Arizona State University - fear the fork!
The Columbus Blue Jackets conclude their Wild West weekend with a battle at the Arizona State University campus in a crash collision course with the Arizona Coyotes this evening.
The Coyotes are Blue Jackets are both near the bottom of the league with resting players for trade protection -- defenders Jacob Chychrun and Vladislav Gavrikov.
Previously, the Arizona Coyotes defeated the Blue Jackets in the inaugural meeting, 6-3.
The Coyotes were in a 6-5 shootout loss to the Los Angeles Kings last night, where the Jackets stunned the Stars 4-1.
Arizona is selling the farm, with rentals including Nick Ritchie, Nick Bjugstad, and Shayne Gostisbehere being available for trade, along with Chychrun and goalie Karel Vejmelka.
Columbus is riding wins against the West's best in Dallas and Winnipeg, without top scorer Johnny Gaudreau.
Expect Elvis Merzlikins v Connor Ingram.
Projected Lineups
Arizona Coyotes
Clayton Keller—Barrett Hayton—Nick Schmaltz Mattias Maccelli—Nick Bjugstad—Lawson Crouse Nick Ritchie—Travis Boyd—Christian Fischer Liam O’Brien—Jack McBain—Zach Kassian
Jusso Valimaki—Troy Stecher Patrick Nemeth—Josh Brown Janis Moser—Victor Soderstrom
Connor Ingram Karel Vejmelka
Scratched — Jacob Chychrun
Injured — Shayne Gostisbehere, Andrew Ladd
Columbus Blue Jackets
Patrik Laine--Boone Jenner--Kirill Marchenko Kent Johnson--Cole Sillinger--Lane Pederson Liam Foudy--Jack Roslovic--Emil Bemstrom Eric Robinson--Sean Kuraly--Mathieu Olivier
Tim Breni--Erik Gudbranson Gavin Bayreuther--Adam Boqvist Nick Blankenburg--Andrew Peeke
Elvis Merzlikins Joonas Korpisalo
Scratched -- Vladislav Gavrikov Injured -- Johnny Gaudreau, Zach Werenski, Jakub Vorcaek, Jake Bean, Gustav Nyquist, Yegor Chinakov, Justin Danforth, Carson Meyer
Players to Watch
Arizona -- Clayton Keller -- the teams leading point scorer and All Star, he is showing he is the one shining star of their future core.
Columbus -- Lane Pederson -- the former Arizona Coyotes' draft pick. Former player v former team. Easy pick. Also only second game as a member of the Blue Jackets.
Predicted Final Score
ARI - 2 CBJ - 3
Thoughts? More to come...
Watch in the NHL Network