Game #36 Preview: Blue Jackets head north of the border to take on Senators

Columbus Blue Jackets at Ottawa Senators
Tuesday, January 3, 2023 – 7:00 PM ET
Canadian Tire Centre, Ottawa, ON
TV: Bally’s Sports Ohio – Radio: WBNS FM
Opponent’s Blog: Silver Seven Sens

Columbus Blue Jackets, 11-22-2, 24 points, 8th Metro, 16th East
@
Ottawa Senators, 17-17-3, 37 points, 6th Atlantic, 12th East

The Columbus Blue Jackets open the new year in Canada as they head to visit the Ottawa Senators. The Blue Jackets are coming in on the heels of snapping a long losing streak, while the Senators most recently avenged a terrible outing by beating the Buffalo Sabres.

Both teams are in the rebuild stage of their organizations, though the Senators are a bit further along than the Blue Jackets (and, consequently, higher in the standings). A well played game from the Blue Jackets could be enough to bring two points home. Let’s see if the team can string together two solid performances in a row.

Player to Watch

Kirill Marchenko

Marchenko has taken a role in the lineup since he was called up and refused to relinquish it. He has only grown into the league as well – in his last six games, Marchenko has four goals. In addition:

Since 12/11, which player leads the NHL in rookie goals?

A: Kirill Marchenko. He has five in that span. #CBJ

— Mark Scheig (@mark_scheig) January 2, 2023

Marchenko added to his tally on Saturday, with a power play goal to help lead the team to a win over the Blackhawks.

Kirill Marchenko scores against the Chicago Blackhawks to make it 3-1#CHIvsCBJ pic.twitter.com/I5yqTD8MTl

— PeckBot_001 (@PeckBot_001) December 31, 2022

Marchenko has shown promise thus far that he can be the power forward and secondary scorer the team needs him to develop into. Hopefully he can use the rest of the season as a launch pad into next year.

Jackets Notes

The Blue Jackets win on New Year’s Eve broke a seven game losing streak … Emil Bemstrom led all players on Saturday with six shots on goal and eleven shot attempts … Bemstrom also had a power play goal, his fourth goal in nine games this season … Gustav Nyquist became the first Blue Jackets player in franchise history to score two short handed goals in a single game

The Other Bench

According to Kevin Weekes, the Senators have put Nikita Zaitsev on the trade block ahead of the deadline … The Senators are reportedly willing to add a prospect or pick to move Zaitsev’s contract … The Senators posted a solid 8-4-2 record in the month of December … In their last outing, Tim Stutzle scored two goals while Jacob Lucchini, a 27-year-old career minor leaguer, scored his first career goal in a win over the Sabres

Season Series

01/03/2023 CBJ @ OTT
03/04/2023 CBJ @ OTT
04/02/2023 OTT @ CBJ

Stats

Projected Lineups