It appears the Columbus Blue Jackets must continue a solid season without their injured leading scorer for an extended period.
Meanwhile, the surging Buffalo Sabres hope their own star is healthy enough to hit the ice.
The visiting Blue Jackets — minus Kirill Marchenko — look to keep the Sabres — ideally with Tage Thompson in tow — from a season-high fourth straight victory Tuesday night.
Owner of an Eastern Conference wild-card spot, Columbus is aiming for its first playoff appearance since 2020. However, the Blue Jackets were dealt a serious blow during Sunday’s 5-3 loss at Dallas, when Marchenko was hit in the face with a puck while seated on the bench late in the second period.
Marchenko suffered a broken jaw and was placed on injured reserve for an indefinite time. He leads the team with 21 goals and is second with a career-best 55 points in his third NHL season.
The Blue Jackets could also be without key defenseman Dante Fabbro, who suffered an upper-body injury late in the first period at Dallas. Fellow star Zach Werenski, among the NHL’s top defensemen with 57 points, also was banged up and left Sunday for a spell, but he returned.
Handling adversity, however, has been a hallmark for these Blue Jackets, who continue to grieve the offseason death of superstar Johnny Gaudreau, and are overcoming an injury to captain Boone Jenner, who has yet to play in 2024-25.
“You got to do what you got to do to win,” said Columbus’ Adam Fantilli, who has five goals with three assists during a five-game road point streak.
“We’re all here sacrificing everything we can. … It sucks to deal with what we’re dealing with … we still have to try to find a way to win.”
Columbus had won three straight prior to Sunday’s loss, is amid a 14-5-2 stretch and has a chance for a winning four-game road trip Tuesday. The Blue Jackets last dropped consecutive games in regulation on Dec. 15 and 17.
“We’ve battled all year,” Columbus defenseman Ivan Provorov said. “As a team, we keep proving to ourselves we’re a great team, and just gonna move forward.”
Fantilli had a goal and Werenski added two assists during the Blue Jackets’ 6-4 home win over Buffalo on Oct. 17. Columbus has gone 5-0-3 in its last eight games at Buffalo.
The Sabres are last in the Eastern Conference but have totaled 15 goals while winning the first three on a four-game homestand. Thompson has four goals with four assists in those games, but he took a hard, and controversial, hit to head from New Jersey’s Stefan Noesen in the third period of Sunday’s 4-3 victory. Thompson did not return, but Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff said he passed all the post-game physical tests and could be ready for this contest.
“He’s a special talent,” teammate Jason Zucker said of Thompson, who boasts a team-leading 26 goals and 48 points. “He finds ways to score goals in a lot of different ways.”
Though Sabres players took some heat on social media for not retaliating for the hit on Thompson, the outcome, in a close game, might have done the job.
“Our response is we won,” said Zucker, who has three goals with four assists in seven games.
–Field Level Media
