The Columbus Blue Jackets come home this week with a chance to reset their season, opening a three-game homestand at Nationwide Arena on Tuesday, November 10, against the Florida Panthers — a week that will test a banged-up forward group and a team still searching for the consistency that has eluded it through the first month of the season.
Columbus enters the week 7-8-0 with 14 points, sixth in the Metropolitan Division, according to The Hockey Writers’ week-ahead breakdown of the club. The record tells the story of a team that has traded punches with the league’s best and then given the momentum right back, sometimes within the same week.
That pattern played out in full just last week. The Blue Jackets delivered one of their best performances of the season on November 3, routing the Colorado Avalanche 7-2 behind two goals and two assists from Charlie Coyle and a goal and two assists from Mathieu Olivier, The Hockey Writers reported. Columbus followed it with a 2-1 shootout win over the Dallas Stars on Thursday, then closed the trip with a 5-2 loss at Buffalo on Friday night.
The Buffalo loss cost Columbus more than two points. Veteran center Sean Monahan suffered a lower-body injury during the November 6 game and was ruled out for the remainder of the night, The Hockey Writers reported, and Dmitri Voronkov was lost to an upper-body injury in the third period — two hits to a forward group that has already struggled to score consistently.
There are reinforcements moving through the pipeline. Columbus has recalled forwards Steven Lorentz and Jack Williams from the Cleveland Monsters to add depth while the injuries sort themselves out, The Hockey Writers reported. Center Isac Lundestrom, who has been recovering from an Achilles injury suffered during the preseason, had resumed skating in reports on November 4 and was believed to be approaching a return, though the club has given no date.
If the Blue Jackets are going to bank points at home, their best players will have to lead it. Kent Johnson leads the team with 16 points, including eight goals and two game-winners, according to Columbus Hockey Insider’s preview of the Florida matchup. Coyle’s four-point night against Colorado showed what he can drive at center, and defenseman Zach Werenski has recorded points in consecutive games against Dallas and Buffalo, generating offense from the blue line when opponents key on the forwards.
The home-ice split is the most encouraging number on the page. Columbus is 6-3-0 at Nationwide Arena this season, a markedly different club from the one that keeps coming home from road trips empty-handed, Columbus Hockey Insider noted. All three games this week are in Columbus, and all three are against Eastern Conference opponents the Blue Jackets will likely be measured against in the spring.
What we know — and what we’re still waiting on. We know the schedule: Florida on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m., the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday, November 12, at 7:00 p.m., and the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday, November 14, at 7:00 p.m., all at Nationwide Arena. We know Monahan and Voronkov both left the Buffalo game hurt. What we are still waiting on is the severity of those injuries — the Blue Jackets have not said whether Monahan will be available Tuesday, and Lundestrom’s return date remains unannounced.
Florida presents the hardest first test. The Panthers arrive at 9-6-2 with the offensive depth to punish defensive mistakes, and they play at Boston on Sunday before traveling to Columbus, according to Columbus Hockey Insider. Tampa Bay follows with the special-teams firepower that has burned Columbus before, and Saturday’s visit from Philadelphia is a divisional game against a team fighting for the same ground in the Metropolitan standings.
Head coach Rick Bowness will be looking for the reliable 60-minute effort that has come and gone this season, The Hockey Writers noted — disciplined coverage, better puck management, and fewer of the net-front breakdowns that sank the Blue Jackets in Buffalo, where the Sabres created quality chances around the crease all night.
What happens next is straightforward: the homestand opens Tuesday night against Florida, and by Saturday night Columbus will either have turned its home form into real Metropolitan Division progress or spent another week explaining its inconsistency. Three home games in five days, against three playoff-caliber opponents, will say a great deal about where this season is headed.
Photo: Eric, CC BY-SA 2.0