Match-up - Columbus Blue Jackets (21-23-3) @ Tampa Bay Lightning (31-15-4) Road/Home records - 11-11-1 -------------- 20-4-1 TV - SUN, FS-O Puck drop - 7:30 p.m. ET Season series - 1-1-0 Last 10 - Jackets: 4-6-0 ------------ Lightning: 7-3-0 Projected starting goalies - Curtis McElhinney vs Ben Bishop
Projected lines for the Lightning via DailyFaceoff.com:
Valtteri Filppula - Steven Stamkos - Ryan Callahan Ondrej Palat - Tyler Johnson - Nikita Kucherov Alex Killorn - Cedric Paquette - Jonathan Drouin J.T. Brown - Brian Boyle - Brett Connolly
Andrej Sustr - Victor Hedman Mark Barbeiro - Anton Stralman Jason Garrison - Nikita Nesterov
Projected lines for the Blue Jackets:
Nick Foligno - Ryan Johansen - Cam Atkinson Scott Hartnell - Brandon Dubinsky - Corey Tropp Matt Calvert - Artem Anisimov - Alex Wennberg Jack Skille - Mark Letestu - Jared Boll
Jack Johnson - Fedor Tyutin Kevin Connauton - James Wisniewski David Savard - Ryan Murray
Injured: Boone Jenner, Brian Gibbons, Nathan Horton, Sergei Bobrovsky.
What to watch:
1) Ryan Murray is expected to make his long anticipated return tonight. Perhaps Todd Richards wants to ease him in with softer minutes and less of them all together, but it's interesting that Murray won't be paired with James Wisniewski. When they're together they are easily the best defense pairing on the team.
2) The Lightning are an elite 5 vs 5 team and, while they're not quite elite on the man advantage, the Jackets need to stay disciplined. Tampa Bay has a ton of fire power up front, and if they get enough opportunities they'll surely convert.
3) I don't think Corey Tropp is going to last too long in the top-6, as he's playing way above his head there. I'd much rather see Skille on the 2nd line, and think it's possible he moves up if Tropp struggles.
4) Jack Johnson and Fedor Tyutin vs either of Tampa's top two lines is a big mismatch in favor of the Bolts. They have last change and will get the matchups they want, too, so this could be a long night.
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