The Columbus Blue Jackets are bracing for a challenging five-game November road trip that will span the width of North America.
Before heading to the airport, the streaking Blue Jackets will host the slumping St. Louis Blues on Saturday night.
Columbus has won three straight and five of its last six. Meanwhile, the Blues have gone winless (0-4-2) in their last six.
The Blue Jackets feature a balanced attack. Through 10 games, 11 players have scored two or more goals, with Kirill Marchenko and Dmitri Voronkov pacing the team with five each.
The line of Charlie Coyle, Cole Sillinger and Mathieu Olivier combined for 11 points Thursday as Columbus rolled to a 6-3 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs.
“We roll four lines pretty heavily, and that makes for a really good recipe,” Olivier said.
“Our line is a good mix of everything,” added Sillinger, who scored twice against the Maple Leafs. “I mean, three bigger dudes who, you know, can play really well below the dots, and when we get the cycle going, we’re tough to knock off the puck.
“If teams give us time and space, we can capitalize. Throughout this 10-game stretch here, we felt like we’ve done that. It’s just a matter of executing.”
Blue Jackets defenseman Erik Gudbranson has missed the last two games with a hip injury.
The Blues made progress Thursday night while outshooting the visiting Vancouver Canucks 39-18 Thursday during their 4-3 shootout loss.
“I’ve got to think that there’s six to seven chances that should have been in the back of the net,” Blues coach Jim Montgomery said. “At least we’re there now, we’re getting more chances. That’s a good thing, so step in the right direction, that’s a positive. The negative is there’s some game management issues and there’s some decisions that we just have to become a smarter hockey team.”
With top center Robert Thomas (upper-body injury) and winger Jake Neighbours (lower-body injury) sidelined, the team recalled top forward prospect Dalibor Dvorsky from Springfield of the AHL. Montgomery deployed him at center on the third line.
“I thought he was really good,” Montgomery said. “Played a really good game. He did some really good things on the power play. I liked his speed and pace tonight. There were a lot of good things about him.”
The Blues have the NHL’s second-worst goaltending with their goals-against average of 4.27. Jordan Binnington is 2-4-2 with a 3.21 GAA while Joel Hofer is 1-2-0 with a 5.81 GAA.
“I don’t think we’re playing bad,” Blues forward Oskar Sundqvist said. “It feels like we’re making a couple mistakes and it’s back in our net.
“We’re maybe not protecting the middle ice good enough. I don’t want anyone to write anything about me trying to rip the goalies apart here. (Binnington) and Hofer have been amazing for us for years and they’ve been playing good and they work their butts off every day. None of this is on them. It’s on all of us and we just need to be better at covering the middle and covering up for them.”
