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Game 69 Preview/Gamethread: Blue Jackets wrap up West Coast trip in Sin City against the Golden Knights

Sunday, March 19, 2023 – 4:00 PM ET
T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada
TV: Bally Sports Ohio – Radio: 97.1 FM

Columbus Blue Jackets (21-40-7, 8th Metro, 16th East)
at
Las Vegas Golden Knights (42-21-6, 1st Pacific, 1st West)

The Blue Jackets wrap up their west coast road trip this afternoon in a Sunday matinee matchup against the best of the west, in the Vegas Golden Knights. Vegas is cruising to another playoff berth and while it is possible that they overlook the Jackets or play down to their competition, it really shouldn’t be a close game, especially when you consider they are trying to fend off the Los Angeles Kings for the top spot in the Pacific.

Player to Watch

Patrik Laine

It tends to get lost in all of the losing, but Laine has been on a sneaky tear lately and is on a six game point streak. In his last 15 games, he has put up 17 points (8G, 9A) and has looked more energized. He was also able to successfully pull off his patented, “skate through the entire defense” move and score last game. This Patrik Laine is definitely more fun to watch. with a multi-goal performance today, Laine can hit 200 for his career, so look for a bit of extra motivation for the Jackets’ sniper.

Jackets Notes

Energy may be hard to come by in this one as the Jackets are probably just looking forward to heading home after a long road trip. This will be the 3rd game in 4 nights, and an afternoon game to wrap it up to boot. The odds clearly appear to be stacked against them today, which means they will probably pull out an unlikely win.

The Other Bench

Vegas is once again sitting very comfortably in a playoff spot. They have had their fair share of injuries, but the depth in that organization is very impressive and has helped them continue to thrive.

The Golden Knights biggest issue this year has been the health of their goaltending. They have used five different netminders this year, and with Logan Thompson and Adin Hill both on the shelf, they found themselves in a pickle around the trade deadline.

In swooped the Blue Jackets to save the day by gifting them Jonathan Quick. The Blue Jackets legend, has quickly (get it?) settled in with Vegas, winning 4 of his first 5 starts, and is sporting a goals allowed average of under 3. If he keeps up this level of play, the battle-tested goaltender could be the one Vegas opts to go into the playoffs with, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him get the start against his “former team” this afternoon.

Season Series

11/28/22 VGK 3 @ CBJ 2 -S/O
3/19/23 CBJ @ VGK

Stats

Vegas   Columbus
3.19 (16) GPG 2.61 (29)
2.78 (8) GAPG 3.76 (30)
20.8% (20) PP% 18.1% (27)
79.3% (17) PK% 76.7% (20)
48.5% (23) 5v5 Shot Attempt % 45.5% (28)
49.4% (21) 5v5 Unblocked shot attempt % 45.4% (29)
8.8% (14) 5v5 Shooting % 7.7% (29)
.919 (10) 5v5 Save % .906 (25)
Eichel, Smith, 23 G Leader Boone Jenner, 23
Chandler Stephenson, 40 A Leader Johnny Gaudreau, 46
Chandler Stephenson, 53 P Leader Johnny Gaudreau, 63
Keegan Kolesar, 64 PIM Leader Mathieu Olivier, 81
21-14-1 Home / Road 8-20-5
7-3-0 Last 10 3-5-2

Projected Lineups

Columbus Blue Jackets

Johnny Gaudreau Boone Jenner Emil Bemstrom
Patrik Laine Jack Roslovic Kirill Marchenko
Eric Robinson Cole Sillinger Kent Johnson
Liam Foudy Lane Pederson Mathieu Olivier
Nick Blankenburg Erik Gudbranson
Tim Berni Andrew Peeke
Gavin Bayreuther Adam Boqvist
Daniil Tarasov
Michael Hutchinson

Vegas Golden Knights

Ivan Barbashev Jack Eichel Jonathan Marchessault
Reilly Smith William Karlsson Pavel Dorofeyev
Brett Howden Chandler Stephenson Mike Amadio
Paul Cotter Teddy Blueger Phil Kessel
Alec Martinez Alex Pietrangelo
Brayden McNabb Shea Theodore
Nicholas Haugue Zach Whitecloud
Johnathan Quick
Jiri Patera