Game Preview: Columbus' Western Swing Of A Five-Game Road Trip Ends Sunday In Vegas When The Blue Jackets Battle The Knights

VEGAS GOLDEN KNIGHTS
42-21-6 (90 points; .652%) ROSTER / SCHEDULE
4:00 P.M. – SUNDAY, MARCH 19 T-MOBILE ARENA LAS VEGAS, NV
TELEVISION: Bally Sports Ohio ESPN+ (Out of Market)
PROJECTIONS:
ODDS OF CBJ WIN PER MONEYPUCK: 26%
ODDS OF CBJ WIN PER THE 538: 26%
CAESAR'S SPORTSBOOK: VGK -335

The Columbus Blue Jackets five-game road trip started with an overtime win in San Jose.

It's been all downhill since.

The Blue Jackets lost twice by three goals in southern California since their win over the Sharks, falling 4-1 to the Los Angeles Kings and 7-4 to the Anaheim Ducks on back-to-back nights Thursday and Friday. 

Out of California but still out west, Columbus now makes their annual trip to Sin City when they battle the Vegas Golden Knights before coming back east to conclude the trip. 

Here's what else to know for the Sunday matinee between the Blue Jackets and the Golden Knights:

TALKING POINTS: KNIGHTS

• Vegas is coming off their worst loss of the season, a 7-2 defeat Thursday night against the Calgary Flames. It was the first time Vegas allowed more than five goals in a game all season. Of the six games in which they allowed five, all but one was in front of their home crowd. The one that wasn't? Their only win of the bunch, a 6-5 victory in Winnipeg in December. 
   
• One would think that a team that has twice as many wins as losses at this stage of the season would have some skaters with gaudy point totals. Nope. Not these Golden Knights. Chandler Stevenson's 53 points is good enough for the team lead. There is plenty of balanced scoring on the team though, as six players have 40+ points.
   
• And here's another "huh?" fact on the club: Vegas is 5th in the NHL in points, but ranks 17th on the penalty kill and even lower — 20th — on the power play. Of the ten teams with the most points in hockey, they're worst on the man-advantage and second-worst on the kill. The Golden Knights are a strange brew.
   
• Jonathan Quick is 4-1-0 with a 2.98 goals against average and .904 save percentage in his five starts with Vegas. He is likely to get the nod again Sunday. 

TALKING POINTS: CBJ

• It's getting into crunch time and the Blue Jackets are still the worst team in the league. Whether or not one is embracing that (#TankHardForBedard) is their choice, but for a team with Johnny Gaudreau and Patrik Laine on it to be the worst? That would've been hard to fathom at the beginning of the season.
   
• The Blue Jackets are still without a regulation win in the month of March. They're 1-5-1, with the victory coming in overtime. With a tough schedule the next two weeks and just one more home game in March, there is a real possibility that Columbus goes without a regulation win for the entire month. They've had some good luck in Vegas (jealous), so Sunday may be one of the last good chances to change that narrative.
   
• The Blue Jackets have nine power play goals in their last 21 attempts over eight games. That makes up 35% of their total goals in that span. They've allowed just five in the same number of attempts in that eight-game stretch, which makes up 15% of the opposition's scoring.

PROJECTED CBJ LINES
Updated: 7:05 a.m. // Subject to Change