Match-up - Columbus Blue Jackets (3-2-0) @ San Jose Sharks (4-2-1) Road/Home records - 1-1-0 -------------- 1-0-0 TV - FSO, CSN-CA Puck drop - 10:30 p.m. ET Season series - 0-0 Projected starting goalies - Sergei Bobrovsky vs Antti Niemi
Projected lines for the Sharks via DailyFaceoff.com:
Patrick Marleau - Logan Couture - Tommy Wingels Matt Nieto - Joe Thornton - Joe Pavelski Tomas Hertl - James Sheppard - Andrew Desjardins John Scott - Adam Burish - Eriah Hayes
Marc-Edouard Vlasic - Justin Braun Matt Irwin - Brent Burns Jason Demers - Scott Hannan
Injured: Raffi Torres, Tyler Kennedy.
Projected lines for the Blue Jackets:
Scott Hartnell - Ryan Johansen - Nick Foligno Matt Calvert - Alex Wennberg - Cam Atkinson Mark Letestu - Artem Anisimov - Jack Skille Adam Cracknell - Michael Chaput - Jared Boll
Jack Johnson - David Savard Tim Erixon - James Wisniewski Fedor Tyutin - Dalton Prout
Injured: Brandon Dubinsky, Nathan Horton, Boone Jenner, Ryan Murray.
Game notes:
- Ryan Johansen and Nick Foligno both enter tonight's game with seven points in five games, and at least one in every game. If that trend continues the Jackets will have a good chance of picking up at least one point.
- Alex Wennberg will be playing center for the first time of his young NHL career. He's been very good on a nightly basis playing the wing, but there are more defensive responsibilities playing down the middle. He played against men as a center in Europe, so I think he'll be able to handle it.
- San Jose's possession numbers have been pretty poor thus far, in large part because of injuries and a shallow group of bottom-6 forwards. The Sharks are allowing 35 shots per game, and look vulnerable defensively at times. That's something the Jackets should be able to take advantage of.
- Brent Burns has eight points in seven games this season since being moved back to defense. He's an absolute weapon on the backend so the Jackets will need to pay close attention to him.
- Adam Cracknell will be making his season and Blue Jackets debut. He's a relatively good possession player for a depth guy who plays a physical game, so he shouldn't be a liability to the Jackets. He'll likely spend most of his shifts playing against San Jose's poor 4th line, so I think he'll be able to make a positive impact.
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