The second back to back series for the Columbus Blue Jackets this regular season kicks off tonight as the Blue Jackets travel to the Minnesota Wild in their first meeting of two at St. Paul. 

Minnesota is off to a hot start after last season’s second round appearance as Kirill Kaprizov leads the league with 9 goals. 

After some roster turnover with the losses of Zuccarello, Tarasenko, and Middleton, but adding Coleman and Maatta, I fully expect them to be about where they were last season. 

Projected Lineups 

Minnesota Wild

Kirill Kaprizov -- Joel Eriksson Ek -- Matt Boldy

Blake Coleman -- Ryan Hartman -- Bobby Brink

Yakov Trenin -- Danila Yurov -- Max Shabanov

Rieger Lorenz -- Michael McCarron -- Tyler Pitlick

Quinn Hughes -- Jonas Brodin

Daemon Hunt -- Zach Bogosian

Matt Kiersted -- David Spacek

Jesper Wallstedt

Calvin Pickard

Scratched: None

Injured: Brock Faber (skull fracture), Marcus Foligno (mid body), Nick Foligno (upper body), Filip Gustavsson (lower body), Olli Maatta (upper body), Nico Sturm (upper body), Jared Spurgeon (upper body)

Columbus Blue Jackets

Matthew Knies -- Adam Fantilli -- Kent Johnson

Valeri Nichushkin -- Sean Monahan -- Conor Garland

Cole Sillinger -- Charlie Coyle -- Mathieu Olivier

Ryan Lomberg -- Luca Del Bel Belluz -- Danton Heinen

Zach Werenski -- Damon Severson

Jake Christiansen -- Denton Mateychuk 

Emil Andrae -- Erik Gudbranson

Cam Talbot

Jet Greaves

Scratched: Carson Soucy, Dmitri Voronkov

Injured: Dante Fabbro (broken hand), Ivan Provorov (lower body), Isac Lundestrom (lower body)

Players to Watch 

Minnesota — Kirill Kapirzov — $17M man showing his value early in the season 

Columbus — Ryan Lomberg — has yet to record a point since signing as a free agent. 

Predicted Final Score

MIN — 5

CBJ — 3