Game Preview: Blue Jackets Continue California Swing; Face Gavrikov, Dubois, And The Los Angeles Kings

LOS ANGELES KINGS

27-16-10 (64pts; .604%) 4th, Pacific Division ROSTER SCHEDULE

10:30 P.M. – TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 20 CRYPTO.COM ARENA LOS ANGELES, CA

TELEVISION: Bally Sports Ohio ESPN+ Power Play (Out of Market)

Since winning back-to-back games in the days surrounding Thanksgiving, the Columbus Blue Jackets have won ten games. 

But none of them have been consecutive.

They'll hope the 11th chance is a charm when they continue a west coast road trip with a Tuesday night battle against the Los Angeles Kings.

A pair of familiar faces will be in the black and gray of the Kings — the well-liked Vladislav Gavrikov will play against Columbus for the third time in his career after being dealt by the Blue Jackets at last season's trade deadline. 

On the flip side, the less-than-beloved Pierre-Luc Dubois goes up against the team that drafted him for the sixth time in his career. In five career games against the Blue Jackets, Dubois has one goal, one assist, and a plus/minus of -5. 

Here's what else to know when the Blue Jackets begin their annual California road swing:

TALKING POINTS: LA

• After a hot start to the season, with wins in 20 of their first 31 games, the Kings went cold. So cold, in fact, that head coach Todd McLellan was fired February 2nd. Interim coach Jim Hiller has a mark of 4-1-0 since taking over three weeks ago. 
   
• Included in that are three straight roads over teams over teams above .500 in the standings, with the most recent victory being of the come-from-behind nature Sunday in Pittsburgh. Tuesday's game begins a three-game homestand for Los Angeles. 
   
• Dubois has a stat line of 11-13-24 in 53 games this season, while Gavrikov has tallied four goals and 11 assists for 15 points in his 48 games played. The defenseman has spent much of the season alongside Matt Roy on the second pairing. 

TALKING POINTS: CBJ

• As it was stated earlier, the Blue Jackets do not respond well to winning. They're 0-6-4 in their last ten games coming off a win. Whoever said winning is contagious should find a new job. 
   
• Special teams continue to be a storyline with this team. After an 0-for-3 effort on the power play Saturday, the Blue Jackets are now 1-for-13 in their last five games and find themselves 28th in the league (14.4%) on the power play. After an early-season kill rate was amongst the best in the league, Columbus is now near the bottom on that as well. They've allowed 10 power play goals in their last six games, are 26th in the league (and falling) on the penalty kill, and in 15 games this calendar year have allowed multiple power play goals more (five times) than they have no power play goals (zero).
   
• The Russians were reunited in Saturday's win over the San Jose Sharks — and it paid off immediate dividends. Kirill Marchenko and Dmitri Voronkov each scored and Yegor Chinakhov had a pair of assists in the Blue Jackets last-second, 4-3 victory in the Shark Tank. Expect them together again on the second line, as the chemistry is proving too valuable to not keep together. Here are Tuesday's projected (and of course, subject to change) lines: