Game #5 Preview/open thread: Bracing for the storm

Saturday, October 23, 2021 - 7:00 EST
Nationwide Arena - Columbus, Ohio
TV: Bally Sports Ohio; Radio: 105.7 FM and BlueJackets.com
Opponent’s Blog: Canes Country

Carolina Hurricanes (3-0-0, 6 points, 3rd Metro, 4th East)

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Columbus Blue Jackets (3-1-0, 6 points, 5th Metro, 7th East)

The Blue Jackets are 3-1 to start the season, hooray! Now the real work begins, as a top team comes to Nationwide. Sure, the Jackets beat another Metro favorite, the Islanders, on Thursday, but that Islanders team is on a lengthy road trip and weren’t playing their best hockey. These Hurricanes are rested and red-hot. The Jackets must come out strong again and establish their game early. If Carolina gets too much time with the puck, they’re going to punish the Jackets with goals.

Player to Watch

Andrei Svechnikov

As he enters his fourth season, it feels like Svech has been around forever. In reality, he’s still just 21 years old and it’s possible there’s still another level to his game. Carolina is betting on that, signing him to a max-length eight year contract worth a total of $62 million. So far, he has rewarded them with four goals in the first three games.

I’d say Columbus needs to shut him down, but there’s still a separate forward line that has the also-great Sebastian Aho. Good luck!

Jackets Notes

Rookie Cole Sillinger scored his first NHL goal in Thursday’s win over the Islanders ... Patrik Laine’s game winner was his second OT goal of the season already. He’s still looking for his first 5v5 or PP goal ... My prediction is that Elvis Merzlikins starts again in goal, with Joonas Korpisalo getting the start on Monday against Dallas. A 2:1 ratio sounds right at this point in the season, when we haven’t run into any back-to-backs yet UPDATE: Korpi gets the start ... The Jackets unveiled their newly remodeled locker room:

The Other Bench

To catch up on the changes Carolina made in the offseason, you can read MrSwift’s scouting report from the preseason ... The Canes beat the Canadiens on Thursday, in Jesperi Kotkaniemi’s return to Montreal. He scored his first goal as a Hurricane in that game, further twisting the knife on an already painful start to the season for the Habs ... Frederik Andersen has been outstanding as the starting goaltender in all three games so far this season. It would not surprise me if we see Raanta’s season debut tonight, so Andersen can rest up for his matchup against his former team, Toronto, on Monday. UPDATE: Andersen gets the nod again.

Season Series

10/23/2021 CAR @ CBJ
01/01/2022 CAR @ CBJ
01/13/2022 CBJ @ CAR
02/25/2022 CBJ @ CAR

Stats

Projected Lineups