| CBJ | COL | |
|---|---|---|
| 9-11-3 | ROAD / HOME | 18-0-2 |
| 2.98 | GOALS FOR | 4.05 |
| 3.40 | GOALS AGAINST | 2.21 |
| 17.8% | POWER PLAY | 16.8% |
| 75.6% | PENALTY KILL | 85.4% |
| 30.2 | SHOTS FOR | 34.4 |
| 31.0 | SHOTS AGAINST | 26.9 |
| 51.2% | FACEOFF % | 51.5% |
| COLORADO: LAST THREE GAMES | ||
| SUN, 1/4 | @ Panthers | L, 2-1 |
| TUE, 1/6 | @ Lightning | L, 4-2 |
| THU, 1/8 | vs. Senators | W, 8-2 |
| COLORADO: TEAM LEADERS | ||
| GOALS | Nathan MacKinnon | 36 |
| ASSISTS | Nathan MacKinnon | 42 |
| POINTS | Nathan MacKinnon | 78 |
| ODDS & PROJECTIONS | ||
| CBJ WIN PER MONEYPUCK: | 27% | |
| CBJ ODDS PER DRAFTKINGS: | -325 | |
Game three of a four-game road trip comes Saturday afternoon when the Columbus Blue Jackets make a tough trip to Denver to face the Colorado Avalanche.
How tough of a trip is it? The Avalanche are yet to lose a game in regulation on home ice this season: they're 18-0-2 at Ball Arena. Colorado has just four regulation losses this season, two of which came on a recent road trip.
The Blue Jackets are without a point on the first two games of the road trip, giving up five goals in each of their first two games.
Here are five other things to know before an early, 4:00 p.m. puck-drop:
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The Avalanche are the best team in the league, and it's not close. They have 11 more points (71) than any other team in the league (60), less than half the regulation losses (4) of the team with the second-fewest (Dallas; 10), their goals per game average (4.05) is 17% higher than the next-best team (Tampa Bay; 3.45), and their goals allowed per game average (2.21) is 16% lower than the next-best team (Minnesota; 2.62). (Hey, Columbus has a better power play percentage!)
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For the first time since December 20th, Elvis Merzlikins makes the start in net. It goes without saying that Elvis has struggled this season: his 4.04 goals against average and .877 save percentage both rank near the bottom of the league.
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With an assist in Thursday night's loss to the Vegas Golden Knights, Zach Werenski continued his now nine-game point streak. He has seven goals and nine assists (16 points) during that run and leads the league with 16 goals by a defenseman. Led by Z, Columbus' 34 total goals by defensemen leads the NHL.
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The Blue Jackets top six is showing signs of life after some periods of woe. Kirill Marchenko has points in seven of the last eight games and goals in two of his last three games, Sean Monahan has five total points (one goal, four assists) in his last three, and Kent Johnson's goal Thursday night was his first time finding the back of the night since December 4th.
- Based on Thursday's game, here are the complete lineup projections:
| LW | C | RW | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | Dmitri Voronkov | 19 | Adam Fantilli | 86 | Kirill Marchenko |
| 38 | Boone Jenner | 23 | Sean Monahan | 91 | Kent Johnson |
| 4 | Cole Sillinger | 3 | Charlie Coyle | 24 | Mathieu Olivier |
| 27 | Zach Aston-Reese | 16 | Brendan Gaunce | 82 | Mikael Pyyhtia |
| LD | RD | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | Zach Werenski | 5 | Denton Mateychuk |
| 9 | Ivan Provorov | 78 | Damon Severson |
| 6 | Egor Zamula | 15 | Dante Fabbro |
| Starting Goalie | Back-Up | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 90 | Elvis Merzlikins | 73 | Jet Greaves |
