Example: Blue jackets welcome rangers to Saturday night Hockey

Thursday was Margaritaville Night in the Nationwide Arena, but for CBJ players will come the real beach this coming week.

While Zach Werenski is on his way to Montreal to meet with Team USA at the start of the 4-nations face, many of the other blue jackets are definitely on their way to tropical sites. Everyone except Werenski will have a great free time for the international tournament, where the jackets are not scheduled to practice until February 19 and off Game Action for a full two weeks.

The break could not have come at a better time for the knocked blue jackets that will spend the time to rest their bodies. If all goes well, Captain Boone Jenner could return to action on the other side of the gap in the schedule, while players like Kirill Marchenko, Dante Fabbro, Sean Monahan and Yegor Chinakhov will also be closer to a possible return.

However, the blue jackets cannot look too far ahead as there are still important points on the line tonight against New York. Columbus hopes to go into the break of a win and build some momentum before he returns to the NHL’s hectic finish.

“It’s definitely huge, especially with where we’re in the position,” Werenski said. “We’re right there with everyone. Points at home are super important. We want to finish these two games at home on the right foot and go into the break on a high note. It’s a big game for us and hopefully we can get two points out of it. “

As Werenski noticed, it is also important to keep up with the position when the blue jackets push to finish a four-season playoffs. Columbus has lost three games in a row after Thursday evening’s 3-2 overtime loss against Utah and moved the blue jackets to a point behind Detroit for the last Wild Card place in the eastern conference.

While Columbus would have preferred to end the game with an overtime goal, a canon explosion, streamers and two points, they were happy to at least get a point Thursday.

“You take as many points as you can of course,” Defender Damon Severson said. “We had a .500 road trip. We come back, we get a point; If we now get a win during the break, it will set us up pretty solid, moving on here in the stretch drive coming back from the 4-nation break.

“We are in a position that we do not mind, I would say right now. But it will be a real fight until the end of the year with how tight everything is. Each point is going to do something. “

Even with Werenski’s return last night, the blue jackets were still without any major firepower ahead, and it was clearly early that they did not have their legs against Utah after playing eight of the previous nine on the road. Maybe that’s why head coach Dean Evason was glad his team was able to fight against at least one point.

“It’s a good point tonight,” he said. “Of course we want two. But to kill a punishment (on overtime) like the end and some adversity that we went through, it’s nice that we can put this in the memory bank and go, ‘ok, maybe we don’t have some people. Maybe we don’t have our best things. But we are able to play the way we know how we play to give us a chance. ” ‘

Know the enemy: New York Rangers

Header: Peter Laviolette (second season)

Team statistics: Goals per Camp: 2.96 (14.) | Scoring Defense: 3.06 (20.) | PP: 20.6 percent (19.) | PK: 82.2 percent (7.)

The tale: With a star-studded list and two performances in the eastern conference final in the last three seasons, Rangers entered the season as a Stanley Cup practitioner, but this year has been a roller coaster. Convinced that his list needed some major changes, General Manager Chris Drury Captain Jacob Truba traded in November in the middle of a brutal autumn stretch, but Rangers has found their football a little too late. Where a once promising season goes from here, it is looking to see, but there has been plenty of intrigue on Broadway this season.

Team leaders: The bread man continues to bake points in Big Apple, as former blue jackets for the Artemi Panarin average over one point per Fight for the eighth just season with team-best totals on 23 goals and 57 points. Defender Adam Fox has struggled to put the puck in the net this season (four goals), but still facilitates the offense with a Holdhøj 39 assists, while Mike Zibanejad (10-25-35), Vincent Trocheck (17-18- 35), Alexis Lafreniere (14-18-32) and Will Cuylle (13-14-27, 196 hits) follows and Chris Kreider has 16 goals.

The most stable position this season has been the goal that Igor Shesterkin has again been solid with an 18-19-2 record, 2.87 gaa and .906 savings percentage in 38 starts.

What is new: How up and down has rangers been this season? New York started 12-4-1 and then went 4-15-0 in his next 19 games while being outscored with 32 goals during that time. Rangers may turn the corner as New York is 10-5-3 since then and added 2024 All-Star and Ohio Native JT Miller in a recent trade with Vancouver. Whether the team’s shake will be what it was necessary to get to the top or a harbinger of an unanswered quay after the season is still watching, and Rangers goes into five points out of the last end game at the eastern conference.

Trending: Columbus has points in four of the last five going back to last season, goes 2-1-1 a year ago and then gets a point in a 1-0 final in a shootout 18th January in Madison Square Garden .

Former CBJ: In addition to Panarin, there is goalkeeper Jonathan Quick, although he never played in a game for the blue jackets when he was acquired and then traded at the deadline in 2023. At the age of 39 3.04 Gaa and .901 savings percentage. He recently became the first American goalkeeper and third active online memories to reach 400 career gains and is expected to start tonight.