The Blue Jackets take on the Stars tonight in Dallas, the first of two matchups between these teams this season (the other is next week). This should be another tough test for the Jackets, whose schedule has done them no favors early in this campaign.
On Thursday night, they hung around against the Hurricanes better than most of us expected (including yours truly). The Canes jumped out to a 3-0 lead early in the third, but the Jackets did not wilt; clawing their way back into the game and making it interesting before ultimately bowing out.
Tonight, they face a Stars team that has not come out of the gate as strong as they would have hoped. They sit at just 7-5-1 after losing their last two games, which has them in fourth place in the Central division.
Dallas is another team with Stanley Cup aspirations, and they should give this Blue Jackets roster all they can handle tonight. Lets take a look at our three keys to success.
Start on time, and play the full 60.
On Tuesday night in Philadelphia, the Jackets came out flying, taking a 3-0 lead in the first period. Eventually, they coughed that lead up and had to use overtime to win the game, but they showed us for 20 minutes just how good they can be.
Conversely, they did the exact opposite on Thursday in Carolina. They were sluggish through 40 minutes, and spotted the Canes a 3-0 lead early in the third period before storming back (excuse the pun) and making it interesting late.
We have said it before: this team knows how they need to play to win hockey games. They showed us that for one period in each of their last two games. Now, they need to come out and do it for the full 60, which means a good start and a good finish.
Find some offense.
Dallas has given up the fewest goals on average in the entire NHL (2.23 per game). The Jackets have scored just 2.45 on average, which is 29th in the NHL. Suffice to say, offense is going to be at a premium in this matchup.
Notably, Mathieu Olivier, Matthew Knies, Charlie Coyle, Sean Monahan, Valeri Nichuskhin, Conor Garland, and Dmitri Voronkov, have combined for just 7 goals on the season, and one of those was an empty netter. That's a guy who should be on the top line, and all but one of the "middle six" guys on this roster. We're 11 games in folks, and that's not good enough.
The Jackets need these guys to pick up some of the slack. All of the scoring cannot come from this team's top line. As good as Kent Johnson and Adam Fantilli have been (especially of late), this team needs to find more offense.
Prove your faceoff mettle.
One of the underlying stories ahead of this matchup: Dallas leads the league in faceoff percentage at 56.7%. The Blue Jackets are fourth, at 54.5%. This game won't be completely decided at the dot, but getting a win here would be really encouraging.
The Jackets will have to prove that they can compete against these teams we keep calling "Stanley Cup hopefuls" at some point. What better time than now? The game starts at the faceoff circle, so winning those battles is a good way to get things moving.
Puck drop is scheduled for 8:00 Eastern time tonight, from Dallas. Let's go Jackets!
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