Game Preview: Blue Jackets Look To Turn Luck Around; Face Golden Knights In Vegas Saturday Night

VEGAS GOLDEN KNIGHTS

37-25-7 (81 pts; .674%) 4th, Pacific Division ROSTER SCHEDULE

10:30 P.M. – SATURDAY, MARCH 23 T-MOBILE ARENA LAS VEGAS, NV

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

On the heels of a sound defeat Friday night by the Colorado Avalanche, the Columbus Blue Jackets play their second game in as many nights Saturday when they take on the Vegas Golden Knights.

Columbus took an early 1-0 lead in Friday's game, but it wouldn't last long and things snowballed in the final period as the Avs picked up a 6-1 victory. The five-goal loss was the second in less than a week for the Blue Jackets, who fell 5-0 at home on St. Patrick's Day to the Winnipeg Jets.

Saturday's game is the third of five straight away from Nationwide Arena for the Blue Jackets.

Here's what else to know when the Blue Jackets hope to get lucky in Sin City:

TALKING POINTS: VGK

• Saturday's game concludes a four-game homestand for the Golden Knights, who defeated the New Jersey Devils and Seattle Kraken in 3-1 victories and fell 5-3 to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first three games. 
   
• There are a lot of ways the final month of the season can take Vegas. They're currently in the second of two wild card spots, but are just two points out of third in the Pacific Division. Finishing third would likely mean a first-round Stanley Cup Playoff series against the Edmonton Oilers. On the flip side, the St. Louis Blues and Minnesota Wild are just four and five points behind the Knights, respectively, for the final spot in the postseason. It's the wild wild west, literally.
   
• Mark Stone hasn't played in over a month and will not return during the regular season. Despite this, the 31-year-old winger still leads the team in assists with 37. Jack Eichel will likely catch him before the end of the season (he's at 31), but when *two* Blue Jackets (Johnny Gaudreau and Zach Werenski) have more assists than anyone on your team and it's March, that might be a cause for concern.

TALKING POINTS: CBJ

• Is it time to root against the Blue Jackets for the purpose of a better draft pick? Columbus has virtually no chance at finishing bottom two in the league and only an outside chance at third-worst, but the battle for 4th worst is close between the Blue Jackets (58 points in 70 games), Ottawa Senators (60 points, 68 games), Montreal Canadiens (62 points, 69 games), and Arizona Coyotes (63 points, 70 games). The 4th-worst team has a 9.5% chance of winning the lottery and a 19% chance of picking top two; that drops to 6.5% and 13.2% for the team that's 7th-worst. The stakes aren't as high this year with no Connor Bedard up for grabs, but it's hard to blame anyone on the 5th Line who chooses to see this particular bright spot this late in the season.
   
• The Blue Jackets allowed Colorado to get 51 shots on goal Friday night, the most they've allows this season and most in any game since October 30th, 2022 when they gave up 52 to the New Jersey Devils just before heading to Finland for a pair of games with... the Avalanche.
   
• Daniil Tarasov likely gets the nod between the pipes with Elvis Merzlikins starting (and underwhelming, again) Friday night. Lines and defensive pairings are based off Friday's night's game but of course, are subject to change: