Game Preview: Blue Jackets Visit Carolina Hurricanes in Pivotal Interdivisional Showdown

By Sam Blazer on January 4, 2019 at 1:05 pm
Artemi Panarin fights through a check from Jaccob Slavin
James Guillory-USA Today Sports
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The Columbus Blue Jackets don't ever play well against the Carolina Hurricanes. At least not in recent memory. They are difficult due to their depth and the amount of puck-moving defensemen they have. Will a new year bring new results?

Though middling in the standings, the Hurricanes are a tough out. Playing structured and allowing your playmakers to make some plays is going to be crucial. The time and space isn't going to be there. Something has to give.


PROJECTED LINES:
 

Panarin – Dubois – Atkinson

Duclair – Wennberg – Anderson

Hannikainen – Jenner – Bjorkstrand

Sedlak – Dubinsky – Nash

DEFENSEMEN:

Werenski – Jones

Murray – Nutivaara

Harrington – Savard

GOALTENDER:

Bobrovsky

Storylines:

  • The Blue Jackets will once again be without forward Nick Foligno. He is with his five-year-old daughter after undergoing surgery. It isn't immediately clear when Foligno will come back into the lineup.
  • The power play is still rancid. They are on a near historically bad streak. In their last nine games, they only have one power-play goal.
  • As always with the Hurricanes, they have almost no goaltending at all. They have Curtis McElhinney and Petr Mrazek in between the pipes. Neither is giving them a strong product and if they can have a consistent netminder, they can go up in the standings.

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