Morning Skate: Blue Jackets Head To Ottawa Looking For Good Tidings Before The New Year

By Sam Blazer on December 29, 2017 at 2:29 pm
Nick Foligno fights for the puck on the boards against Alexandre Burrows
Jean-Yves Ahern-USA Today Sports
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The taste of the Blue Jackets game against Pittsburgh is still many players mouths and they're hoping to get rid of it tonight in a game against the Ottawa Senators.

The Senators come into the game losing four in a row (0-3-1) and need to bounce back. This season has been a continued disappointment though and it has allowed trade rumors to swirl around a team that made the Eastern Conference Final last year.

With so many injured players for the Blue Jackets, they are going to take what they can get for wins and the Senators should be a team that gives them an easier game than other teams.

Already 14 points out of the second wild-card spot for the playoffs, the Senators are in the midst of a dire situation with no life preserver coming.

VIDEO: John Tortorella

Blue Jackets Projected Lineup
Forwards
# Player Stats # Player Stats # Player Stats
9 Artemi Panarin 38 GP, 10-23-33 18 Pierre-Luc Dubois 38 GP, 8-10-18 77 Josh Anderson 36 GP, 13-9-22
38 Boone Jenner 31 GP, 4-7-11 71 Nick Foligno 38 GP, 7-7-14 28 Oliver Bjorkstrand 38 GP, 6-18-24
11 Matt Calvert 26 GP, 4-8-12 45 Lukas Sedlak 25 GP, 4-1-5 22 Sonny Milano 29 GP, 6-5-11
64 Tyler Motte 21 GP, 3-1-4 14 Jordan Schroeder 10 GP, 0-0-0 37 Markus Hannikainen 19 GP, 2-2-4
Defensive Pairs
# Player Stats # Player Stats
8 Zach Werenski 34 GP, 10-8-18 3 Seth Jones 38 GP, 7-15-22
7 Jack Johnson 38 GP, 2-5-7 58 David Savard 37 GP, 2-6-8
4 Scott Harrington 16 GP, 1-1-2 65 Markus Nutivaara 31 GP, 2-11-13
Goaltenders
# Player GS W-L-OL GAA SV% SO
72 Sergei Bobrovsky 31 18-10-3 2.41 .921 4
70 Joonas Korpisalo 7 4-3-0 2.84 .911 0
Three Storylines
  • Return of the Zach:  While it hasn't been confirmed yet, the Blue Jackets have sent down Gabriel Carlsson for more ice time with the Cleveland Monsters. That means that a player is either ready to come back or they feel more comfortable with a certain player in the lineup. The indication here would be that Zach Werenski returns to the lineup after missing multiple games with an upper-body injury. This is good news for the Blue Jackets as they haven't had much recently.
  • Backup Delight: The Blue Jackets will get goaltender Mike Condon tonight when they face the Senators. This is an encouraging development as Columbus is without many of their top offensive weapons. If they can score against anyone, it should be a backup goaltender. The Senators are reeling and this is an opportunity to feast.
  • Continue Surviving:  Wednesday's game against the Penguins was bad but they did get a point to keep pace in the division. That is all the Blue Jackets need to keep doing until more players come back. They need to keep stacking points and staying in their spot within the division. It doesn't have to be pretty. They just need to survive.

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