Columbus commences their final month of hockey this evening with their only trip of the regular season to the T.D. Garden to do battle with the Boston Bruins, one of the 8 legitimate playoff teams in the Eastern Conference. This is the teams’ second meeting of the season, and second meeting since March 5th, where Boston downed Columbus in a shootout victory at Nationwide Arena.
That was also the first time the Blue Jackets were able to honor former captain Nick Foligno, since he was dealt to the Toronto Maple Leafs at the previous trading deadline, fetching the Jackets US defenseman Corson Ceulemans with that first round draft selection in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft. Speaking of honoring, expect the same package or tribute to former Bruins’ center man and current Columbus fourth line center, Sean Kuraly.
Kuraly joined Columbus this past offseason on a 4-year deal, with a $2.5M cap hit to return to his hometown team. The Dublin, OH native currently has 24 points in 68 regular season games, which is one point past his previous season high totals; he has 23 points in 63 regular season games with Boston in the 2019-2020 shortened regular season. The former 2011 draft pick of the San Jose Sharks joined the Bruins via trade with a 2016 1st Round Draft Pick (used 29th overall on F Trent Frederic) in exchange for G Martin Jones.
As for tonight’s duel, this is their second of three contests, with the third and final being on Monday, April 4, w at Nationwide Arena. With the home ice advantage in control for Boston, expect more time for the newly acquired defensive unit of Hampus Lindholm and Joshua Brown. Lindholm came from the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in a package with defenseman Kodie Curan in exchange for former Blue Jackets’ first rounder, defenseman John Moore; defenseman Urho Vaakainen, and three high draft picks, in the next three drafts. Josh Brown came to Boston from Ottawa with a conditional draft pick for forward Zach Senyshyn and a mid round pick returning. Boston focused on their needs, and have the depth to contend as a result, while also extendeding their contending window for another Stanley Cup in the process.
Boston has some last minute decisions to make, as currently forwards Nick Foligno and Craig Smith are game time decisions. Youngster Jersey Swayman is expected to get the start tonight for the Bruins. Former Jackets’ draft pick Mike Reilly is on the third pairing tonight.
Columbus has swapped Gus Nyquist and Jake Voracek to give the top six a shake, and Elvis is getting the go-ahead for consecutive starts.
Projected Lineups
Boston Bruins
Brad Marchand—Patrice Bergeron—Jake DeBrusk Taylor Hall—Erik Haula—David Pasternak Trent Frederic—Charlie Coyle—Craig Smith Nick Foligno—Thomas Nosek—Curtis Lazar
Hampus Lindholm—Charlie McCavoy Matt Grzelyck—Brandon Carlo Derek Forbort—Mike Reilly
Jermey Swayman Linus Ullmark
Scratched— Josh Brown, Anton Blidh, Connor Clifton, Jack Studnicka, Marc McLaughlin Injured— Jakub Zboril
Columbus Blue Jackets
Jakub Voracek—Jack Roslovic—Patrik Laine Gustav Nyquist—Cole Sillinger—Oliver Bjorkstrand Yegor Chinakov—Sean Kuraly—Justin Danforth Eric Robinson—Brendan Gaunce—Emil Bemstrom
Vladislav Gavrikov—Andrew Peeke Jake Bean—Dean Kukan Gavin Bayreuther—Adam Boqvist
Elvis Merzlikins Jean-Francois Berube
Scratched— Gabriel Carlsson, Jake Christiansen Injured— Boone Jenner, Zach Werenski, Nathan Gerbe, Joonas Korpisalo, Daniil Tarasov, Alexandre Texier
Players to Watch
Boston— Hampus Lindholm— in 4 games with his new team, he has 2 assists and has averaged about 22 minutes of ice time per game. The Swedish defenseman also extended with Boston for 8 years, so get ready to see a lot of him coming up and down the road.
Columbus— Sean Kuraly— look above and see why he is getting the spotlight. Hometown kid against the team he played with in the NHL until this past summer, including the Cup finals loss to the St. Louis Blues.
Prediction
6-2 Boston over Columbus.
More to come…
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