Game Preview: Jet Takes The Net Again As Blue Jackets Homestand Continues With Saturday Battle Against Red-Hot Bolts

By Ed Francis on January 24, 2026 at 12:35 pm
Jet Greaves earns another start as the Columbus Blue Jackets look for their sixth win in the last seven games. Here are five things to know before Saturday's puck-drop versus the red-hot Bolts.
© Russell LaBounty-Imagn Images
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TB   CBJ
19-4-4 ROAD / HOME 12-8-4
3.45 GOALS FOR 2.90
2.45 GOALS AGAINST 3.26
20.3% POWER PLAY 19.4%
84.5% PENALTY KILL 75.7%
27.4 SHOTS FOR 30.2
26.0 SHOTS AGAINST 30.7
46.3% FACEOFF % 50.7%
TAMPA BAY: LAST THREE GAMES 
SUN, 1/18 @ Stars W, 4-1
TUE, 1/20 vs. Sharks W, 4-1
FRI, 1/23 @ Blackhawks SOW, 2-1
TAMPA BAY: TEAM LEADERS
GOALS Brandon Hagel
Nikita Kucherov
25
ASSISTS Nikita Kucherov 49
POINTS Nikita Kucherov 74
ODDS & PROJECTIONS
 CBJ WIN PER MONEYPUCK: 47%
CBJ ODDS PER DRAFTKINGS: +105

After seeing a four-game losing streak come to an end Tuesday, the Columbus Blue Jackets got back to their recent winning ways Thursday night with a 1-0 shutout victory over the Dallas Stars.

The homestand continues Saturday night and the Blue Jackets look for their sixth win in seven games when the Tampa Bay Lightning are in town.

Here are five things to know before the 7:00 p.m. puck-drop:

  • The Bolts are on a 15-game point streak and are 14-0-1 during that span. The streak continued Friday night with a shootout win in Chicago over the Blackhawks. ... Andrei Vasilevskiy started in that game, which puts back-up Jonas Johansson in line to get the net against Columbus. Johansson is 10-6-1 as a starter this season with a 2.73 goals against average and .896 save percentage. ... Tampa Bay has the second-best penalty kill in the league at 84.% and have killed off all 13 opposition power plays over the last six games.
     
  • After posting his first shutout of the season and third of his career, Jet Greaves is back in net for the Blue Jackets. His goals against average all the way down to 2.62 to go with a .910 save percentage, though it's at .922 over his last 12 starts. He's also won his last three starts, including Columbus' 15th-ever, 1-0 regulation win Thursday.
     
  • There is no hiding the fact that Dmitri Voronkov is going to have to work his way back into a bigger role in Columbus' lineup under new head coach Rick Bowness. Voronkov played a career-low 6:43 in Thursday's win and in his last three games, has two of his four lowest ice-times in his career. He's on the fourth line again Saturday as The Big Boss looks to play his way back up.
     
  • For the first time this season, the Blue Jackets have gone three straight games with 25 or less shots on goal. Their 22 shots in each of the last two games is tied for a season-low. Quality shots are better than a quantity of shots, but they'll need to get the puck on net more to beat a solid defensive team like the Lightning.
     
  • There are no lineup changes expected from Thursday's game, per Bowness. Here are the complete lineup projections:
LW C RW
17 Mason Marchment 19 Adam Fantilli 86 Kirill Marchenko
38 Boone Jenner 23 Sean Monahan 91 Kent Johnson
4 Cole Sillinger 3 Charlie Coyle 24 Mathieu Olivier
10 Dmitri Voronkov 21 Isac Lundesröm 43 Danton Heinen
LD RD
8 Zach Werenski 78 Damon Severson
9 Ivan Provorov 44 Erik Gudbranson
2 Jake Christiansen 6 Egor Zamula
Starting Goalie Back-Up
73 Jet Greaves 90 Elvis Merzlikins
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