PREVIEW: Blue Jackets welcome Maple Leafs on Thanksgiving Eve

In many ways, Monday was the Blue Jackets’ version of the terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad day.

It started at morning skate when leading scorer Kirill Marchenko left the ice and had to miss the night’s game at Washington with an upper body injury. It got worse once the tilt against the Caps began, as not only did the Blue Jackets drop a 5-1 final against their division rival, they lost Norris Trophy candidate Zach Werenski and leading physical presence Mathieu Olivier to their own upper body injuries.

If you thought you had a case of the Mondays, the Blue Jackets likely one-upped you. The four-goal setback matched the team’s largest margin of defeat all season, and head coach Dean Evason didn’t sugarcoat things postgame, stating the team “played poorly. We tried in spurts, certainly early in the game, but our overall game we cannot be happy with."

“We have to bring our sense of urgency, being on our toes more,” forward Charlie Coyle added afterward. “We just felt like we were kind of just out there at times. I feel like they had the puck, then they get the bounces, right, because they’re doing the right things. It just wasn’t the way we played, and that’s just not it.”

Monday wasn’t a fun day for the squad, but the NHL stops for no one, and the Blue Jackets were right back at it for a Tuesday practice before tonight’s home game against the Maple Leafs. All three of the aforementioned injured Blue Jackets did not take part, and veteran center Sean Monahan also missed the short, high-energy session.

This morning, Evason said Werenski will play tonight, while Marchenko and Olivier are out after being evaluated by doctors yesterday. Monahan took a maintenance day but is dealing with some issues of his own, but he will play tonight.

The Blue Jackets have added reinforcements Luca Pinelli up front and Brendan Smith on the back end, and both will make their CBJ debuts tonight. They can’t afford to dwell on the injuries, though, and will face a desperate Toronto team in need of points while sitting at the bottom of the Eastern Conference.

The good news is that the Blue Jackets are back in Nationwide Arena, where they’re 4-0-1 in the last five home games, after returning from the four-game road swing.

“We’re coming back home,” defenseman Damon Severson said. “It was obviously a long trip. We’ve been on the road a lot, just grinding a little bit. Obviously, we’re banged up, so just try to come back (tonight) and have a good effort, a good start and try to carry that good effort fully and see where the game takes us.

“We’re confident in the way we play. We can get our swagger going, get a win and try to continue that from there.”

Scratches: F Kirill Marchenko (upper body injury), F Mathieu Olivier (upper body injury), D Jake Christiansen

Injured reserve/Non-Roster: Erik Gudbranson (upper body injury), F Boone Jenner (upper body injury)

Roster Report: Pinelli goes into the lineup to make his NHL debut, and the 2023 fourth-round draft pick leads AHL Cleveland with five goals and 10 points in 13 games in his rookie pro season. Smith will enter the lineup in place of Christiansen, with the 14-year NHL veteran playing for the first time with the CBJ after beginning the season with the Monsters.

This Day in CBJ History

Nov. 26, 2005: Aaron Johnson’s third-period power-play goal caps a 4-3 comeback win for Columbus at St. Louis. Manny Malhotra has a goal and two assists while Jody Shelley has a pair of helpers for the only two-assist game of his NHL career.

Nov. 26, 2018: In a wild game at Little Caesars Arena, the Blue Jackets open a 5-1 lead over Detroit then hang on to post a 7-5 victory against the Red Wings. Pierre-Luc Dubois scores twice and adds an assist while Artemi Panarin posts a 1-2-3 line.

Nov. 26, 2021: Columbus beats Vancouver by a 4-2 score at Nationwide Arena to move to 12-6-0 on the season, the best start through 18 games in franchise history.

The Numbers Game

Zach Werenski saw a six-game point streak (3-7-10) end Monday but remains third among NHL defensemen in goals (seven), tied for third in points (21), is first in shots on goal (89) and second in average ice time (26:26). ... Adam Fantilli has tallied in six of the last nine games and posted a 7-4-11 line in the last 10 contests. ... Blue Jackets defensemen have scored 17 goals this season, tied with Washington for the most in the NHL. … Jet Greaves has posted a 4-0-2 record and .916 save percentage in his last six starts. ... Denton Mateychuk’s five goals tie for sixth among NHL defensemen. ... Coyle leads the Blue Jackets in scoring at Nationwide Arena this year, posting a 2-8-10 line in nine games. ... The CBJ penalty kill is clicking at 86.2 percent (25 for 29) in the last 15 games. ... Coyle is one point away from 500 in his NHL career, while Dmitri Voronkov is one point away from 100 and Fantilli is two points away from 100. In addition, Dean Evason has 198 wins as an NHL head coach.

Know The Foe: Toronto Maple Leafs

Head coach: Craig Berube (Second season)

Team stats: Goals per game: 3.36 (5th) | Scoring defense: 3.73 (31st) | PP: 15.5 percent (T-26th) | PK: 80.0 percent (19th)

The narrative: Finally, the “Core Four” run ended a season ago with the Maple Leafs falling to Florida in the second round of the playoffs. Toronto pushed the Panthers to their limit, going seven games with the eventual champs, but the 6-1 loss to Florida in Game 7 marked the end of an era. Longtime standout Mitch Marner left this offseason for Vegas, leading to a bit of a summer retooling and new vibes for a franchise that hasn’t made it to a conference final since 2002.

Scoring leaders: Marner may have left, but there’s still a lot of offensive firepower in the lineup. William Nylander has become a bona fide star with four straight seasons of 80-plus points, and so far this year he’s tied for sixth in the NHL in both points (29) and assists (19) despite missing three games with injury. John Tavares (12-15-27) and Matthew Knies (5-17-22) follow while Auston Matthews has nine goals in 17 games. Morgan Rielly leads the defense with 17 points on the season.

In net: No. 1 goalie Joseph Woll was tending to a personal matter to start the season but has returned to make four starts, allowing 12 goals with a .905 save percentage. In his absence, Anthony Stolarz (6-5-1, 3.51 GAA, .884 save percentage) has made a team-best 13 starts but has gone on IR, while Dennis Hildeby and the since-waived Cayden Primeau have also seen action.

What's new: The first year post-Marner has been a bit of a struggle, as the Leafs have won just one of their last eight games (1-5-2) as they head to Columbus and will have to keep moving up the standings to make a 10th straight playoff appearance. Injuries haven’t helped; Nylander missed the first game with Columbus this year, Matthews has been out for the last five games but returns tonight, and Knies has missed the last three but also is back in the lineup. Scott Laughton just returned from injury but Stolarz, Brandon Carlo and Chris Tanev remain out.

Trending: Oddly, this will already complete the three-game season series, with Columbus having earned four points so far thanks to a 6-3 win in Nationwide Arena on Oct. 29 and a 3-2 overtime triumph Thursday in Toronto. Columbus has won six of the last eight in the series.

Former CBJ: Now in his third season in Toronto, center Max Domi has a 3-3-6 line in 22 games on the season and has not tallied this month.