The Columbus Blue Jackets are right where they want to be at this point in the 2024-25 season. They’re right in the thick of the playoff race in the Eastern Conference.
If the Blue Jackets hope to stay in the race for the rest of this season, they must start finding ways to win on the road. They get their first opportunity to do just that Tuesday night in Pittsburgh.
Road Woes
The Blue Jackets’ road struggles are well documented. They enter Game 41 with a hockey .500 record of 17-17-6. While they’ve been outstanding at home with a 13-5-3 record, their road record of 4-12-3 has them on the outside of the playoff picture looking in. The four road wins are the fewest in the NHL going into Tuesday night.
The Blue Jackets know they must rectify their issues away from Nationwide Arena. Coach Evason gathered the team around at their start of their morning skate in Pittsburgh to address the importance of not only the game against the Penguins, but the games upcoming.
“The message was this morning that we’re obviously very concerned about it that we’re playing not one way at home, but we’re having success at home and not on the road,” Evason said. “But we have to when things aren’t going well, you have to do something a little bit extra. That means extra to keep the puck out of the net. Certainly early in hockey games to not have to chase games when you’re out on the road. We want to play sound defensively. We’ll worry about our offense and we’ll take our offense as it comes which we do at home. And we keep the puck out of the net for the most part there.”
“On the road, we make some pretty glaring mistakes and some stuff that is a little bit uncharacteristic of our group when we get out here to not allow us to keep that game in check and close for us to have a chance at the end of hockey games.”
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Zach Werenski and the rest of the Blue Jackets know the opportunity that sits in front of them especially on the road. While they’re aware of the futility at PPG Paints Arena going back to 2015, most of the team hasn’t been around that long.
As for Werenski, he simply said “I don’t care” when asked about the losing streak in Pittsburgh. His focus is finding a way to win Tuesday night.
“We just have to find a way to win the game,” Werenski said. “Other games we play well and just don’t win. We have to find a way to win tonight on the road and get into a good spot here. We’re fighting for a playoff position. So it’s a big game for us but we shouldn’t think about our road record or the streak here or anything like that. We’re just trying to find a way to get some points tonight.”
A key to getting those points will be trying to slow down a Penguins’ team that has had the Blue Jackets’ number of late especially in Pittsburgh. For Werenski, it’s all about their defense.
“I feel like our mindset should honestly be focused on the defensive part of the game tonight. Try and win the game 1-0 or 2-1. It’s a lot harder to score on the road. I think that’s just because you’re in the different team’s building, your fans and momentum behind you. If you forecheck well, you’re going to get more chances. But I feel like for us to win tonight, our mindset has to be we’re not going to give up anything. We’re going to play tight defensively. We’re going to try to win 1-0 or 2-1 and usually that’s when your chances start to come more. That should be our mindset tonight.”
It turns out that Werenski is not on the only Blue Jacket who has gone through a stretch like this of not being able to win in a particular city. Sean Monahan and the Calgary Flames had the same struggle in Anaheim. For him, it’s just a matter of simplifying and getting back to basics.
“I think we just got to focus on playing the right way and do that consistently,” Monahan said. “We know we can score goals. We’ve been successful at home and we’ve got to carry that over. We got to keep the puck out of our net. We got to be a heavy team coming on the road. We don’t need to be looking to win games 6-2. We got to be comfortable with those 1-0, 2-1 games and play the right way.”
It’s simple to say. But if the Blue Jackets had just two more road wins on their record, they’d be in a playoff position instead of outside looking in. They know the importance of Tuesday night. Now they just have to go out and do what they say they’re going to do.
Game Notes
- Kevin Labanc will re-enter the Blue Jackets lineup after his wife Kelly gave birth. They’re now a family of four.
- With Labanc coming in, Jordan Harris comes out. Damon Severson will be a healthy scratch for a second consecutive game. The Blue Jackets will have a standard 12-6 alignment.
- Evason and Severson had a conversation about this. Evason simply said “He understands what he needs to do when he gets back in the lineup and we expect him to do that when he does get back in.”
- Elvis Merzlikins will start in net after Evason said Labanc for Harris was the only change to the lineup.
- Here’s Werenski on Team USA winning consecutive World Juniors and how they honored Johnny Gaudreau: “John is a huge part of USA Hockey and has been for a long time. The way they honored him was fantastic. And the way the team carried themselves to win the tournament back-to-back years. Doing anything twice in a row is tough especially a tournament like that. Good for those guys to stick with it and represent the USA well. So it was awesome.”
- The Penguins will start Tristan Jarry in net Tuesday night. Also it appears Jesse Puljujarvi will return to their lineup against the Blue Jackets.