Game Day #22: Sean Monahan And The Columbus Blue Jackets Face Off Against The Calgary Flames In An Emotional Black Friday Battle

By Ed Francis on November 29, 2024 at 11:20 am
Game Day #22: It's an early puck drop Friday afternoon when Sean Monahan goes against his former team in what will surely be an emotional day for the Columbus Blue Jackets.
© Jason Parkhurst-Imagn Images
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CGY CBJ


CALGARY FLAMES
FRIDAY, NOV. 29

3:00 P.M.


NATIONWIDE ARENA
COLUMBUS, OH

FLAMES: 
12-7-4 (28 pts; .609%)
Division: 2nd of 8
Conference: 4th of 16
NHL: t-7th of 32
ROSTER // SCHEDULE

There's no denying that the Columbus Blue Jackets will feel it a little extra in their Black Friday game against the Calgary Flames.

The road team probably will, too.

For many of the Blue Jackets who knew and loved Johnny Gaudreau, the flaming "C" is synonymous with the late Columbus star. It's where Johnny Hockey played in over 600 games in nine seasons, not to mention dozens of playoff games.

But for Sean Monahan, who signed with the Blue Jackets over the summer in large part to be reunited with his best friend, the sweater is sure to be a call to the past. Monahan and Gaudreau were teammates, linemates, and best friends for years while in Calgary, and now, for the first time since Johnny's August 29th passing, Monahan will oppose the team they spent nearly a decade on together.

“I still haven’t gotten over it, I don’t think I ever will,” Monahan told Eric Francis of SportsNet in an interview this week. "Ninety percent of the time it doesn’t feel real. You lose your best friend, your teammate, it’s tough to comprehend."

Many of the Flames in Friday afternoon's tilt played with Gaudreau, as well, making the first meeting between the two teams an emotional investment for everyone involved. 

As for the on-ice action, here's what else to know when the Blue Jackets and Flames hit the ice for the first of two meetings over the next five nights:


CALGARY SEASON STATS COLUMBUS
2.57 26th GOALS FOR t-6th 3.43
2.70 7th GOALS AGAINST 29th 3.62
19.7% 17th POWER PLAY 21st 17.2%
74.0% 28th PENALTY KILL t-24th 76.9%
29.7 t-11th SHOTS FOR 3rd 31.7
30.0 25th SHOTS AGAINST t-17th 28.8
44.5% 30th FACEOFFS 20th 49.3%
CALGARY: LAST THREE GAMES 
SAT, 11/23 vs. Wilds W, 4-3 (SO)
MON, 11/25 @ Senators L, 4-3
WED, 11/27 @ Red Wings L, 2-1 (OT)
CALGARY: TEAM LEADERS
GOALS Jonathan Huberdeau 7
ASSISTS MacKenzie Weegar 10
POINTS Rasmus Andersson
MacKenzie Weegar
13
ODDS & PROJECTIONS
 CBJ WIN PER MONEYPUCK: 50%
CBJ ODDS PER ESPNBET: -110
  • The Flames have gotten off to an impressive start this season, just three points behind the Vegas Golden Knights for first in the Pacific Division. It's kind of an anomaly for a team that ranks in the bottom third of the league in the penalty kill and shots against, but: they've done it with defense and goaltending. They've allowed more than three goals just once in their last nine games, and even in that, they allowed just four. Meanwhile, they rank 26th in the league with 2.57 goals against and have scored more than four goals just TWICE in 23 games.
     
  • Kent Johnson had an assist in Wednesday's game, which was his 10th point of the season in seven games. He's had at least one point in each of those games.
     
  • Back to Monahan: his 20 points (in 21 games) is second in the league amongst players who are on a new team this year, trailing Jake Guentzel of the Tampa Bay Lightning by just one point. 
     
  • The team says that Daniil Tarasov is under the weather, so Jet Greaves has come from Cleveland to be Elvis Merzlikins' backup for the game. Merzlikins had a four-game win streak snapped in the overtime loss Wednesday, and has not allowed four or more goals in three consecutive starts with just an .843 save percentage in those games.
     
  • In addition to Greaves in Tarasov's place, there's at least two other changes to the lineup: Cole Sillinger returns to the lineup after missing Wednesday's contest with an upper-body injury. And, speaking of upper-body injuries, Yegor Chinakhov is out of the lineup as a result of one.

    Here are the complete projected lineups:
LW C RW
10 Dmitri Voronkov 23 Sean Monahan 82 Kirill Marchenko
4 Cole Sillinger 19 Adam Fantilli 91 Kent Johnson
27 Zach Aston-Reese 17 Justin Danforth 24 Mathieu Olivier
21 James van Riemsdyk 7 Sean Kuraly 62 Kevin Labanc
LD RD
8 Zach Werenski 15 Dante Fabbro
78 Damon Severson 9 Ivan Provorov
2 Jake Christiansen 22 Jordan Harris
Starting Goalie Back-Up
90 Elvis Merzlikins 73 Jet Greaves
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