Game Day #13: Blue Jackets Look To Break The Schneid, Face Kings On First Half Of Back-To-Back

After three days off in California, the Columbus Blue Jackets are back at it Saturday night when they face the Los Angeles Kings.

It's been a tough last week or so for the Blue Jackets, who were outscored 13-2 on Friday and Saturday by the Winnipeg Jets and Washington Capitals before an overtime loss at the hands of former Jacket Alex Wennberg and the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday night.

Still, Columbus is 5-5-2 on the season and maintaining a point-a-game pace that seemed unlikely before the season started.

The Kings will provide another tough test for the Jackets — this is the third game in eight days in which Columbus is battling a team that is amongst the eight with the most points in the NHL. The Sharks were supposed to be a bit of a break in the rough schedule, but San Jose goalie Vitek Vanecek made 50 saves in what will go down as one of the best performances of the season. Regardless of Saturday's outcome, Columbus is right back on the ice Sunday when they play the Anaheim Ducks. 

But as for Saturday, here's what else to know when the Blue Jackets shine under the bright lights of LA: 

• Elvis Merzlikins is back in net for the Jackets; he'll be opposed by the Kings' David Rittich. Merzlikins was good Tuesday, but was outdueled by Vanecek. For the season, Merzlikins .910 and 2.69 save percentage and goals against are his best since the 2020-21 season.
  
  As for the Kings netminder, this is Rittich's eighth start of the season and while he's got an above-average goals against average of 2.77, he does come in well below the league average in save percentage at just .884. In other words: get the puck on the net and he can be beat.
   
• Columbus' top line of Yegor Chinakhov, Sean Monahan, and Kirill Marchenko continues to buzz on both sides of the puck. They've skated 109 minutes together in five-on-five hockey and have outscored the opposition 8-2 in that time. Accounting for 80% of all goals has them tied for third amongst all forward lines (with 100+ minutes) with the Tampa Bay Lightning trio of Brayden Point, Jake Guentzel, and Nikita Kucherov. Not bad company to be in.
   
• There is only one change to the lineup from Tuesday night, and that's that Zach Aston-Reese comes in for James van Riemsdyk. Here are the complete lineups: