Game 11 Preview/GameThread: Blue Jackets return from five-day break against Washington

Washington Capitals at Columbus Blue Jackets
Friday, November 12, 2021 – 7:00 Eastern
Nationwide Arena, Columbus, Ohio
TV: Bally Sports Ohio – Radio: 97.1 FM
Opponent’s Blog: Japer’s Rink

Washington Capitals (6-2-4, 16 points, 3rd Metropolitan, 5th East)*
at
Columbus Blue Jackets (7-3-0, 14 points, 4th Metropolitan, 8th East)
*all stats in this article do not include November 11th’s games

For the first time in 686 days, the Columbus Blue Jackets will face their Metropolitan Division rivals from our nation’s capitol, the Capitals. The two teams are coming from about as different points as possible; the Capitals are fresh off of a game versus the Detroit Red Wings yesterday, while the CBJ have had a five-day break thanks to the series vs Colorado originally being scheduled in Finland.

Thanks to a two-game sweep in that aforementioned series vs Colorado, the Jackets have tied their best start through ten games at 7-3-0, with an opportunity to be the first team in franchise history to win eight out of their first 11 games tonight. Max Domi and Adam Boqvist are both close to returning, but are likely out tonight.

On a more personal note, this will also be the Blue Jackets’ Hockey Fights Cancer night. HFC is always an emotional game for me, as my mom lost her eight-year battle with breast cancer in April of 2019 (the last Blue Jackets game she saw was Game 4 of The Sweep). Columbus is on a four-year HFC winning streak, dating back to 2017’s game vs Winnipeg.

Player to Watch

Jakub Voracek

Have I mentioned how much I missed Jakub Voracek? He has 10 assists in as many games, leading the team and, as of Thursday afternoon, good enough for a 10-way tie for eighth in the league. Half of those have been on the powerplay, meaning that all but one of the CBJ’s powerplay goals have involved Voracek. His CVS line with rookies Yegor Chinakhov and Cole Sillinger also looked fantastic against Colorado last Saturday. Man, I missed Jakub Voracek.

Capitals Notes

The Capitals and star winger Alex Ovechkin are both off to a hot start this year; the team earned a 6-2-4 record through 12 games, despite being plagued by injuries. The Caps have Nicklas Backstrom, TJ Oshie, Anthony Mantha, and Nic Dowd on IR and Vitek Vanacek day-to-day. Meanwhile Ovechkin had a stat line of 11-10-21 through 12 games as he hunts down Wayne Gretzky’s goal record. He currently sits at a joint fourth with Brett Hull at 741, and just three goals shy of Dave Andreychuk’s all-time power play goals record of 274. Rookie goaltender Zach Fucale made his NHL debut against Detroit yesterday, so expect Ilya Samsonov in net.

Season Series

11/12/21 at Columbus
12/4/21 at Washington
3/17/22 at Columbus
4/28/22 at Washington

Stats

Projected Lineups

Columbus Blue Jackets:

Washington Capitals: