Happy New Years Eve Hockeybuzzards, this is the final game of 2024 for the Columbus Blue Jackets as they welcome the former club of President and General Manager Don Waddell to the Nationwide Arena, the Carolina Hurricanes in their third tilt of four for the season. Puckdrop is at 8pm on FanDuel Sports Network in Ohio and in the South.
Carolina last bested Columbus at their barn two weeks ago, whereas Columbus won at home in a shootout last month. The Canes witnessed history as head coach Rob Brind’Amour became the fastest coach to 300 wins, doing so in 8 less games than the previous.
The Hurricanes have been seeing some breakthrough success out of former Blue Jackets’ Eric Robinson and Jack Roslovic. Robinson has 19 points in 37 games; Roslovic leads the Hurricanes in goals with 16.
The other major breakthrough has been Martin Necas, who is in the Top 15 in point scoring with 44 points in 36 games.
Seth Jarvis is also representing Team Canada from the Hurricanes. After missing a few games, the winger has 24 points in 29 games.
Carolina is also riding hot statistics with a Top 5 PowerPlay and Goals For; Top 10 Goals Against and Faceoff Possession; and the best Penalty Kill.
Columbus and Carolina are both sticking with their same lineups; expect Pytor Kochetkov and Elvis Merzlikins between the pipes.
Projected Lineups
Carolina Hurricanes
Seth Jarvis -- Sebastian Aho -- Jack Roslovic Andrei Svechnikov -- Jesperi Kotkaniemi -- Martin Necas Jordan Martinook -- Jordan Staal -- William Carrier Eric Robinson -- Tyson Jost -- Jackson Blake
Jaccob Slavin -- Brent Burns Dmitry Orlov -- Jalen Chatfield Ty Smith -- Sean Walker
Pyotr Kochetkov Dustin Tokarski
Scratched: Riley Stillman
Injured: Frederik Andersen (knee), Jack Drury (hand), Shayne Gostisbehere (upper body)
Columbus Blue Jackets
Dmitri Voronkov -- Sean Monahan -- Kirill Marchenko James van Riemsdyk -- Adam Fantilli -- Zach Aston-Reese Kent Johnson -- Cole Sillinger -- Mathieu Olivier Mikael Pyyhtia -- Sean Kuraly—Jack Johnson
Zach Werenski -- Dante Fabbro Denton Mateychuk -- Ivan Provorov Jake Christiansen -- Damon Severson
Elvis Merzlikins Daniil Tarasov
Scratched: Jordan Harris, Kevin Labanc
Injured: Yegor Chinakhov (upper body), Justin Danforth (lower body)
Players to Watch
Carolina — Sebastian Aho — 3 goals in his last five games. The second leading point scorer and Team Finland representative is only behind Svechinkov in shots with 93.
Columbus — Kirill Marchenko is red hot with 9 points in his last 5. Two points will tie him for his career best season with half a season still remaining. The shutout on Boston snapped the Russian’s eight game point scoring streak. Will he get back in the point production department?
Predicted Final Scores
CAR — 5
CBJ — 3