Game Day #67: Greaves Set For Biggest Start Of Young Career As Blue Jackets, Devils Clash Monday Night

Losers of three straight and shut out in back-to-back games for the first time in over 15 years, the Columbus Blue Jackets will desperately look to get back to their winning ways Monday night against the New Jersey Devils.

The losing streak started last Tuesday in Newark, New Jersey — a 5-3 loss to the Devils in which Columbus fell behind 3-0 after one period and couldn't come back.

The streak has put the Blue Jackets on the outside looking in of a jumbled wild card race, with Saturday's 4-0 loss to the New York Rangers booting them from a playoff spot for the first time since Feb. 25th. Between those two games: another 4-0 loss, this one at the hands of the Vegas Golden Knights.

Still, it's still a tight race. A win Monday night over New Jersey would put Columbus back in the second wild card spot (at least for a day).

For that win, the Blue Jackets are turning to Jet Greaves in net. The 23-year-old has made five starts with the club this season, but none since Jan. 11th when he stopped 31 of 32 shots in a 2-1 Columbus win over the St. Louis Blues. 

Greaves has looked the part of an NHL goalie in his limited action this season, going 2-1-2 with a 2.98 goals against average and .906 save percentage. Two of those games came against the Washington Capitals and Tampa Bay Lightning, who are ranked first and second in goals per game.

No doubt about it: this will be the biggest of Greaves 15 career NHL starts.

Daniil Tarasov, who started Saturday, will serve as Greaves' backup. Elvis Merzlikins remains unavailable to the team right now as he and his wife are expecting the birth of their second child at any time.

Here's what else to know when the Metro division rivals face-off:

• RE: JERSEY
  Opposite of Greaves in net will be Jake Allen, who makes his second start of the season against the Blue Jackets. The Devils #2 goalie gave up three goals on 19 shots in a 4-2 loss to Columbus on Dec. 19th. ... The Devils had a three-game win streak (including last Tuesday's victory over the Blue Jackets) snapped Saturday in Pittsburgh, giving up seven goals to the Penguins. ... With forward Jack Hughes out for the season, the Devils offense relies heavily on the two-headed monster of Jesper Bratt and Nico Hischier. Bratt leads the team in assists (60) and points (79), while Hischier has usurped Hughes as the team leader in goals (28). 
   
• CHANGING IT UP
  The Blue Jackets shuffled the lines at practice Monday morning in a big way: Yegor Chinakhov and Kirill Marchenko were on a line centered by Dmitri Voronkov, with Adam Fantilli centering Boone Jenner and Kent Johnson to complete Columbus' top six. Voronkov will take the draws at center, where he's won 44.8% of his 85 faceoffs this season.
   
• POWERLESS PLAY
  It was another 0-for-3 night for the Blue Jackets power play Saturday, their third straight game of exactly that. Columbus is now 0-for-16 since the Stadium Series on the man-advantage and have dropped to 23rd in the league on the PP. Looking back further, the Blue Jackets have just four power play goals in 46 attempts (8.6%) since losing Sean Monahan to an injury in early January. 
   
• LINEUPS CHANGES & PROJECTIONS:
  Aside from the top six being shuffled, no other lineup changes are expected beyond Greaves getting the start in net. Here are the complete lineup projections: