Game Day #52: Road Trip Continues As Blue Jackets Look To Stay Hot In First Ever Trip To Salt Lake City

It's the second half of a back-to-back for the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday night when they make their first ever visit to Salt Lake City and face off for the first time against the Utah Hockey Club.

The Blue Jackets seem to be finding their way when it comes to playing on the road as of late, including Thursday night's 2-1 overtime winner in Vegas against the Golden Knights.

Meanwhile, Utah (formerly the Arizona Coyotes) has only eight wins in their first 24 games at the Delta Center. 

But for Columbus, Friday is about finding a way to snap their second-night skid: the Blue Jackets are 0-7-0 on the latter half of back-to-backs this season. They average just 1.71 goals per game while allowing 5.14 per night in those games. That -3.43 goal differential is the worst of any team in the league on the second half of a back-to-back, and by a wide margin: only the Detroit Red Wings (-3.00 in 5 games) and Seattle Kraken (-2.25 in 8 contests) are worse than -2.00. 

Finding a way to keep their legs under them for 60 minutes can go a long way in bucking that trend and picking up another two points in an ultra-close Eastern Conference playoff race.

Here's what else to know in Columbus' maiden voyage to Utah:

• RE: UTAH
  The Utah Hockey Club has been streaky as of late. Before their current three-game losing streak, they had won three straight — and before that, had lost three in a row. ... Karel Vejmelka starts between the pipes. For the season, he is 11-14-3 with a 2.47 goals against average and .912 save percentage. He's allowed three or more goals in three of his last four starts, but the "fourth" start in that was a 26-save shutout of the Minnesota Wild. ... Utah is in the bottom half of the league in both goals and goals allowed, but in the top half of the league in both power play and penalty kill. Special teams may play a big factor in this game.
   
• TARASOV'S TURN
  As they normally do on a back-to-back, the Blue Jackets are expected to turn to Daniil Tarasov for tonight's game. After a pair of quality starts two weeks ago, including a 1-0 shootout loss that gave him his first career shutout (ouch), Tarasov allowed six goals last week to the Carolina Hurricanes. Part of that was a poor game from Columbus defensively, but we'll see how Tarry responds tonight.
   
• Z CAN TIE HIS OWN RECORD... AGAIN
  One of the more fascinating stats in a while came compliments of Blue Jackets team reporter Jeff Svoboda. Zach Werenski needs one point tonight to tie the club record for points by a defenseman in a calendar month. If he gets that 16th point, he'll tie his own record, which he first set in November and then tied in December. They come in threes, right?
   
• LINEUPS & PROJECTIONS
   Aside from the projected start of Tarasov, no other lineup changes are expected. Here are the complete lineup projections: