Red Wings 12-5. In all, Greaves stopped all 16 shots he faced in two periods before turning the game over to Pheonix Copley. Copley saved the two shots faced in the third period and stopped all three Red Wings’ shooters to get the win.

For the Blue Jackets to have a successful season in 2026-27, Greaves has to replicate his game from last season while going to the next level. Monday night was a good start for him in that regard.

“It felt good,” Greaves said. “It was nice to get back into it and see some game situations. Personally, it felt good, but I think there are still some things that could be cleaned up. We’ll look at those and make some improvements.”

The big story of the preseason is the condensed schedule with just four games per team and veterans only being allowed to play a maximum of two games. Greaves says he trying to handle the situation with the right attitude in the hopes of being ready for Game 1.

“It’s different, obviously,” Greaves said. “Before (with) so many preseason games, you might play a split game like this and then maybe two full starts. It’ll be different for sure. But I think it’s just coming in every day and coming with the right attitude … It’s going to be urgent for us to get to our game right away when the regular season starts. The best way to do that is get to it right now. Whatever the situation is, it’s my job to be ready.”

Lock Down

The Blue Jackets had a rough first period chasing the game in their preseason debut. Greaves’ performance allowed them to go to the room at 0-0. That allowed them to reset for the final 40 minutes. They locked the Red Wings down the rest of the night.

The Blue Jackets held the Red Wings to just seven shots on goal in the final 45 minutes including holding them to zero shots on goal in overtime. According to Mathieu Olivier, he liked the team’s response after those first 20 minutes.

“It’s the first game for everyone here, so not surprising that the first period was definitely a little rocky,” Olivier said. “But again, I thought we responded really well, kind of got to what we wanted to accomplish in the second and third. Much more of our game out there. For a preseason game, I thought defensively it was pretty tight as well. When there were chances, goalies were good. Not often you see a 1-0 preseason game, but we’ll take the win in the shootout.”

One of the ways the Blue Jackets will have success in 2026-27 is playing a game that leans on their defense. The final 40 minutes was a snap shot of what that success can look like. High danger chances were limited in the last two periods and they had their own chances to score.

It’s just one game, but that’s the kind of game the Blue Jackets hope to see a lot more of moving forward.

Mateychuk’s Increased Role

Denton Mateychuk is one of the Blue Jackets’ young players in line for an increased role this season. He played with Ivan Provorov on Monday night as the top pair. While they were steady, coach Rick Bowness spoke postgame about the kind of work that’s ahead for Mateychuk.

The Blue Jackets used power play units that consisted of two defensemen on Monday. When Zach Werenski is playing, expect to see him with four forwards. But that second unit will have a healthy dose of Mateychuk on it.

“We want Mateychuk to have a lot more power-play time this year, Bowness said. “He’s earned it. He’s one of those young guys I keep telling you we need more from. If you want more from him, you’ve got to give him the opportunity. He didn’t see any power play time last year. He will see power-play time. Scoring 14 goals 5-on-5, he deserves power-play time. On that second unit, you’ll see (Provorov) and (Mateychuk) out there quite a bit.”

The Blue Jackets must get contributions all over the lineup. Mateychuk now has a prime opportunity as he’s set to get top-four minutes and second power-play time. Outside of Werenski, he’s one of their most important players on the blueline that has to take another step. He will be given every opportunity to do so.