20-game check-in: Marchenko helps lead way for Blue Jackets

Ask Kirill Marchenko if he’s become a better player because he’s now not afraid to do the dirty work in his fourth year at the NHL level, and the Blue Jackets forward can’t help but bristle.

Only a bit, though. To be truly exasperated is not in Marchenko’s happy-go-lucky, joking nature.

“I win battles four years in a row, guys,” Marchenko said, adding his trademark grin at the end.

Yet there’s no denying that there are elements of Marchenko’s game that have continuously gotten better throughout his Blue Jackets tenure, and those improvements have helped him become one of the top forwards in the NHL.

The 25-year-old Russian wing saw his 12-game point streak (3-12-15) end Tuesday in Winnipeg, but the run still goes down as tied for the second-longest streak in franchise history.

In all, he has an 8-14-22 line through 20 games on the season, leaving him on pace for 33 goals and 90 points, both of which would be career highs and the latter of which would be a Blue Jackets single-season record.

So how did Marchenko go from a sniper who had 21 goals but just four assists in 59 games his rookie year of 2022-23 to an all-around player who can impact the game offensively in just about every way?

He’s talked extensively about how he’s never satisfied with his game, including the fact that when he was told his point streak had reached double digits, his response was, “I feel nothing.” That’s not because he doesn’t care but simply because he had already turned his attention to how he could put the work in, be better and produce more the next night.

There seems to be little doubting, though, that his battle level and ability to win take the puck back from opponents has made him a more well-rounded player. Marchenko had the shot and the drive to score goals from the second he walked into an NHL locker room, but what’s made him a truly special player is his willingness to do the little things that can turn into big things.

“We challenged him last year to get the puck, right?” head coach Dean Evason said. “Instead of just allowing somebody else to get it and then open up and look for offensive opportunities, we want him to get after it. We want him to stick his nose in there and compete and get the puck because the more he does that, the more he has it. And the more he has it, the more opportunity we have as a team to score.

“He’s done that on a more consistent basis. He doesn’t cheat the game. His work ethic has been fantastic, and he’s been rewarded for it.”

A couple prime examples of that occurred on the recent CBJ homestand. In Thursday’s win over Edmonton, Marchenko got the primary assist on Adam Fantilli’s goal late in the second period by outmuscling Oilers forward Trent Frederic for a loose puck along the right wall, then found his center in front for the finish.

Four days later against Montreal, Marchenko again set up a goal, this time by reading that Dmitri Voronkov was in a puck battle behind the net, swooping in and again feeding Fantilli for a goal at the netfront.

“Every single night, he’s been awesome this year, and it’s been great to see and great to play with,” Fantilli said. “I have a lot of fun playing with him. I think we can work off each other really, really well. He can make a ton of small plays and I think I can work off of that with him, but he’s been phenomenal for us this year. It’s really great to see. It’s great for our team.”

Another area where Marchenko has taken a step is in the speed department, and it shows in the numbers. Last year, he finished in the 60th percentile among NHL forwards in fastest skating speed (22.45 mph) and averaged 2.3 20-mph-plus speed bursts per game, according to NHL Edge statistics. This year, his top speed of 23.36 is in the 97th percentile, and his average number of speed bursts per game is up to 4.9, which places in the top five of NHL forwards.

Marchenko said there’s a couple reasons he’s been able to turn on the jets this year – it starts with his work in the summer and continues with how he’s putting his NHL experience to good use.

“I feel fast,” he said. “I wasn’t slow last year, but thank you (for the compliment). I work on all components of my game. … I have speed last year, but I don’t use it. I was just more gliding or more finding the pass. This year, I totally understand how to use my speed, and it’s perfect.”

Add it all up and Marchenko is the rare NHL forward who can seemingly do everything. He can shoot, he can pass, he can make moves to undress defensemen, he can burst past defenders, and he can use his big body to get the puck back.

“I like to steal the puck,” he said. “I like to have the puck. I like to play with the puck, make some skill moves, passes, goals. I like everything in hockey – except blocked shots, but it’s part of my work too. I love every component in hockey, and it’s not like I (just) love battles – I just love hockey. I go on the ice and try to do everything I can.”

Taking Stock

As we write this piece, the Blue Jackets are 10-8-2, good for 22 points. That ties Tampa Bay, Ottawa and the New York Rangers for the final wild card spot, with four teams – Philadelphia, Florida, Washington and Toronto – within two points on their heels.

It goes to show you just how difficult the Eastern Conference may be this year – or at least how much parity has taken hold. When you have the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions, last year’s Metropolitan Division winner and a team that’s made the postseason nine straight years right behind you – and out of playoff spots – it sure seems like this year is going to be a battle.

The Blue Jackets are hanging right in there, though, thanks in part to a five-game point streak that ended last night in Winnipeg. That was always going to be a tough one considering it was the sixth game in nine days for the Blue Jackets played over all four time zones, came against a tough, veteran opponent and was the second half of a back-to-back with a lengthy trip included.

Add it all up and the Blue Jackets earned eight of 12 points through that six-game span, a .667 points percentage that is nothing to sneeze at. Over that span, per Natural Stat Trick, the Blue Jackets had a 60-46 edge in high-danger chances and an expected goals share of 50.2 percent at 5-on-5, showing they’ve played some solid hockey throughout.

“I think we’re playing great hockey of late,” Miles Wood said. “We’re playing as a team, and that’s the most important part.”

What might be the biggest key, though, is through all the travel and different opponents, the Blue Jackets also showed they can play in different styles of games. A pair of contests against freewheeling Edmonton garnered three points, while the Blue Jackets also grinded their way to extra-time wins in more defensive contests vs. Seattle, the Rangers and Montreal.

“I think it's important that you learn how to play different ways,” Evason said. “We've always talked here that it doesn't matter who, when or where we play, we're gonna try to play the same way. And if we do, then we believe that we'll have a chance to win hockey games.

“But yeah, there's different styles. Every team has kind of a different makeup and it's fun to get in there and try to figure out how we're gonna play against that.

Penalty Kill Improving

The last time we did this, one of the pain points for the Blue Jackets was the team’s penalty kill, which had allowed opponents to score on 11 of 28 chances in the first eight games.

Since then, the numbers look a lot better. Not only are the Blue Jackets taking fewer penalties over the last 12 contests – down from 3.5 per game to 1.8 – they’ve done a better job of killing them, posting an 86.3 percent success rate (19 of 22).

Evason spoke early in the season about some tactical changes the Blue Jackets made on the PK and said it feels like the recent success is a result of those modifications taking hold.

“Everybody’s on the same page,” he said. “You start, we made some tweaks and we’ve had to adjust a little bit with some areas. They’ve obviously had a chance to be together, our pairs and our groups up front have been pretty consistent, so that helps as well.”

Defenseman Dante Fabbro, one of the top CBJ men on the kill, agrees.

“I think a lot of it is just working at it,” he said. “I think with anything, when you’re implementing a few new things, there could be a little bit of a gray area. But we had a really good meeting a little while ago about it and ironed some things out, and since that meeting it’s been pretty good. Obviously we chat about it every day and try to do our best out there.”