Game Day #50: Merzlikins In Net, Mateychuk Returns To Lineup When Blue Jackets Face Kings On Saturday Night

After splitting a mid-week back-to-back against two of the Eastern Conference elites, the Columbus Blue Jackets are (briefly) back on home ice Saturday night when they face the Los Angeles Kings.

Columbus won big in Toronto on Wednesday and started out strong against Carolina on Thursday before a nightmare of a second period resulted in a 7-4 loss and a split of the games.

Saturday, the Blue Jackets play having had a chance to get their legs back underneath them. They'll also get young defenseman Denton Mateychuk back after he missed the last three games with an illness.

Mateychuk has been everything the Blue Jackets knew he could be since his call-up. He's played with Ivan Provorov on the second defensive pairing for a majority of his NHL minutes thus far. The duo have skated together for 173 minutes in 12 games this season, with opposing teams scoring just eight goals in that time frame — an average of 2.77 per game.

More than that, the Blue Jackets are 9-2-1 with Mateychuk in the lineup. The early results are clear: his return provides a blueline boost for Columbus.

That won't be the only boost for the team.

Expect a sellout crowd at Nationwide Arena. The Blue Jackets are home for the first time in over a week, won't be home again for 12 days, and with the team in playoff contention, a Saturday night game against a historic, big-city franchise is going to add plenty of atmosphere. As of Thursday, only single tickets remained.

Here's what else to know as Columbus is home for just one game before heading out west:

• RE: LAK
  This game kicks off a tough road trip for the Kings: it's their first of five road games in eight days, with the other four games coming against Detroit, Florida, Tampa Bay, and Carolina. ... Los Angeles has done it with defense this year: they are second in the league in goals against (2.44) and have a 7th-ranked penalty kill, but the goals per game and the power play are in the bottom half of the league. ... On that note, the Kings have scored two or less goals in seven of their last eight games.
   
• Z'S HOME STREAK
  With four games on the road and Zach Werenski picking up just two points in those games, don't forget about his home point streak. It's currently at 18 straight for Z, the longest such streak by a defenseman since Phil Housely and Brian Leetch each went on runs of 22 and 18 games in the 1991-92 season. A point tonight for Werenski would tie him for the fifth-longest streak in NHL history for consecutive home games with a point by a blueliner.
   
• ELVIS BACK IN NET
  One of the best performances of the season from Elvis Merzlikins came in Wednesday night's win over the Toronto Maple Leafs and after Daniil Tarasov started Thursday with the back-to-back, it's Merzlikins back in net tonight against the Kings. Over Elvis' last five starts, he is 4-1-0 with a 1.99 goals against average and .921 save percentage. For the Blue Jackets to have a chance at the postseason, they're going to need Merzlikins strong play to continue.
   
• LINEUPS & PROJECTIONS
  Still no Cole Sillinger for the Blue Jackets, who remains day-to-day. Indications are that head coach Dean Eavason will again roll with an 11/7 look. Here are tonight's projected lines in that format. If head coach Dean Evason opts for a 12/6 dynamic, trends suggest that Kevin Labanc would come in for Jack Johnson.