Columbus Blue Jackets at St. Louis Blues
Tuesday, January 30, 2024 – 8:00 PM ET
Enterprise Center, St. Louis, MO
TV: Bally’s Sports Ohio – Radio: WBNS FM
Opponent’s blog: Blue Note Hockey
Columbus Blue Jackets, 15-24-10, 40 points, 8th Metro, 15th East
@
St. Louis Blues, 26-20-2, 54 points, 4h Central, 8th West
The Columbus Blue Jackets are in the midst of losing 9 of their las 12 and with one final game before the NHL All Star Break. The team is hot on the heels of, according to Aaron Portzline of the Athletic, of blowing yet another three goal lead: the Jackets have blown 13 third period leads leading to losses this year, more than 25% of their games played this year, and the team has won only 15 games this season. The Jackets have been a disappointment this season but the third period stands out. To wit: check out the team’s goal differential by period this season:
1st period goal differential: +2
2nd period goal differential: +2
3rd period goal differential: -36
This is not a well-coached team down the stretch late games, and it’s a trend at this point. Can the Blue Jackets reverse fortunes tonight and find a way to win? Doubtful, but we’ll see.
Player Executive to Watch
Jarmo Kekalainen
We’ve gotten to this point, haven’t we? General Manager Jarmo Kekalainen is finally getting heat from the national media after nearly eleven years on the job. After the Brad Larsen hiring/firing, multiple players this year expressing frustration (most recently David Jiricek, not to mention Elvis Merzlikins and Yegor Chinakhov), the Mike Babcock disaster, and the rash of underperformances across the board, Kekalainen’s process and his roster construction has come under fire. Multiple national pods took to their recordings Monday to challenge his continued employment and involvement with the club – Daily Faceoff, 32 Thoughts, the Athletic Hockey Show, and the Steve Dangle podcast all at least took their shots. For example:
Jarmo has been on the hot seat on this blog for awhile now, but it seems the narrative is changing. With the rash of bad PR and awful performances, it is conceivable we are approaching the end of the Kekalainen era.
Jackets Notes
Patrik Laine joined the NHL’s Player Assistance program … Below is Patrik Laine’s statement:
The Other Bench
Brayden Schenn scored his seventh overtime game-winner on Sunday, which tied former Blue Pavol Demitra for the second-most overtime goals in franchise history … Schenn has two overtime goals in the last three games … the Blues have won five straight games
Season Series
12/08/2023 STL 2 @ CBJ 5
01/30/2024 CBJ @ STL
Stats
| St. Louis | Columbus | |
| 2.90 (25) | GPG | 2.96 (21) |
| 3.15 (20) | GAPG | 3.73 (31) |
| 15.5 (25) | PP% | 14.9 (26) |
| 78.0 (22) | PK% | 77.1 (25_ |
| 45.42 (29) | 5v5 Shot Attempt % | 47.54 (24) |
| 45.50 (29) | 5v5 Unblocked Shot Attempt % | 47.85 (23) |
| 8.31 (19) | 5v5 Shooting % | 9.48 (8) |
| .916 (12) | 5v5 Save % | .905 (28) |
| Robert Thomas and Pavel Buchnevich, 17 | G Leader | Kirill Marchenko, 15 |
| Robert Thomas, 35 | A Leader | Zach Werenski, 26 |
| Robert Thomas, 52 | P Leader | Johnny Gaudreau, 31 |
| Robert Thomas, 32 | PIM Leader | Erik Gudbranson, 51 |
| 15-8-1 | Home/Road | 6-11-5 |
| 6-3-1 | Last 10 | 3-5-2 |
Projected Lines
Columbus Blue Jackets
| Johnny Gaudreau | Cole Sillinger | Yegor Chinakhov |
| Justin Danforth | Boone Jenner | Jack Roslovic |
| Kent Johnson | Dmitri Voronkov | Kirill Marchenko |
| Alexandre Texier | Sean Kuraly | Emil Bemstrom |
| Zach Werenski | Damon Severson |
| Ivan Provorov | Andrew Peeke |
| Jake Bean | Erik Gudbranson |
| Elvis Merzlikins |
| Daniil Tarasov |
St. Louis Blues
| Pavel Buchnevich | Robert Thomas | Jordan Kyrou |
| Brandon Saad | Brayden Schenn | Jake Neighbors |
| Nathan Walker | Kevin Hayes | Alexey Toropchenko |
| Nikita Alexandrov | Oskar Sundqvist | Sammy Blais |
| Nick Leddy | Colton Parayko |
| Torey Krug | Matt Kessel |
| Marco Scandella | Scott Perunovich |
| Jordan Binnington |
| Joel Hofer |