Blue Jackets news and rumors: Sabers preview, Fantilli, Bowness and more – Hockey Writers – Columbus Blue Jackets

We are in the last four.

For the Columbus Blue Jackets, they will face four games over the next six nights to decide whether they will participate in the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs. It all starts Thursday night when they take on the Atlantic-leading Buffalo Sabers at KeyBank Center.

For the Green Jackets, it’s easy. They need to win. And they need a little help. Thursday night could go a long way in determining how things will turn out.

If the Blue Jackets win in Buffalo on Thursday night and the Philadelphia Flyers lose to the Detroit Red Wings, the Blue Jackets will finish the night third in the Metropolitan Division by having the first tiebreaker (regulation win) over the Flyers.

At the same time, if the Blue Jackets win and the Ottawa Senators lose to the Florida Panthers, the Blue Jackets and the Senators will be 92 points. But it will be the Senators who hold the first tiebreaker for the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.

You May Love It Again

Meanwhile, the Sabers are coming off a 5-3 victory against the New York Rangers on Wednesday. Their victory against the Blue Jackets will help them a lot in winning the Atlantic Division. This is a high impact game for both sides.

The Blue Jackets went 2-0 against the Sabers this season including an overtime win in Buffalo and a convincing 5-1 win in Columbus that broke the Sabers’ streak.

Key to watch: Sabers in transition. The Blue Jackets allowed a few breakaways in the Red Wings game with Jet Greaves making the save. The Blue Jackets will need to eliminate the Sabers’ transition game as much as possible, especially given their speed. Greaves will also have to be strong as he was in Detroit on Tuesday.

The Blue Jackets are playing for their playing lives. The Sabers are looking for a split and home ice. It should make for an electric atmosphere Thursday night.

Fantilli Previews Night & Discusses Marchenko Hit

The Blue Jackets won 4-3 in penalty kicks in Detroit. Adam Fantilli tied the game with 16.2 left before Zach Werenski won it in penalty kicks.

The Green Jackets will have to find the right balance between riding the high horses on Tuesday and getting ready for Thursday.

“On the other hand, you want to try to ride the wave,” Fantilli said. “On the other hand, you have to reorganize, right? So I think it’s kind of trying to stay strong and understand the work you’ve done and try to do our best tonight.”

The Blue Jackets are making no changes to their starting lineup before Thursday night’s game. In Fantilli’s mind, even though there was a combination of different lines that depended on the game, he liked the changes that were made.

“It was great. We mixed and matched all night. I thought those guys played well. They’re very mature. It takes more than one game sometimes to get the connection you want. But those are my two best friends on the team (Cole Sillinger and Kent Johnson) and I think we already have that connection. So we’ll get it sooner tonight, hopefully.

The good news for Fantilli is that the dangerous hit he put on Kirill Marchenko was not as bad as it looked. They collided on the ice on Tuesday. Both managed to get up afterwards and continue the game.

Fantilli called it “a terrifying sight.”

“Obviously, I feel bad,” Fantilli said. “I’m not sure where he was going … That was the biggest hit of my career, so I don’t know if I’ll ever have another one after that.”

Both Fantilli and Marchenko spoke afterwards and can joke about it now. They will each start in different lines with Marchenko playing on the left, Charlie Coyle in the middle and Conor Garland on the right. Fantilli with Sillinger in left center and Johnson in right.

Bowness’s thoughts

Coach Rick Bowness confirmed there will be one change to the lineup. Egor Zamula will play third doubles with Erik Gudbranson. Jake Christiansen is off the roster.

Despite the positive result, Bowness admitted that the Blue Jackets still have some things to clean up in their game.

“First, to be clear, we got away with some things in Detroit that we’re not going to get away with tonight,” Bowness said. “So we fixed that this morning and we cleaned that up. What we wanted to do was get the shot attempts going. And the traffic. We finally got the shot attempts. The net traffic got where we wanted it to be and it was beneficial. We got that kind of mentality back. We got a little balance without the lines which is nice to see.”

There is one more thing that Bowness wants to see, especially considering the opponents Sabers.

“When you play (the Sabers), you have to be aggressive,” Bowness continued. “But you have to do it in a smart way. You want to work but you want to work with purpose. You don’t want to chase these guys all night because they’re good. They’re a good team. We worked on that. We looked at that again this morning.”

Bowness also talked about Marchenko’s game as of late. He admitted that there is something suspicious about Marchenko. But then he had a simple message for the striker as well.

“I talked to him this morning. I want you guys to have fun out there,” Bowness said. “It’s like he doesn’t look like he has anything and he’s putting a lot of pressure on himself to score. But I want him to enjoy himself. If he’s relaxed, that might come, right? The more pressure he puts on himself, the harder he gets, the worse he gets. I talked to him. Go have fun tonight. Go play. You know how to play the game a little bit.”

“But yes, he’s not 100% and you feel it. You don’t know all your players in a few months. It takes a long time to know your players. You have to see these guys in every situation … I’d like to see him smile a little, relax a little and we’ll see where it goes from there.”

Side dishes

• Blue Jackets are 6-1-3 in their last 10 games in Buffalo dating back to March 2019.
• The Blue Jackets and Sabers have combined for seven or more goals in six of the last eight games in Buffalo.
• The Blue Jackets set a record with 58 goals scored by defensemen this season. That leads the NHL.
• Greaves is 13-4-3 in his 20 starts and ranks in the top six in both goals-against average (2.37) and save percentage (.914) during that span.
• The Sabers lead the NHL with 34 points and 16 wins since the Olympic break.
• Tage Thompson has 11 career goals against the Blue Jackets. No Saber has more goals in franchise history against Columbus. Rasmus Dahlin has 14 assists and 18 points against the Blue Jackets. No Saber has more assists or points in franchise history against Columbus.