The Columbus Blue Jackets welcome the Tampa Bay Lightning for their only meeting of the season inside Nationwide Arena for Military Appreciation Night, sponsored by Elk & Elk. Tonight’s coverage is on the CW Columbus, Prime TV, WWHO, The Spot, CBJHN, CBJNHL, and The Fan 97.1
Pregame coverage begins at 6pm inside Natiownide Arena as USO Care Package Support and Rumpke Poster Making take over the concourse with life size bobble heads and the hockey stick throne. This evening’s cannoneer is US Army SSG Zachariah Collett.
Tampa arrives on the second half of a back to back with travel, dismantling Buffalo by the final score of 8-3. Free agent signing John Carlsson had five points. Two time Memorial Cup champion Sam O’Reilly made his NHL debut. Nikita Kucherov still wants out but had a hat-trick.
Lightning players are expecting a different defense tonight due as defenseman Erik Cernak left the game at 14:06 of the second period after colliding with the curved glass following a hit from Sabres forward Beck Malenstyn by the Tampa Bay bench. Cooper said Cernak is “probably out tomorrow.”
The Bolts had a bit of juggling to do this past summer due to the salary cap and need to upgrade the backup goaltender after the Round One loss to Montreal.
Nick Paul was dealt to Toronto for Dennis Hildeby, the projected starter tonight. Darren Raddysh had his rights flipped to Toronto for a draft pick. Jonas Johansson was traded to Ottawa for future considerations.
Oliver Bjorkstrand signed with the Rangers after being part of the Gourde package for a first rounder from Seattle. Connor Sheary returned to Buffalo. Corey Perry went back to Los Angeles. Declan Carlile joined Pittsburgh. Also leaving via free agency were Brandon Halverson (DAL), Ethan Samson (MTL), and Mitchell Chaffee (NYI), whereas Ian Mitchell signed with Bern in Europe.
Bolts management added Jansen Harkins, Jeffery Veil, and John Carlsson from last season’s Ducks second round squad. Ilya Mikheyev joined the offense. Goalies Olivier Rodrigue and Mads Sogaard joined the Crunch.
Columbus comes into tonight appreciating and remembering the brave men and women that serve our country without head coach Rick Bowness as he is under the weather. Also, the Jackets have sent Erik Gubdranson to the press box to revisit Jake Christiansen. Jet Greaves is the starter.
Projected Lineups
Tampa Bay Lightning
Brandon Hagel -- Anthony Cirelli -- Nikita Kucherov
Jake Guentzel -- Sam O'Reilly -- Yanni Gourde
Ilya Mikheyev -- Zemgus Girgensons -- Pontus Holmberg
Jeffrey Viel -- Conor Geekie -- Scott Sabourin
J.J. Moser -- John Carlson
Ryan McDonagh -- Max Crozier
Victor Hedman -- Charle-Edouard D'Astous
Dennis Hildeby
Andrei Vasilevskiy
Scratched: Emil Lilleberg, Gage Goncalves
Injured: Brayden Point (lower body), Erik Cernak (undisclosed)
Columbus Blue Jackets
Matthew Knies -- Adam Fantilli -- Kent Johnson
Valeri Nichushkin -- Sean Monahan -- Dmitri Voronkov
Cole Sillinger -- Charlie Coyle -- Mathieu Olivier
Ryan Lomberg -- Jack Williams -- Steven Lorentz
Zach Werenski -- Damon Severson
Ivan Provorov -- Dante Fabbro
Jake Christiansen -- Denton Mateychuk
Jet Greaves
Cam Talbot
Scratched: Luca Del Bel Belluz, Erik Gudbranson
Injured: Isac Lundestrom (lower body), Conor Garland (upper body)
Players to Watch
Tampa Bay — Nikita Kucherov
8 goals, 18 assists, 26 points, 1st place in scoring for the Lightning is the 2020 and 2021 Stanley Cup champion Russian winger Kucherov who is in the final year of his contract and is seeking a trade out of Tampa Bay through agent Dan Milstein, the same representative for Kirill Marchenko.
Columbus — Jack Williams
After a standout preseason and start to the AHL regular season, Williams needs to impress and become a scorer for a team needing goals throughout the roster.
Predicted Final Score
With the back to back nobody knows the favorite as Tampa is -115 and Columbus is -105 according to the draft book at NHL Draft Kings.
TBL — 2
CBJ — 3