Friday, November 23, 2018 – 7:00 EST
Nationwide Arena, Columbus, Ohio
TV: Fox Sports Ohio; Radio: 97.1 FM
Opponent’s Blog: Pension Plan Puppets
Columbus Blue Jackets (12-7-2, 26 points, 1st Metro, 4th East)
vs.
Toronto Maple Leaves (15-7-0, 30 points, 2nd Atlantic, 2nd East)
Did everyone have a good Thanksgiving? Be safe if you join the hordes on Black Friday. Personally, you couldn’t pay me to go out shopping today. It almost makes it worth it to have to go into the office instead. We’ve got hockey tonight at Nationwide, with a rematch of a closely-battled loss in Toronto on Monday.
Player to Watch
Cam Atkinson
Cam is red hot right now, with a 5 game goal streak. He earned First Star of the Week in the NHL last week after a hat trick against Carolina. With 13 goals in 20 games, he’s on pace to score over 40 goals this year.
Jackets Notes
The rest of Cam’s line isn’t so shabby, with 22 points from Artemi Panarin and 19 points from Pierre-Luc Dubois…Who should start in goal tonight? Tomorrow is a divisional game against the hated Penguins, but they’re reeling so Toronto may be the tougher matchup.
The Other Bench
While Columbus has not played since Monday, Toronto played on Wednesday and lost 5-2 at Carolina…Pension Plan Puppets assess the Leaves at the quarter season mark...I’m fully aware it’s “Maple Leafs” and not “Maple Leaves” but I’ve gotten angry tweets and emails in the past from Toronto fans and that’s hilarious so I’m not going to stop saying “Leaves.”
Season Series
11/19/2018 CBJ 2 @ TOR 4
11/23/2018 TOR @ CBJ
12/28/2018 TOR @ CBJ
Stats
| Toronto | Columbus | |
|---|---|---|
| 3.45 (4) | GPG | 3.38 (8) |
| 2.64 (4) | GAPG | 3.14 (18) |
| 25.0% (7) | PP% | 16.4% (24) |
| 80.7% (12) | PK% | 77.6% (21) |
| 49.30% (19) | EV Corsi % | 49.23% (21) |
| 103.1 (1) | EV PDO | 101.1 (9) |
| John Tavares, 14 | G Leader | Cam Atkinson, 13 |
| Mitch Marner, 22 | A Leader | Artemi Panarin, 17 |
| Mitch Marner,28 | P Leader | Artemi Panarin and Cam Atkinson, 22 |
| Zach Hyman and Nazem Kadri, 14 | PIM Leader | Pierre-Luc Dubois, 30 |
| 9-2-0 | Home / Road | 5-4-1 |
| 7-3-0 | Last 10 | 6-2-2 |
Projected Lineups
| Artemi Panarin | Pierre-Luc Dubois | Cam Atkinson |
| Nick Foligno | Boone Jenner | Josh Anderson |
| Brandon Dubinsky | Alexander Wennberg | Oliver BJORKSTRAND |
| Markus Hannikainen | Riley Nash | Anthony Duclair |
| Ryan Murray | Seth Jones |
| Markus Nutivaara | David Savard |
| Zach Werenski | Scott Harrington |
| Sergei Bobrovsky |
| Joonas Korpisalo |
| Zach Hyman | John Tavares | Mitch Marner |
| Patrick Marleau | Nazem Kadri | Kasperi Kapanen |
| Andreas Johnsson | Par Lindholm | Connor Brown |
| Tyler Ennis | Frederik Gauthier | Josh Leivo |
| Morgan Rielly | Ron Hainsey |
| Jake Gardiner | Nikita Zaitsev |
| Travis Dermott | Igor Ozhiganov |
| Frederik Andersen |
| Garret Sparks |