Match-up - Columbus Blue Jackets (16-16-3) @ Arizona Coyotes (14-19-4) Road/Home records - 7-7-1 -------------- 7-8-3 TV - FS-A, FS-O Puck drop - 8:00 p.m. ET Season series - 0-0 Last 10 - Blue Jackets: 8-1-1 ------------ 'Yotes: 4-5-1 Projected starting goalies - Sergei Bobrovsky vs Devan Dubnyk
Projected lines for the Coyotes via DailyFaceoff.com:
Mikkel Boedker - Antoine Vermette - Shane Doan Martin Erat - Martin Hanzal - Sam Gagner Tobias Reider - Kyle Chipchura - David Moss Lauri Korpikoski - Tyler Gaudet - B.J. Crombeen
Oliver Ekman-Larsson - Zbynek Michalek Keith Yandle - Michael Stone Brandon Gormley - Connor Murphy
Injured: Chris Summers.
Projected lines for the Blue Jackets:
Scott Hartnell - Ryan Johansen - Jeremy Morin Matt Calvert - Brandon Dubinsky - Corey Tropp Nick Foligno - Alex Wennberg - Jack Skille Adam Cracknell - Michael Chaput - Jared Boll
Jack Johnson - David Savard Kevin Connauton - James Wisniewski Fedor Tyutin - Dalton Prout
Injured: Artem Anisimov, Boone Jenner, Brian Gibbons, Cam Atkinson, Nathan Horton, Mark Letestu, Ryan Murray.
What to watch:
1) Neither team has been particularly good at 5 vs 5 this season, but the Blue Jackets are much better in terms of special teams and should win if they're able to take advantage of that.
2) After recording points in consecutive games just once since October, Ryan Johansen seems to have regained his early season form as he's currently riding a five-game point streak. He has 13 shots in that span, too, so the goals should start to come with more consistency if he continues firing pucks on net.
3) Columbus' bottom-6 was caved in all throughout December and the Blue Jackets continued to win games, but they have to better if the Jackets are going to continue winning games. You can only rely on your top guys to carry you for so long before they need some help.
Recent posts