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2 Out of 3 Ain't Bad

November 25, 2019, 3:14 PM ET [4 Comments]
Thomas Townsend
Columbus Blue Jackets Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Winnipeg ended the Columbus Blue Jacket's 3-game winning streak. However, the CBJ did win two games in regulation this week (one of them by multiple goals), scored 5 goals in each of those wins and netted 13 goals in 3 games. And, over the past two weeks their record is 3-1-1 snagging 7 of a possible 10 points. That was the good news.

The not so good news is that the CBJ are 4-4-2 overall in the month of November going into the last week. Even worse is the fact that Saturday's game at WPG was extremely winnable, but for sloppy goaltending. In previous games Elvis has played well enough to deserve his elusive first NHL victory. But on Saturday he did very little to help his own cause, capped off by this poor decision that resulted in the game winner:



There is still opportunity to make it a successful month with 4 games remaining this week: Home against OTT, PHI and PIT and on the road against NYI. It all starts tonight at NWA against the Sens.

Ottawa is playing .500 hockey with 23 points in 23 games. Similarly the Jackets have 22 points in 22 games. OTT has 65 goals for (CBJ has 58) and 71 against (CBJ = 73). The Senators are better at home (7-4) than they are on the road (4-7-1). They are riding a 3-game winning streak and have won 5-of-their-last-6. They are also 8-4 in November. Former CBJ winger Anthony Duclair has found early season success with 10 goals and 5 assists, second on the team in scoring behind Pageau (13-6-19). Goaltending has been evenly divided between Nilsson and Anderson, both boasting an above .900 save percentage.

For the Jackets Korpi has been reported as tonight's starter. The lines look as if they may get juggled tonight; this is what has been reported on the CBJ website:

Sonny Milano - Pierre-Luc Dubois - Emil Bemstrom
Nick Foligno - Alexandre Texier - Cam Atkinson
Eric Robinson - Alexander Wennberg - Josh Anderson
Gustav Nyquist - Boone Jenner - Oliver Bjorkstrand

Zach Werenski - Seth Jones
Ryan Murray - David Savard
Vladislav Gavrikov - Dean Kukan

While the defense remains unchanged the forward lines look interesting. Most notably Milano and Bemstrom join PLD on the top line and Texier moves to #2 C between Foligno and Cam. Tex skated at the pivot for a time against WPG and it looks like that experiment will continue.

Rarely do I feel confident when the lines get shifted this much. Feels like a bit of panic rather than subtle refinement to me.

Good Luck and Go Jackets
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