Game Preview: Blue Jackets Begin Key Four-Game Road Trip, Face Macklin Celebrini's San Jose Sharks

After a stinging, overtime loss Sunday to the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Columbus Blue Jackets begin a crucial, four-game road trip Tuesday night when they face-off against the San Jose Sharks.

Through exactly half the season, the Blue Jackets find themselves with 43 points through 41 games — that's one more point than they had last season through the first half.

But the Blue Jackets were in a wild card spot at this time last season, and this season find themselves in the basement of the Eastern Conference.

It's a testament to the balance of strength in the East, and a sign that the Blue Jackets are going to need to make a run sooner rather than later if they want to have realistic playoff hopes.

Tuesday night is the first chance to take a step in the right direction.

Here are five things to know before the 10:00 p.m. puck-drop:

• The Sharks, who are on the first leg of a back-to-back, saw a three-game winning streak end Saturday with a 7-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning. But that's no fault of Macklin Celebrini, who is realer than the real deal. Through 41 games, the 19-year-old has 63 points and is on pace for 126 points — yes, as a teenager. He trails only Nathan MacKinnon (74) and Connor McDavid (72) in points this season. He has at least a point in ten straight games, with seven goals and 13 assists during that streak, which includes six multi-point games. 
   
• Columbus is 4-1-1 in their last six games, but in both losses, they had two-goal leads in the third period. That's been the story of the season for the Blue Jackets, who would be in a playoff spot if games were just 40 minutes long. It was another case of the team playing not to lose. “We just wanted it to be boring and just keep frustrating them over and over again, and we didn’t do that,” said head coach Dean Evason. "Once it starts slipping away from you, it’s hard to catch it again."
   
• Zach Werenski's current seven-game point streak features an active five-game streak of two or more points. He's the first defenseman in franchise history to accomplish that feat. He has 44 points in 37 games, an average of 1.19 per game. That's well ahead of last year's pace, when Werenski had 82 points in 81 games for an average of 1.01 per night.
   
• Special teams have generally been trending in the right direction on both sides, but they've got to get them to make them work. Columbus was on just one power-play in their weekend back-to-back at home, while killing off eight penalties (seven successfully) in that span. This team does well-enough at 5-on-5 and on special teams, but they can't spend big chunks of the game on the penalty kill.
   
• Jet Greaves gets the start, to no surprise. Sean Monahan looks to return based on Tuesday's practice, but Evason hinted that Mason Marchment looked to be out of the lineup after sustaining an injury Sunday. Here are the complete lineup projections: