The Columbus Blue Jackets take on the Montreal Canadiens at the Bell Centre and will face a different team then they faced back on Nov. 14. Carey Price returns to the lineup and multiple players that had been on multi-game droughts are now off the schneid.
The Blue Jackets will look to extend their winning streak to seven games. Is Alexander Wennberg going to play? He traveled with the team and is listed as a game-time decision, and his return would change the dynamic of the team drastically if in fact it comes tonight.
VIDEO: John Tortorella
"Going into the third, you knew it was going to be one of those games."
— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) November 25, 2017
Torts on how the #CBJ found a way tonight: pic.twitter.com/whuQ5fyn59
Blue Jackets Projected Lineup
| # | Player | Stats | # | Player | Stats | # | Player | Stats |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 | Artemi Panarin | 23 GP, 5-10-15 | 18 | Pierre-Luc Dubois | 23 GP, 3-2-5 | 77 | Josh Anderson | 21 GP, 8-4-12 |
| 38 | Boone Jenner | 16 GP, 3-5-8 | 17 | Brandon Dubinsky | 23 GP, 2-7-9 | 28 | Oliver Bjorkstrand | 23 GP, 5-9-14 |
| 22 | Sonny Milano | 20 GP, 5-4-9 | 71 | Nick Foligno | 23 GP, 4-6-10 | 13 | Cam Atkinson | 19 GP, 6-3-9 |
| 64 | Tyler Motte | 12 GP, 3-1-4 | 45 | Lukas Sedlak | 10 GP, 2-1-3 | 14 | Jordan Schroeder | 5 GP, 0-0-0 |
| # | Player | Stats | # | Player | Stats |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | Zach Werenski | 23 GP, 6-6-12 | 3 | Seth Jones | 23 GP, 3-9-12 |
| 7 | Jack Johnson | 23 GP, 1-3-4 | 58 | David Savard | 22 GP, 2-5-7 |
| 27 | Ryan Murray | 23 GP, 1-4-5 | 65 | Markus Nutivaara | 18 GP, 1-8-9 |
| # | Player | GS | W-L-OL | GAA | SV% | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 72 | Sergei Bobrovsky | 17 | 14-4-1 | 1.91 | .936 | 3 |
| 70 | Joonas Korpisalo | 4 | 1-3-0 | 3.28 | .896 | 0 |
Three Storylines
- The Price Is Right: Carey Price returned to the Montreal Canadiens and promptly shut out the Buffalo Sabres in his first game back. It was a much better performance than what he gave before his injury, where he played with a sub-.900 save percentage. His return to the team is crucial to reversing their fortunes.
- Beginning Of A Streak: The Canadiens are out of the playoffs at the moment and will need plenty of help to get there. With a win against the Sabres, they may have found a bit of their mojo. The difference between the Sabres and the Blue Jackets is stark, but all teams have to start somewhere. As players begin to get healthy, the Canadiens are a team that can start a streak. Specifically, be on the lookout for Alex Galchenyuk, Jonathan Drouin, and Max Pacioretty to break out as the team begins to finally take shape around them.
- Offensively Lacking: This Canadiens club has good underlying numbers, including Corsi (CF%) numbers that put them top-five in the league. Those numbers hang around the Blue Jackets and highlight a real difference between the two teams: shooting luck and good goaltending. The Canadiens have had subpar goaltending and rank 30th in the league in goals per game. Montreal is going through a rough stretch, but its offense needs to start catching up with the rest of the team to have a fighting chance.
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