Game Preview: Blue Jackets Look To Stop Skid, Face Canucks As Road Trip Continues

The Columbus Blue Jackets continue their five-game road trip Saturday night with a stop in Vancouver to face the Canucks. Puck-drop is 10:00 p.m. 

The Canucks are 7-8-0 on the season and have lost two of their last three games, including a 5-2 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks on home ice Wednesday night.

Here are five things to know in advance of puck-drop:

• Columbus native Kiefer Sherwood doesn't have an assist yet, but the 30-year-old leads the Canucks in goals with nine. He's already had three multi-goal games, including a hat trick against the St. Louis Blues on October 30th.
   
• In their losses to the New York Islanders and Calgary Flames to start this road trip, the Blue Jackets have just three goals on 65 shots. That includes going 0-for-5 on the power play.
   
• Kirill Marchenko has a point in six straight games and has at least one point in all but two games this season. 
   
• No official announcement has been made as of Saturday morning, but Elvis Merzlikins is the likely starter in net. He's given up three or more goals in his last three starts, but is still hanging on to a sub-3.00 goals against average (2.98) and owns a .917 save percentage.
   
• Based on Friday's practice, lines could look quite a bit different Saturday night. Adam Fantilli centered Dmitri Voronkov and Marchenko on the top line, with Boone Jenner bumped down to the fourth. There is still some question as to whether or not Sean Monahan will play after an injury Wednesday night, but it seems he's trending towards playing. Complete lineup projections are below: