{"id":546276,"date":"2026-04-07T22:02:43","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T22:02:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/546276\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T22:02:43","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T22:02:43","slug":"blue-jackets-make-sweeping-line-changes-looking-for-offensive-spark-the-hockey-writers-columbus-blue-jackets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/546276\/","title":{"rendered":"Blue Jackets Make Sweeping Line Changes Looking For Offensive Spark – The Hockey Writers – Columbus Blue Jackets"},"content":{"rendered":"

Columbus Blue Jackets\u2019 head coach Rick Bowness promised there would be sweeping changes to the forward lines in advance of Tuesday night\u2019s game in Detroit. He was not kidding.<\/p>\n

All four forward lines have been changed. At least they will be this way to start the game. Whether it stays that way or not will depend on how things go.<\/p>\n

Miles Wood was the only expected skater to miss the morning skate in Detroit. Word is he has been under the weather.<\/p>\n

Head coach Rick Bowness said there would be a few gametime decisions although he didn\u2019t specify who fell into that category. The one thing he did say was that Jet Greaves would be the starting goalie Tuesday night.<\/p>\n

New Look Lines<\/p>\n

Here is how the Blue Jackets skated at their morning skate in Detroit.<\/p>\n

Cole Sillinger-Adam Fantilli-Kent Johnson<\/p>\n

Kirill Marchenko-Charlie Coyle-Conor Garland<\/p>\n

Mason Marchment-Boone Jenner-Danton Heinen<\/p>\n

Luca Del Bel Belluz-Sean Monahan-Isac Lundestrom<\/p>\n

Zach Aston-Reese rotated on the fourth line. Wood was missing. <\/p>\n

Zach Werenski-Dante Fabbro<\/p>\n

Ivan Provorov-Denton Mateychuk<\/p>\n

Jake Christiansen-Erik Gudbranson<\/p>\n

Extra: Egor Zamula<\/p>\n

Jet Greaves\/Elvis Merzlikins<\/p>\n

Johnson goes from being a healthy scratch right up to the first line on his off wing. Marchenko goes to his off wing on the second line while Coyle comes into the top-six.<\/p>\n

Marchment slides to the third line after spending a considerable amount of time on the top line. Monahan centers the fourth line. <\/p>\n

When you have a team in the Blue Jackets that hasn\u2019t gotten a single goal from a forward in 137:53 of gametime, changes have to be considered. That\u2019s especially true with just five games left in the regular season.<\/p>\n

A win Tuesday night by the Blue Jackets coupled with a Flyers regulation loss to the Devils would result in the Blue Jackets jumping to third in the Metro due to owning the tiebreaker. In order to make that happen, the team needs offense. Scoring 13 goals in their last eight games<\/a> simply isn\u2019t going to cut it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe haven\u2019t been scoring,\u201d Bowness said of changing the lines. \u201cA lot of the lack of scoring is because we have not been putting nearly enough pucks on the net that we\u2019ve gotten away from. So let\u2019s start with that philosophy of if you\u2019re getting more pucks to the net and see where it goes. If it doesn\u2019t look good<\/a>, then we switch it back. If you\u2019re not scoring, you got to try something different.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"RickColumbus Blue Jackets head coach Rick Bowness made sweeping line changes hoping to spark more offense. (Russell LaBounty-Imagn Images)<\/p>\n

Bowness explained what he was thinking coming up with these particular combinations, assuming the lineup is like how the morning skate went.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got offense on each line and you\u2019ve got reliable people on each line. Again, we\u2019re going on the road here for three. We don\u2019t have last change so let\u2019s make sure every line has a very defensively responsible person. Every line can score.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cListen, we don\u2019t have a forward in the top-60 in scoring. So we score by committee and balance it out as best we can. You look at the last two games. I know we\u2019ve got the highest scoring D in the league but they\u2019ve got the last two goals. When I say we got scoring by committee, we need every line to chip in somehow. It goes back to putting more pucks at the net, getting a little hungrier around the net, like all those things that I\u2019m talking about, being nasty around the net, getting greasy goals. This time of year man, that\u2019s how you score.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Jenner, he knows the team hasn\u2019t created enough of late. They need to get back to playing as a team the way they know they can.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s well balanced,\u201d Jenner said of the new lines. \u201cWe\u2019re looking forward to trying to get some chemistry going. I think the last couple games, we haven\u2019t created enough 5-on-5 and trying to make it tougher on teams just wearing them down and getting some more pucks to the net and with those secondary chances. We\u2019re excited no matter who we\u2019re playing with. We got to play as a team and I think we\u2019re excited for that.\u201d <\/p>\n

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