Game Preview: Blue Jackets Begin Five-Game Road Trip, Face Boiling-Hot Oilers

EDMONTON OILERS

26-15-1 (53 pts; .631%) 3rd, Pacific Division ROSTER SCHEDULE

9:00 P.M. – TUESDAY, JANUARY 23 ROGERS PLACE  EDMONTON, AB, CANADA

TELEVISION: Bally Sports Ohio ESPN+ Power Play (Out of Market)

For what it's worth, the Columbus Blue Jackets have won their last three games against the Edmonton Oilers.

That's about where the good news stops for Pascal Vincent's club Tuesday night, when the Blue Jackets begin a five-game road trip by facing Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers.

The Oilers enter the game on a 13-game winning streak. That's been done only three times over the last decade — including by the Blue Jackets on their improbable 16-game win streak during the 2016-17 season. Columbus fans may remember they were just one game shy of matching the NHL's all-time record for consecutive victories of 17, by the 1992-93 Pittsburgh Penguins. 

Columbus, meanwhile, has won just 14 games all season and haven't won consecutive games since Thanksgiving. Their 21.9% chance to win (per MoneyPuck) and +300 betting odds (per Tipico) are both lows for the Blue Jackets on the season. In other words, it looks bleak Tuesday night — but not impossible!

Here's what else to know when the Blue Jackets match their longest road-trip of the season:

TALKING POINTS: EDM

• The Oilers haven't lost since December 19th. Their 13 straight wins have come in dominant fashion, as they've outscored the opposition 51-22 and won eight of the 13 games by multiple goals. Opponents have converted on just three of 40 power plays during the stretch, while Edmonton is 7-of-35. 
   
• Surprisingly, it's not McDavid who leads the Oilers in goals. It's not Leon Draisaitl, either — despite the fact that the duo have missed a combined total of two games this season (both McDavid). Instead, it's Zach Hyman leading the way for Edmonton with 28 goals. He's just eight goals shy of matching his career-high of 36 (last season) and has been another weapon in a team that already has two of the best weapons in the world. 

TALKING POINTS: CBJ

• There's a lot of talk about the young core that the Blue Jackets have and watching players like Adam Fantilli, Cole Sillinger, Kirill Marchenko, Dmitri Voronkov, and Yegor Chinakhov is exciting — but if the goaltending isn't there, it won't matter. Every game for either Elvis Merzlikins or Daniil Tarasov will tell a story. For Elvis, it's the value of a potential trade. For Tarasov, it's finding out if the 22-year-old is Columbus' goalie of the future. Either way, watching what happens between the pipes is a storyline that will be with the 5th Line for the duration of the season.
   
• The Blue Jackets have had a Corsi For percentage (at 5-on-5) above 50% in five straight games — the CF% measures the puck possession of a team. That's noteworthy because Columbus' season CF% sits at 47.9% and before this streak, it took 14 games for them to have five games where they won the even-strength puck possession battle.
   
• Projected lineups are below and are as of early Tuesday. These were used at Monday's practice and are unchanged from Columbus' 4-1 loss Friday night to the New Jersey Devils.