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TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING SATURDAY, OCTOBER 18TH 7:00 P.M. NATIONWIDE ARENA COLUMBUS, OH |
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BOLTS: |
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It hasn't been an ideal start to the season, but a win Saturday night would go a long way in righting a Columbus Blue Jackets ship that has gotten off to a 1-3-0 start to the 2025-26 NHL season.
The Blue Jackets have lost their first two home games, falling 3-2 to the New Jersey Devils on Monday night before what head coach Dean Evason called a "soft" effort in Thursday's 4-1 loss to the Colorado Avalanche.
"We were passive. We were soft," said Evason. "We've got to play hard if we're going to win hockey games ... and we didn't play hard enough tonight in order to win."
Friday, Evason said the team made an "adjustment" to their compete level.
"We didn’t like how we competed in that hockey game for whatever reason, so we had a little adjustment this morning and hopefully it’ll be higher (for Saturday).”
Here's what else to know when the Blue Jackets battle the Bolts at Nationwide:
| TB | SEASON STATS | CBJ | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1-0-2 | ROAD / HOME | 0-2-0 | ||
| 2.80 | GOALS FOR | 2.75 | ||
| 3.60 | GOALS AGAINST | 3.25 | ||
| 23.1% | POWER PLAY | 9.1% | ||
| 89.5% | PENALTY KILL | 53.3% | ||
| 23.2 | SHOTS FOR | 31.8 | ||
| 31.4 | SHOTS AGAINST | 37.0 | ||
| 41.9% | FACE-OFFS | 54.2% | ||
| TAMPA BAY: LAST THREE GAMES | ||||
| MON, 10/13 | @ Bruins | W, 4-3 | ||
| TUE, 10/14 | @ Capitals | OTL, 3-2 | ||
| FRI, 10/17 | @ Red Wings | OTL, 2-1 | ||
| TAMPA BAY: TEAM LEADERS | ||||
| GOALS | (Several Players) | 2 | ||
| ASSISTS |
Jake Guentzel Victor Hedman |
4 | ||
| POINTS |
Jake Guentzel Brayden Point |
5 | ||
| ODDS & PROJECTIONS | ||||
| CBJ WIN PER MONEYPUCK: | 47% | |||
| CBJ ODDS PER BETMGM: | -115 | |||
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The LIGHTNING have won just one of their first five games to start the season, a bit of a slow start for a team that is still expected to contend for a top spot in the Atlantic Division. Tampa is on the second leg of a back-to-back, having lost 2-1 to the Detroit Red Wings in a shootout Friday night. Andrei Vasilevskiy got the start in the OTL, so look for Jonas Johansson to be in net for the Bolts on Saturday night.
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Some of the adjustments that Evason was referring to came in the form of changes amongst the FORWARD TRIOS, where Dmitri Voronkov is back on the top line after a one-game trial on the second line. Adam Fantilli will be flanked by Boone Jenner on the left and Kent Johnson on the right in a line that will see their first consistent action together this season.
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And others came with the DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS, where Denton Mateychuk looks to be paired up with Zach Werenski at the top of the lineup Saturday. That moves Dante Fabbro down to the third pairing, where he appears set to skate on the right side opposite of Jake Christiansen.
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JET GREAVES, a hard-luck loser in his first two starts, will see his third go-around between the pipes on Saturday night. Greaves has a .932 save percentage and 2.06 goals against average in appearances against Nashville and New Jersey so far this season.
- Here are the complete LINEUP PROJECTIONS:
| LW | C | RW | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | Dmitri Voronkov | 23 | Sean Monahan | 86 | Kirill Marchenko |
| 38 | Boone Jenner | 19 | Adam Fantilli | 91 | Kent Johnson |
| 4 | Cole Sillinger | 3 | Charlie Coyle | 24 | Mathieu Olivier |
| 27 | Zach Aston-Reese | 21 | Isac Lundestrom | 59 | Yegor Chinakhov |
| LD | RD | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | Zach Werenski | 5 | Denton Mateychuk |
| 9 | Ivan Provorov | 78 | Damon Severson |
| 2 | Jake Christiansen | 15 | Dante Fabbro |
| Starting Goalie | Back-Up | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 73 | Jet Greaves | 90 | Elvis Merzlikins |
