PREVIEW: Blue Jackets continue road trip in Toronto

When it comes to the NHL schedule, you just have to play the hand that’s dealt to you.

For the Blue Jackets, November was essentially a 2-7 offsuit. Every team in the league has to fight through compressed games because of the Olympic break this season, but this particular set of contests has been a tough draw for the Blue Jackets.

Tuesday’s game at Winnipeg began a second extended road trip in the month, and not only that, it was the second half of a back-to-back against a Jets team that is one of the harder teams to play against in the NHL.

Playing their sixth game in nine days – across all four time zones that feature NHL teams – the Blue Jackets battled but saw their five-game point streak come to an end in a 5-2 loss to the Jets.

All things considered, it wasn’t the worst effort the Blue Jackets have ever had, but they just couldn’t get enough going against a Jets team that knows how to grind out victories.

“It’s a good team,” defenseman Zach Werenski said. “They’re very well-structured. I’ve obviously seen it the last few years. They’ve been a really good team in this league. I felt like we had some jump tonight. I felt like it wasn’t for a lack of effort, but it was tough to create. They didn’t really give us much. A couple breakdowns here and there, and it’s in the back of our net.

“I don’t hate the way we worked or played, but I mean, we can eliminate some of those breakdowns and we’re probably in a closer game tonight.”

To head coach Dean Evason, the issue came down to momentum. When it comes to playing in such difficult circumstances on the road, you have to have some breaks go your way, and the Blue Jackets just weren’t able to take advantage of any such chances.

“When I talk about the momentum shifts or the opportunities to get momentum and feel good about ourselves, it seemed like every time we had a little push, then it sagged on us again a little bit,” Evason said. “So we’ll have a look at the tape and figure that out.”

After flying back into the Eastern time zone, the Blue Jackets will have an opportunity to get back on the right track tonight against the Maple Leafs as they play game two of four on this road swing.

Scratches: F Zach Aston-Reese, D Dysin Mayo

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

Roster Report: The Blue Jackets will make one change to the skater lineup from Tuesday's game at Winnipeg, putting Chinakhov in for Aston-Reese, while Greaves will get the start in net.

This Day in CBJ History

Nov. 20, 2003: Marc Denis posts his second shutout of the season, stopping all 25 shots against in a 3-0 victory vs. Detroit at Nationwide Arena. Rick Nash, Andrew Cassels and Dan Fritsche score for Columbus.

Nov. 20, 2010: Nash earns the fifth hat trick of his career and first natural hat trick, scoring all three goals on Antero Nittymaki in a 3-0 victory at San Jose. Mathieu Garon makes 35 stops in the shutout victory, his third of the month of November.

Nov. 20, 2013: Nikita Nikitin scores 2:25 into overtime and Columbus posts a 2-1 win at Calgary.

Nov. 20, 2015: Sergei Bobrovsky makes 39 saves as the Blue Jackets earn a 4-0 victory over Nashville at Nationwide Arena. Boone Jenner and Ryan Johansen each have a goal and an assist as Columbus wins its fourth game in five.

The Numbers Game

With a goal Tuesday at Winnipeg, Zach Werenski became the first CBJ defenseman and third player in franchise history (Rick Nash, Cam Atkinson) to reach the 400-point mark in his career. At 587 games, he is the eighth-fastest American defenseman to reach that mark, and he now sits just two points behind Atkinson (402 points) for second in team history ... Werenski is tied for second among NHL defensemen in goals (six), tied for fifth in points (16), first in shots on goal (72) and second in average ice time (26:40). ... Kirill Marchenko saw his career-best 12-game point streak (3-12-15) end Tuesday. It fell just one game shy of tying Ryan Johansen’s franchise record and is tied with Atkinson for the second longest. ... Adam Fantilli has goals in four of the last six games while also posting a 4-3-7 line in the last seven. … Charlie Coyle has a 2-8-10 line in the last 11 games and five points (1-4-5) in the last four games. He is one point from 500 in his 14-year NHL career. ... Blue Jackets defensemen have scored an NHL-best 15 goals this season. … Denton Mateychuk has four goals on the year to tie for fourth among NHL defensemen. ... The CBJ penalty kill is clicking at 86.4 percent (19 for 22) in the last 10 games. ... Jet Greaves has a .923 save percentage in his last four starts and is 10-1-0 all-time with a .949 SV% as an NHL/AHL pro starting games in the city of Toronto.

Know The Foe: Toronto Maple Leafs

Head coach: Craig Berube (Second season)

Team stats: Goals per game: 3.50 (4th) | Scoring defense: 3.70 (31st) | PP: 15.1 percent (28th) | PK: 78.3 percent (T-20th)

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 fifth in the NHL with 27 points and tied for fifth with 18 assists despite missing three games with injury. John Tavares (11-14-25) and Matthew Knies (5-17-22) follow while Auston Matthews has nine goals.

In net: No. 1 goalie Joseph Woll was tending to a personal matter to start the season but has returned to make two starts, allowing five goals with a .918 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 alarm bells were ringing throughout Canada when the Maple Leafs went 0-4-1 from Nov. 8-15. They righted the ship some when Nylander’s spectacular overtime goal capped a 3-2 win Tuesday, but the Maple Leafs will have to keep moving up the standings to make a 10th straight playoff appearance. Injuries haven’t helped; while Nylander missed the Oct. 29 meeting with Columbus but has returned, Knies was out Tuesday, joining a lengthy injury list that includes Matthews, Stolarz, Scott Laughton, Brandon Carlo and Chris Tanev.

Trending: The Blue Jackets pulled away to a 6-3 win a couple weeks ago in Nationwide Arena and have won five of the last seven in the series, including two of three in Toronto. The Jackets’ win Oct. 29 broke an all-time tie in the series, moving Columbus to 22-20-1.

Former CBJ: Now in his third season in Toronto, center Max Domi has a 3-3-6 line in 20 games on the season but has not tallied this month.