The second back to back series for the Columbus Blue Jackets this regular season kicks off tonight as the Blue Jackets host the New York Rangers in their first meeting of four from Nationwide Arena.
The Rangers come into this game in a world of hurt, and that story starts and ends with their goaltending. Star Russian goaltender Igor Shesterkin is already done with this regular season due to a severe right knee injury suffered last week against Washington. Shesterkin’s strong start including a goal and assist has motivated this team to win for him on the ice. The Blueshirts are also missing backup Joonas Korpisalo with injury. The tandem going forward is Dylan Garand and former Columbus backup Spencer Martin, with the Rangers’ AHL club signing James Reimer to an ATO.
Rangers general manager Chris Drury is as busy now as he was this summer with the goaltending market calling his name. Jordan Binnington has been thrown out as an option due to how short his contract is, but also Anthony Stolarz and Connor Hellebuyck have been out there. Even Jonathan Quick coming out of retirement has been reported by Emily Kaplan of ESPN.
Over the summer, the Rangers dealt Vincent Trocheck to Utah, Will Borgen to Boston, Adam Edstrom to Nashville, Brett Berard to Montreal, a 2026 first, 2026 third, and 2028 first round picks to Vegas, and a 2030 1st round pick to Vancouver. New York acquired Sean Durzi and Cole Beaudoin from Utah, Joonas Korpisalo from Boston, Marcus Pettersson from Vancouver, and Pavel Dorofeyev from Vegas.
New York also lost Connor Sheary (Buffalo), Trey Fix-Wolansky (Vancouver), Johnny Brodznski (Washington), Connor Mackey (Chicago), Casey Fitzgerald (Florida), and Brendan Brisson (Toronto) to free agency.
Drury put pen to paper on forwards Joe Veleno, Eeli Tolvanen, Oliver Bjorkstrand, Glenn Gawdin, and Dennis Cholowski from the open market.
The big skating breakout for the Rangers has been first overall selection Alexis Lafereniere from 2020 has 7 goals and 10 points in 9 games. As a fantasy holder of him in my ESPN league, he is my skater to watch.
For the Blue Jackets, the noise around Rick Bowness is increasing. In Friday afternoon’s press conference, he continued to bury his own club in the media:
“You look at our team… like we’re 30th in the league in goal against. THIRTIETH! I’ve never coached a team that was 30th!”
“Right now, we should all be very angry where we’re at.”
Alright, Bones. Old man yells at cloud. When will this end in Columbus? This screams not his fault despite being the one claiming to change the culture and not succeeding in that endeavor.
The disciplinarian style coach has been the only type that has succeeded in getting Columbus into the postseason in the past. Hitchcock was maybe the nicest whereas Tortorella’s reputation has preceded him. This either going to go the season as the lame duck coach or before Christmas and another change happens here.
It just feels the clock is ticking internally on success this season, and it’s showing early on that things are just not working to start the season. Real morale dumpster on the bench.
On the ice, the recently extended Charlie Coyle and his linemate Cole Sillinger lead the roster with 5 points each through 5 games. Danton Heinen, Connor Garland, and Ryan Lomberg, all in their first full seasons with Columbus, have yet to put up a single point. Jake Christiansen is the only defenseman without a point this season.
With a back to back sequence like this, the Jackets need all 4 points, but should be satisfied if they collect 3 of 4. 2 points will not work this weekend.
Projected Lineups
New York Rangers
Gabe Perreault -- Mika Zibanejad -- Alexis Lafreniere
Tye Kartye -- J.T. Miller -- Pavel Dorofeyev
Will Cuylle -- Noah Laba -- Eeli Tolvanen
Oliver Bjorkstrand -- Justin Dowling -- Taylor Raddysh
Vladislav Gavrikov -- Adam Fox
Marcus Pettersson -- Sean Durzi
Alberts Smits -- Braden Schneider
Dylan Garand
Spencer Martin
Scratched: Scott Morrow, Matt Rempe
Injured: Igor Shesterkin (lower body), Joonas Korpisalo (lower body), Joseph Veleno (lower body)
Columbus Blue Jackets
Matthew Knies -- Adam Fantilli -- Kent Johnson
Valeri Nichushkin -- Sean Monahan -- Luca Del Bel Belluz
Cole Sillinger -- Charlie Coyle -- Mathieu Olivier
Ryan Lomberg -- Conor Garland -- Dmitri Voronkov
Zach Werenski -- Damon Severson
Jake Christiansen -- Denton Mateychuk
Carson Soucy -- Erik Gudbranson
Jet Greaves
Cam Talbot
Scratched: Emil Andrae, Danton Heinen
Injured: Dante Fabbro (broken hand), Ivan Provorov (lower body), Isac Lundestrom (lower body)
Players to Watch
NYR — Alexis Lafereniere — a star is born, and with the loss of Panarin and with Dorofeyev still finding his rhythm, the 2020 first overall selection has 7 goals in 9 games. Third in league scoring, a hat-trick will propel him to first place.
CBJ — Dmitry Voronkov — after breaking into the league a few seasons ago with a 20 goal campaign despite home sickness rumors, the pending RFA has yet to score a goal this season while averaging the least amount of ice time for all Jackets forwards at 12:04 a game.
Predicted Final Score
NYR — 4
CBJ — 3