The Blue Jackets once again were haunted by the ghosts of the past in the Music City, dropping Game #1 on the road against the Nashville Predators by a score of 2-1. Dmitri Voronkov scored for the Blue Jackets in what was a quick, high-flying game from start to finish.
The Jackets got their legs quickly and were buzzing, with Kirill Marchenko especially leading the charge in the 1st with five shots on net, all scoring chances, per Natural Stat Trick. Regretfully, for the Jackets, however, they would be scored on first to begin the 2025-2026 campaign. The CBJ were unable to clear their zone, and the puck ended up bouncing just about everywhere aside from out of the zone. It went right onto the stick of Kichael Bunting, who sent it over Jet Greaves' outstretched glove at 6:45. The Jackets would continue to dictate the pace of the game, however, and ended up getting some magical bounces of their own at the 16:01 mark in the 1st, with Dmitri Voronkov finishing a series of bounces past the five hole of Juuse Saros.
The second period was dominated by some penalties and capped with a questionable goaltender interference call. The Jackets looked brilliant on the PK in the second, killing off a five-on-three and two penalties in general in the second to generate some momentum. The pace of the period was dictated by the Jackets, leading into an entirely ineffective power play towards the middle of the frame. Finally, with under a minute to go, Mathieu Olivier appeared to finish a nice play off of a faceoff by the Jackets, but, upon review, his skate or upper body was deemed to have made incidental contact with Saros within the crease, and the goal was ruled off the board due to goaltender interference by the NHL Officials in Toronto.
The third period began quickly with a wicked backhander over Jet Greaves by the skilled veteran Ryan O'Reilly, and it seemed like the CBJ became deflated after that. They ended up with 39 shots on net, but Juuse Saros stood tall against all but one of them.
Despite some decent looks, especially with the six-on-five towards the end of the game, the Jackets lost their first tilt of the year in regulation. They dropped to 9-37-1-7 all-time in Nashville, continuing their long woes of struggling in the Music City that stretches back twenty-five years.
Observations
Jet Greaves was as good as advertised. He really only let in one that was "on him," the skilled shot by O'Reilly. He finished with twenty-nine saves on thirty-one shots, and the loss was certainly not on him. Despite his inability to bury one, Kirill Marchenko ended with EIGHT shots on net and a plus one rating over the course of the game.
The Penalty Kill, aside from the skill goal in the third by O'Reilly, looked revamped and more confident in their own zone with the man disadvantage. I felt Isac Lundeström and Charlie Coyle provided some much-needed veteran presence on the units, and they both ended up winning at least 50% of their faceoffs, something the Jackets have been lacking in the defensive zone in recent memory.
Despite their dominance of offensive zone time, the goaltender interference call seemed to deflate all of the team's momentum. On top of that, Saros was otherworldly tonight. It really did feel that the Jackets were the better team in the first and second periods, but they couldn't solve Saros in either frame, which ended up costing them the match.
Up Next
The Union Blue head up to the Twin Cities next to take on the Minnesota Wild in the Grand Casino Arena. Puck drop is 8:00 PM Eastern.