The Kirill Bowl concludes for the two game opening road trip for the Columbus Blue Jackets in their first meeting of the regular season with the Minnesota Wild of two. Gameplay starts at 8pm EST from Fan Duel Sports Network.
Minnesota was a big money spender over the offseason, backing the truck up for the richest contract in league history to Russian winger Kirill Kaprizov at 8 years, $136M ($17M cap hit annually).
Minnesota also saw shifting in the depth of the roster with Frederick Gaudreau, Justin Brazeau, Gustav Nyquist, Travis Boyd, Declan Chisholm, and Brendan Gaunce departing for Vladimir Tarasenko, Nicolas Aube-Kuebel, Cal Petersen, Cameron Butler, Ben Gleason, Tyler Pitlick, Nico Sturm, and Daemon Hunt arriving/returning.
Columbus is looking for their first win of the year as they dropped their opener in Nashville. Minnesota shut out the St. Louis Blues in their barn 5-0 on Thursday evening.
Keys to Victory
- Score — with only one goal scored on opening night, the record breaking offense from last season needs to get back on track.
- Discipline — the penalties contributed to the loss, and staying out of the box will help.
- Knowing the Defense — Jiricek and Hunt were both in the Columbus system, so they might exploit the defensive systems of the coaching staff. Most of the roster also knows Evason from his days in Minnesota.
Projected Lineups
Minnesota Wild
Kirill Kaprizov—Marco Rossi—Matt Boldy
Marcus Foligno—Joel Eriksson Ek—Vladimir Tarasenko
Yakov Trenin—Ryan Hartman—Marcus Johansson
Liam Ohgren—Hunter Haight—Vinnie Hinostroza
Jacob Middleton—Brock Faber
Zeev Buium—Jared Spurgeon
Joonas Brodin—Zach Bogosian
Filip Gustavsson
Jesper Wallstedt
Scratched — Daemon Hunt, Danila Yurov, David Jiricek
Injured — Mats Zuccarello, Nico Sturm
Columbus Blue Jackets
Dmitri Voronkov -- Sean Monahan -- Kirill Marchenko
Boone Jenner -- Adam Fantilli -- Cole Sillinger
Kent Johnson -- Charlie Coyle -- Mathieu Olivier
Zach Aston-Reese -- Isac Lundestrom -- Miles Wood
Zach Werenski -- Dante Fabbro
Ivan Provorov -- Damon Severson
Denton Mateychuk -- Erik Gudbranson
Jet Greaves
Elvis Merzlikins
Scratched: Yegor Chinakhov, Jake Christiansen
Injured: None
Players to Watch
Minnesota — Kirill Kaprizov — the richest man in hockey is the one to watch and cover nightly.
Columbus — Kirill Marchenko — his production is vital to the Columbus offense.
Predicted Final Score
CBJ — 2
MIN — 5
Gambling Odds
Minnesota is -162 whereas Columbus is +136
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