The Columbus Blue Jackets hope that home cooking is waiting for them in Ohio.
After a loss to the Buffalo Sabres, the team is looking for answers and have an opportunity to find them against the lowly Vancouver Canucks. After starting hot, the Canucks have been sliding further and further down the standings.
While the Blue Jackets have had a tough go of it offensively, the Canucks are just as bad if not worse only scoring eight goals in their past five games.
VIDEO: John Tortorella
Blue Jackets Projected Lineup
| # | Player | Stats | # | Player | Stats | # | Player | Stats |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 | Artemi Panarin | 45 GP, 12-25-36 | 18 | Pierre-Luc Dubois | 45 GP, 10-12-22 | 77 | Josh Anderson | 43 GP, 14-10-24 |
| 38 | Boone Jenner | 38 GP, 4-8-12 | 10 | Alexander Wennberg | 31 GP, 4-12-16 | 71 | Nick Foligno | 45 GP, 9-7-16 |
| 11 | Matt Calvert | 33 GP, 4-9-13 | 45 | Lukas Sedlak | 32 GP, 4-3-7 | 28 | Oliver Bjorkstrand | 45 GP, 8-18-26 |
| 64 | Tyler Motte | 28 GP, 3-1-4 | 14 | Jordan Schroeder | 17 GP, 0-1-1 | 37 | Markus Hannikainen | 26 GP, 2-2-4 |
| # | Player | Stats | # | Player | Stats |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | Zach Werenski | 41 GP, 11-10-21 | 3 | Seth Jones | 45 GP, 7-22-29 |
| 65 | Markus Nutivaara | 38 GP, 2-13-15 | 58 | David Savard | 44 GP, 2-6-8 |
| 4 | Scott Harrington | 23 GP, 1-1-2 | 7 | Jack Johnson | 45 GP, 2-5-7 |
| # | Player | GS | W-L-OL | GAA | SV% | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 72 | Sergei Bobrovsky | 36 | 21-13-3 | 2.39 | .922 | 4 |
| 70 | Joonas Korpisalo | 8 | 4-4-0 | 3.10 | .904 | 0 |
Three Storylines
- Boeser Best: As the leading candidate to win the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year, Boeser impresses like no one could have imagined. He has 22 goals and 18 assists for 40 points in 40 games. A point per game pace for a rookie is insane and add that to the team he is playing around, it is easy to see why he is running away with it.
- Sneaky Sedins: It is easy to forget about the Sedin twins at this point in their career. Their peaks are behind them, but they still contribute. They are always near the top of every category for the Canucks. They can be placed against anyone at any time. They are Swiss army knife players and still need to be watched every time they hit the ice.
- Depth Scoring: The Blue Jackets are not getting scoring from anywhere other than their top line. It makes the team easy to focus in on and is hampering the team. As players return from injury, the focus should return elsewhere, but it is still an uphill climb. They need to find their way and find it quickly if they want to continue to compete in the Metro.
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