Game Day #14: Daniil Tarasov Likely To Get The Nod In Net Sunday As Blue Jackets Conclude California Road Trip

The Columbus Blue Jackets 5-3-1 start has become a bit unraveled lately.

After a fourth straight loss Saturday night sent the club to 5-6-2, the Columbus Blue Jackets are right back on the ice Sunday night when they face the Anaheim Ducks to conclude the California road trip for the 2024-25 season. 

It's perhaps the best chance for two points on the five-game road trip, which concludes Tuesday night against the Seattle Kraken. 

Anaheim is tied for last in the NHL in points (10), in last in goals per game (2.08), last in shots against (34.9), last in faceoffs (42.7%), and in the bottom five on both the power play and the penalty kill. 

For the Blue Jackets, grabbing two points comes down to one thing: consistency.

"For a decent amount of the game, we were playing the right way," said defenseman Ivan Provorov, who led all skaters with over 27 minutes of time on ice. "We were playing our game but there were a few costly mistakes that we made that ended up in the loss."

Here's what else to know when the Blue Jackets look to avoid the aforementioned costly mistakes: 

• Daniil Tarasov will likely get the start in net. Elvis Merzlikins has started the last three games between the pipes, going 0-2-1 while allowing 12 goals on 93 shots (.871 save percentage). Tarasov struggled mightily in his last outing, giving up seven goals to the Washington Capitals in a 7-2 loss November 3rd.
   
• Expect Dmitri Voronkov to see an increased role Sunday. He played just 12:24 on Saturday night, and Evason took responsibility for that. "I'm a little disappointed we didn't get him on the ice a little bit more," said Evason after the game Saturday.  "His game was good. ... He looked like he felt a lot more comfortable. We've got to get him on the ice more."
   
• With the addition of Dante Fabbro to the roster Sunday, there could be a new fire under the third pairing of Blue Jackets' defensemen. None of the three of Jack Johnson, Jordan Harris, and David Jiricek — who have split time on the bottom pair — have played particularly well this season. Fabbro will likely get inserted into the lineup soon, but who comes out for him could be determined by Sunday's game.
   
• The following are projections for the Sunday lineup, though no official announcement has bene made. This will be updated once that happens, but in the meanwhile, here are the anticipated lineups: