Blue Jackets Looking for Offensive Consistency Amidst Season Scoring Slump

The Columbus Blue Jackets played game 16 of the season last night at home against the Florida Panthers, and there is one clear issue needing to be addressed, scoring. The Blue Jackets have to find a way to put the puck in the back of the net more, and do it consistently. Outside of two offensive outbursts this season of six goals, and seven goals respectively, they have combined for just 28 goals in 14 games, exactly two goals per game.

That won’t work, and it hasn’t worked thus far this season either. The Blue Jackets are consistently fighting late in games, either to get it to overtime, or to try and find an equalizer late. This team is not built for late game comebacks.

After the trade with Matthew Knies coming to Columbus so late prior to the season, and the Blue Jackets dealing their best goal scorer, Kirill Marchenko, they were going to have a hole to fill in a big way in the goal scoring department.

Now they sit almost a month and a half into the season, and still the same issue is resounding, they can’t find the back of the net. Head Coach Rick Bowness has talked at length about the team creating chances, and how the goals will come, but we are still waiting, and looking to see who else will step up.

Knies in Midst of Goal Drought

Knies came out of the gates red-hot with a two-goal performance on opening night, but hasn’t found the back of the net in 15 games since then. When asked if that pressure is weighing on him at all his response was simple.

“It’ll come you know. I am not too worried about it. I feel like if I score tomorrow, and it opens up and I score the following day, and then we aren’t talking about this. So, it just kind of comes in waves like that,” said Knies.

The Blue Jackets are trying anything they can to move him around the lines and group him up with players like Kent Johnson, and Zach Werenski, who have had a hot stick lately, in theory maybe to ignite that scoring ability.

“They’re good players, smart players, they make a lot of good plays, and I just got to find myself in the right areas to kind of bury the puck,” said Knies.

If Knies can get going offensively again, it gives the Blue Jackets a layer to their offense that they haven’t been able to tap into yet with either of their two big bodies in front of the net, alongside Dmitri Voronkov.

Knies has been getting time on the top power play unit, and he is going to need to find a way to become a bigger factor for them to limit the vision of goaltenders. He has a lot of puck movers on the top unit, and that can be something he can use to steal some extra goals by losing the attention of the defense to sneak away or slide in and get deflections in front.

He has to have a greater impact on the offense, and in bigger games they will rely upon his ability to shield away defenders and keep possession of the puck when the game gets more physical.

Fantilli’s Slow Start

Another guy who has been slow out of the gates has been Adam Fantilli. He has just six points in 16 games, and the most eye-popping part of that number is his mere two assists. Fantilli has yet to reach that point-per-game threshold that coach Bowness believes he can attain, but he is far behind the pace again to start this year.

His 2023 NHL Draft counterpart Leo Carlsson is off to a blazing start with 26 points in 18 games, and the headliner there is 20 assists. There is definitely pressure on Fantilli to get going, but he is a slow burner, and has started slow in each of his previous three seasons in Columbus.

They have tried moving him around, but he seemingly has been so unlucky all around the net, and he even can’t catch a break in practice either. He was banged up a little bit on Monday’s practice and flashed some emotion to capture his frustration.

Talked to Fantilli today. He’s feeling better today, physically, than yesterday … when he accidentally got trucked by Ivan Provorov in a drill and then got his leg awkwardly and painfully pinned on the wall in PP work. He wasn’t thrilled. All good now, though. #CBJ

— Brian Hedger (@BrianHedger) November 10, 2026

While the other two University of Michigan alumni, Johnson and Werenski have gotten going offensively, they are waiting on the third to follow suit. Fantilli needs to start being a bigger impact in special teams as well, as he has now been moved down to the second unit.

Fantilli was also moved to the second forward line with Valeri Nichushkin and Dmitri Voronkov, in what appears to be an attempt to get him going and creating offense with both of the other two as a unit. That line will be physical and checking, but can be highly dangerous offensively once they get going together.

The Blue Jackets will have some home cooking this week as all three of their opponents are coming to Nationwide Arena to face Columbus. They will face the Tampa Bay Lightning on the second leg of a back-to-back on Thursday, and Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday.

As good a chance as ever for the Blue Jackets to capitalize on some offensive momentum before a week long road trip. The Panthers game didn’t go as planned, as the Blue Jackets fell 4-1. However, there is bounce back opportunity against a team they haven’t lost to since early in 2025, after a perfect 3-0-0 record against them last season.

The Blue Jackets and Lightning will drop the puck at 7:00pm ET on Thursday night from Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio.