Match-up - Columbus Blue Jackets (4-9-1) @ Washington Capitals (6-5-3) Road/Home records - 2-4-1 -------------- 3-2-3 TV - CSN-DC, FS-O Puck drop - 7:00 p.m. ET Season series - N/A Last 10 - Blue Jackets: 1-8-1 ------------ Capitals: 4-5-1 Projected starting goalies - Curtis McElhinney vs Braden Holtby
Projected lines for the Capitals via DailyFaceoff.com:
Alex Ovechkin - Nicklas Backstrom - Jay Beagle Marcus Johansson - Andre Burakovsky - Troy Brouwer Jason Chimera - Eric Fehr - Joel Ward Liam O'Brien - Evgeny Kuznetsov - Michael Latta
Brooks Orpik - John Carlson Karl Alzner - Matt Niskanen Nate Schmidt - Mike Green Injured: Brooks Laich, Aaron Volpatti, Dmitri Orlov, John Erskine.
Projected lines for the Blue Jackets:
Brian Gibbons - Ryan Johansen - Nick Foligno Scott Hartnell - Boone Jenner - Cam Atkinson Corey Tropp - Alex Wennberg - Jack Skille* Dana Tyrell - Michael Chaput - Jared Boll
Fedor Tyutin* - David Savard Tim Erixon - James Wisniewski Frederic St. Denis - Dalton Prout
Game notes:
- In an ideal world Brian Gibbons obviously isn't on your top line, but he's an adequate short-term fit there and has played relatively well in that role to this point. In four games on the year, though not all were played in the top-6, he's recorded three points. His speed is a big asset, and is something the Jackets will need to utilize against a pretty fast team in the Capitals.
- Columbus is absolutely decimated with injuries right now, so their depth is real shallow. If they want to win games, they need their stars to outplay the opposition's top guys. Ryan Johansen, Scott Hartnell and Nick Foligno are all averaging at least a point per game, and will need to continue to produce at that rate if the Jackets are going to put together any string of wins with all the injuries they're dealing with.
- If Brandon Dubinsky were in the lineup he would be going head-to-head with Ovechkin's line, but that is obviously not the case and with him, along with eight others, injured the Jackets don't have a shutdown line or pairing. They'll need a complete five-man unit to limit his effectiveness, because if they miss an assignment Ovechkin will certainly make them pay.
- With so many forwards injured, the Jackets could really use some offense from the backend. James Wisniewski has played well and has six points through 11 games, but if they could squeeze a little more offense out of him it could really make a difference.
- I'm preaching to the choir at this point, but Curtis McElhinney needs to be a lot better. He can't be allowing almost four goals per game when the Jackets are beat up and struggling to score. Through six appearances he has a 3.70 goals against average and a .889SV%. That's not going to cut it.
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