The Columbus Blue Jackets return home at Nationwide Arena to take on the Nashville Predators at 7pm in Central Ohio this evening. The Jackets return after a extensive holiday break away from the ice after recent games have been cancelled due to the spread of the omicron virus. Columbus is now at 6 games postponed, with games against the Flames, Blackhawks, Canadiens, Leafs, and Sabres to be made up later in the season.
This is their first game back and west side they have the return of Patrik Laine, Emil Bemstrom , and Adam Boqvist for them this evening as they have been practicing with them on their western Canada road swing and finally get the chance to show how they feel was their first games back in weeks for both players respectively. Laine returned from an oblique strain while Boquest returns from a lower body injury that has been nagging at him this entire season. Bemstrom is making his season debut after suffering an oblique injury during the preseason.
This is the second time and final time these two teams are meeting the season after meeting earlier in Nashville against their Central division fall from the 2021 season and after that they will not face each other until sometime later in 2022 or 2023 depending on how the season goes with scheduling over the off-season coming up. The blowout was headlined by winger Filip Forsberg scoring for goals against Joonas Korpisalo and carrying the predators to a shut out victory.
Now it is everyone’s first true contacts back on the ice and it’ll be the showing of a night to come. Nashville returned last night in Washington, with a 5-3 loss in the nation’s capital. Dean Kukin still remains out for the home team with his leg injury but he is also practicing at this time, but was on the ice this morning as well as over the holiday break for the Jackets and for the week.
With the returning of the three players mentioned there are still players that are out on Covid protocol at this time so the lineup is not completely back to how it was at the start of the season by getting the return of the youngsters back will be key for victory for the next while as this surge is continuing around the league. Oliver Bjorkstrand, Jonas Korpisalo, Eric Robinson, and Gavin Bayreuther are the four players out on protocol, but the team had other changes over the holiday break as well.
Jake Christiansen and Kevin Stenlund returned to Cleveland, while Josh Dunne and Tyler Sikura were assigned to the returning taxi squad. Tarasov was reassigned and recalled due to the illness of Korpi.
Projected Lineups
Nashville Predators
Fillip Forsberg—Mikkael Granlund—Matt Duchene
Eeli Tolvanen—Ryan Johansen—Luke Kunin
Tanner Jeannot—Yakov Trenin—Mathieu Oliver
Nick Cousins—Phillip Tomasino—Michael McCarron
Ben Harpur—Dante Fabbro
Mattais Ekholm—Alexandre Carrier
Mark Borowiecki—Matthew Benning
David Rittich
Juuse Saros
Injured— Roman Josi, Colton Sissons, Thomas Novak
Taxi Squad— Matt Luff, Tomas Vomacka
Columbus Blue Jackets
Patrik Laine—Boone Jenner—Jakub Voracek
Max Domi—Jack Roslovic—Alexandre Texier
Gustav Nyquist—Cole Sillinger—Emil Bemstrom
Gregory Hoffman—Sean Kuraly—Justin Danforth
Zach Werenski—Jake Bean
Vladislav Gavrikov—Andrew Peeke
Gabriel Carlsson—Adam Boqvist
Elvis Merzlikins
Daniil Tarasov
Scratched— Yegor Chinakov
Injured— Dean Kukan, Oliver Bjorkstrand, Joonas Korpisalo, Eric Robinson, Nathan Gerbe
Taxi Squad— Tyler Sikura, Joshua Dunne
Keys to Victory
1. Score, Score, Score. Patty is back, and Voracek can dish. Domi has been dominant in his few games. Jenner leads in goals. No Bjorkstrand. Scoring is back up since the return from the holiday break due routine changes and lack of shots. Goalies will be cold, and facing a backup will help.
2. Home Cooking. Columbus is 9-3-1 at home, and need to continue to work their success in their favor to keep the wins coming, especially being behind in game played now against most in the league.
3. Returning Bodies. As mentioned in key one, Laine is back, but so are Swedes Bemstrom and Boqvist. The kids will have the freshest legs with the most time off, and have to do what it takes to get them into the win column.
Players to Watch
Nashville— Fillip Forsberg. With 14 goals in 22 games, the rental could be in his last season with Preds, and is looking to keep his value up while the team is looking to get younger. In the first game against Columbus, he had 4 goals
Columbus— Patrik Laine. The pending RFA has 10 points in 9 games played this season, missing the previous 19 with his oblique strain. The ex-Jet has resurfaced in trade rumors, regarding the Islanders and Kings in the past. The sniper has been viewed as a two way power forward under ex coaches Paul Maurice and John Tortorella, but he is a pure sniper that has had no support around time besides Voracek when healthy.
Predicting the Outcome:
4-3 OT for the Jackets.
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