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Match-up - Toronto Maple Leafs (4-4-1) @ Columbus Blue Jackets (4-5-0)
Road/Home records - 2-0-1 -------------- 2-2-0
TV - SNO, FSO
Puck drop - 7:00 p.m. ET
Season series - 0-0
Projected starting goalies - Jonathan Bernier vs Curtis McElhinney
Projected lines for the Maple Leafs via DailyFaceoff.com:
Joffrey Lupul - Nazem Kadri - Phil Kessel
James van Riemsdyk - Tyler Bozak - David Clarkson
Leo Komarov - Mike Santorelli - Daniel Winnik
Richard Panik - Peter Holland - Matt Frattin
Dion Phaneuf - Cody Franson
Morgan Rielly - Roman Polak
Jake Gardiner - Stephane Robidas
Projected lines for the Blue Jackets via DailyFaceoff:
Scott Hartnell - Ryan Johansen - Cam Atkinson
Nick Foligno - Alexander Wennberg - Jack Skille
Marko Dano - Michael Chaput - Corey Tropp
Adam Cracknell - Brian Gibbons - Jared Boll
Jack Johnson - Dalton Prout
David Savard - Fedor Tyutin
Ryan Murray - Cody Goloubef/Tim Erixon
Injured: Brandon Dubinsky, Nathan Horton, Boone Jenner, James Wisniewski, Matt Calvert, Sergei Bobrovsky.
Game notes:
- Jack Johnson has been less than spectacular this season and with all the injuries Columbus is dealing with he'll be relied upon even more so than usual. He's struggled mightily in possession thus far and has just three assists in nine games, so he needs to step up at both ends of the rink. He'll have his work cut out for him defending Phil Kessel tonight, but he'll need to limit his impact if the Jackets want to have a chance in this one.
- A quick start will be key once again. The Jackets have struggled to come from behind all year - including when they were only missing a couple bodies - and it won't be any easier missing half their roster. They don't have the firepower to score 3-4 goals a night, and if they fall behind a couple early it'll be really tough to crawl back. Best case scenario for them is they score one or two early and grind out a win at home.
- Curtis McElhinney needs to be really good. Again, the Jackets don't have a lot of firepower right now so they probably won't come out on the right end of a 5-4 game.
- Ryan Johansen enters tonight's game with points in his first nine contests this year. There's not much scoring punch behind him right now so he'll need to keep that streak going.
- Nick Foligno will return to the lineup after missing the last couple games with an injury. It'll be interesting to see if the time off cooled him down. He was producing a lot of offense early on this season.
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