Montreal Canadiens at Columbus Blue Jackets
Thursday, November 17, 2022 – 7:00 EDT
Nationwide Arena, Columbus, OH
TV: Bally’s Sports Ohio – Radio: WBNS FM
Opponent’s blog: Habs Eyes on the Prize
Montreal Canadiens, 8-7-1, 17 points, 6th Atlantic, 11th East
@
Columbus Blue Jackets, 5-9-1, 11 points, 8th Metro, 16th East
The Columbus Blue Jackets, winners of two in a row (!!), continue their homestand tonight as they play host to the Montreal Canadiens. The Jackets, who have earned 5 of their last 6 available points, face a Canadiens team that had won three straight before dropping their last outing to the Devils.
Both teams are banged up, but the Blue Jackets are one of the more significantly injured teams in the league – with the potential loss of Jake Bean and Elvis Merzlikins, the Jackets could be without nearly $40 million worth of roster players tonight. Can the Blue Jackets find a way to overcome the latest slew of injuries to win their third straight game?
Player to Watch
Marcus Bjork
What if I told you the Blue Jackets have a single point-per-game player right now, and his name is Marcus Bjork? Since being called up and playing his first two NHL games, Bjork has 1-1-2 in 17:45 per night. He has been asked to play an outsized role and is holding his own. His underlying numbers are nothing to write home about, but Bjork is a big body (6’3”, 203 pounds) and has shown that he can handle the burden on a depleted blue line. For a player on a one year ELC, Bjork has not looked out of place.
Jackets Notes
Jake Bean, Elvis Merzlikins, and Emil Bemstrom all were banged up on Tuesday, but at the time of writing, head coach Brad Larsen had no updates … There is still no time frame on Jakub Voracek’s return, he remains out indefinitely … Vladislav Gavrikov has both overtime winners for the Blue Jackets this season … Daniil Tarasov was brought up on emergency recall after Merzlikins was banged up and needed help leaving the ice … Korpisalo made 18 saves in relief and earned the win
The Other Bench
The Canadiens, who gave the Devils their tenth straight win on Tuesday, were paced by Evgenii Dadonov, who led all skaters with an xGF% of 72.6% … Jonathan Drouin is out four to six weeks with an upper-body injury … In response to the Drouin injury, the Canadiens have recalled Rem Pitlick from the Laval Rocket … Mike Matheson is nearing a return from injury, which could force early-season revelation Arber Xhekaj’s return to Laval
Season Series
11/17/2022 MTL @ CBJ
11/23/2022 MTL @ CBJ
03/25/2023 CBJ @ MTL
Stats
| Montreal | Columbus | |
|---|---|---|
| 2.94 (21) | GPG | 2.71 (26) |
| 3.31 (21) | GAPG | 4.33 (32) |
| 15.9% (29) | PP% | 10.5% (32) |
| 79.6% (13) | PK% | 78.6% (15) |
| 48.51% (21) | 5v5 Shot Attempt % | 44.45% (28) |
| 49.02% (20) | 5v5 Unblocked shot attempt % | 44.41% (28) |
| 9.11% (7) | 5v5 Shot % | 8.77% (13) |
| .913 (20) | 5v5 Save % | .884 (32) |
| Nick Suzuki, 10 | G Leader | Johnny Gaudreau, Boone Jenner, 6 |
| Kirby Dach, 10 | A Leader | Johnny Gaudreau, 7 |
| Nick Suzuki, 19 | P Leader | Johnny Gaudreau, 13 |
| Josh Anderson, 21 | PIM Leader | Mathieu Olivier, 17 |
| 3-3-1 | Home / Road | 4-5-0 |
| 5-4-1 | Last 10 | 3-6-1 |
Projected Lineups
Columbus Blue Jackets
| Johnny Gaudreau | Boone Jenner | Gustav Nyquist |
| Yegor Chinakhov | Cole Sillinger | Kent Johnson |
| Liam Foudy | Jack Roslovic | Brendan Gaunce |
| Eric Robinson | Sean Kuraly | Mathieu Olivier |
| Vladislav Gavrikov | Andrew Peeke |
| Jake Christiansen | Marcus Bjork |
| Gavin Bayreuther | Erik Gudbranson |
| Joonas Korpisalo |
| Daniil Tarasov |
Montreal Canadiens
| Cole Caufield | Nick Suzuki | Kirby Dach |
| Mike Hoffman | Christian Dvorak | Brendan Gallagher |
| Evgenii Dadonov | Sean Monahan | Josh Anderson |
| Juraj Slafkovsky | Jake Evans | Michael Pezzetta |
| Kaiden Guhle | David Savard |
| Joel Edmundson | Arber Xhekaj |
| Jordan Harris | Johnathan Kovacevic |
| Jake Allen |
| Samuel Montembeault |