The Columbus Blue Jackets will take on the Buffalo Sabres as the two teams head in different directions. The Sabres are once again going to be cellar dwellers but nonetheless are chock full of talent.
On the front end of a back-to-back, the Blue Jackets will be faced with a difficult choice at goaltender. Do they start Joonas Korpisalo against the Sabres or on Friday against the Vancouver Canucks at home?
It appears that in-fighting during practice has made Buffalo a testy place. Add that to the fact that defenseman Zach Bogosian went down with an injury in practice. The team is as volatile as ever.
VIDEO: John Tortorella
Blue Jackets Projected Lineup
| # | Player | Stats | # | Player | Stats | # | Player | Stats |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 | Artemi Panarin | 44 GP, 11-25-36 | 18 | Pierre-Luc Dubois | 44 GP, 10-12-22 | 77 | Josh Anderson | 42 GP, 14-10-24 |
| 14 | Jordan Schroeder | 16 GP, 0-1-1 | 10 | Alexander Wennberg | 30 GP, 4-12-16 | 71 | Nick Foligno | 44 GP, 9-7-16 |
| 11 | Matt Calvert | 32 GP, 4-9-13 | 38 | Boone Jenner | 37 GP, 4-8-12 | 28 | Oliver Bjorkstrand | 44 GP, 8-18-26 |
| 64 | Tyler Motte | 27 GP, 3-1-4 | 45 | Lukas Sedlak | 31 GP, 4-3-7 | 37 | Markus Hannikainen | 25 GP, 2-2-4 |
| # | Player | Stats | # | Player | Stats |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | Zach Werenski | 40 GP, 11-9-20 | 3 | Seth Jones | 44 GP, 7-21-28 |
| 65 | Markus Nutivaara | 37 GP, 2-13-15 | 58 | David Savard | 43 GP, 2-6-8 |
| 4 | Scott Harrington | 22 GP, 1-1-2 | 7 | Jack Johnson | 44 GP, 2-5-7 |
| # | Player | GS | W-L-OL | GAA | SV% | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 72 | Sergei Bobrovsky | 36 | 21-12-3 | 2.40 | .922 | 4 |
| 70 | Joonas Korpisalo | 8 | 4-4-0 | 3.10 | .904 | 0 |
Three Storylines
- Eye On Eichel: The criticism around the Buffalo Sabres is the lack of players around their star player Jack Eichel. He is one of the most exciting players in the game but week in and week out the Sabres continue to lose. The American center nonetheless is a player to look out for and will hurt the Blue Jackets if the team backs off him defensively.
- Picking Up Points: Partially a godsend and partially hell on earth, the Blue Jackets face two of the worst teams in the league on back-to-back nights. Back-to-back's aren't easy. The way they manage this before a long break will make it an even more interesting game. Are they going to fiddle with the goaltenders starting schedule? Could a formerly injured player only play one game of the back-to-back?
- Wenn He Returns: Alexander Wennberg has been activated off of injured reserve and expects to play against the Buffalo Sabres. He was projected to be out for four to six weeks but it appears that he will only come back after missing eight games. The Swedish forward will give the team a boost but is he returning too quickly?
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