Blue Jackets will face a different kind of test in San Jose tonight

The Blue Jackets are out west for their annual California trip, which begins tonight in San Jose, with a game against the Sharks. This will present a different kind of test for the young Jackets, who look to bounce back after a couple of blowout losses.

Those losses came against two teams who have been amongst the best in the league early this season. Tonight, they'll face the team that has started the year as the worst in the NHL. The Sharks have a record of 3-8-2 (8 points) through 13 games thus far. They lost their first 9 games for the second season in a row, and are the first team in NHL history to do so. In what has become a rare occurrence, the Jackets are expected to win tonight - which tests them in a different way.

They still have to play the game...

With that said, this is still the NHL, and the Sharks have a talented (though young) roster. They'll get 2024 1st overall pick Macklin Celebrini back tonight, after he's missed several games with injury. So, even though this is the worst team in the league, they're still very dangerous and they will have a spark plug tonight. As such, the Jackets will be tasked with not playing down to their opponent.

This presents a whole new set of challenges for a Blue Jackets team that is young in its own right. They have been a bit of an enigma so far. On some nights, they've taken the game to some of the best teams in the league. On other nights, they've struggled to keep pucks out of their own net, and have looked disjointed. This was especially true over this last weekend.

Bouncing back is always difficult...

It's never easy to bounce back after a tough loss, let alone two in a row. This is especially true with so many days off in between. The Jackets have a lot of time to sit and reflect upon their games over the weekend. How they come out and play early on tonight, could dictate the outcome of this game.

If they take it to the Sharks early, they can put this game out of reach quickly. San Jose has a league-worst -18 goal differential, which is significant in just 13 games played. Still, as we mentioned, this is a skilled team that does play in the NHL. They have some skill and good veterans up front; including leading scorer Mikael Granlund (14 points), Tyler Toffoli, and our old friend Alex Wennberg.

It will be important for the Jackets to channel their energy and play strong for a full 60 minutes tonight. If they can bring the energy early and play their game, this should be a very winnable game for this team.