Sunday, December 8, 2024 – 6:00 PM EST
Canada Life Centre – Winnipeg
TV: FanDuel Sports Network Ohio; Radio: 97.1FM
Columbus Blue Jackets (11-12-3, 25 points, 8th Metro, 13th East)
at
Winnipeg Jets 20-8-0, 40 points, 2nd Central, 2nd West)
Coming off a loss in Edmonton Dean Evason switched up each forward line in Vancouver to immediate success. Ultimately poor special teams and goal tending sank the Jackets against the Canucks, will we see the same line combinations tonight?
Player to Watch
Columbus Starting Goalie
Whether it is Elvis or Daniil, the two most recent starts for the Columbus net minders have not gone well. Certainly some of that is the penalty kill, but Winnipeg is a good team and whichever goalie is in net will need to rebound to give the Jackets a chance.
The Other Bench
The first meeting between these two teams did not go well at all for the Jackets. Winnipeg was in the midst of the best start to a season in NHL history and that wagon rolled through Columbus. Since then Winnipeg has cooled off but is still playing good hockey. They play with good structure and are rolling with high level goal tending and a top 5 power play. Even if the Jackets hadn’t given up a PP goal in 12 straight games, it would be a note to avoid taking penalties in this match. The Jets played Chicago last night, we may see Comrie in net, the Jackets need to jump on them early.
Season Series
11/1/2024 WPG 6 @ CBJ 2
12/08/2024 CBJ @ WPG
Stats
| Winnipeg | Columbus | |
| 3.64 (5) | GPG | 3.38 (8) |
| 2.54 (2) | GAPG | 3.65 (30) |
| 29.3% (3) | PP% | 16.4% (28) |
| 79.2% (18) | PK% | 71.4% (29) |
| 49.61% (19) | 5v5 Shot Attempt % | 51.52% (11) |
| 49.74% (18) | 5v5 Unblocked Shot Attempt % | 51.9% (9) |
| 8.47% (19) | 5v5 Shooting % | 10.13% (5) |
| .929 (6) | 5v5 Save % | .895 (28) |
| Scheifele & Connor, 14 | G Leader | Kirill Marchenko, 10 |
| Josh Morrissey, 23 | A Leader | Zach Werenski, 19 |
| Kyle Connor, 32 | P Leader | Zach Werenski, 27 |
| Logan Stanley, 36 | PIM Leader | Matthieu Olivier, 47 |
| 9-2-0 | Home/Road | 3-9-2 |
| 5-4-1 | Last 10 | 5-5-0 |
Projected Lineups
Columbus Blue Jackets
| James Van Riemsdyk | Sean Monahan | Kent Johnson |
| Dmitri Voronkov | Adam Fantilli | Kirill Marchenko |
| Zach Aston-Reese | Cole Sillinger | Mathieu Olivier |
| Sean Kuraly | Justin Danforth | Kevin Labanc |
| Zach Werenski | Dante Fabbro |
| Damon Severson | Ivan Provorov |
| Jake Christiansen | Jordan Harris |
| Elvis Merzlikins |
| Daniil Tarasov |
Winnipeg Jets
| Kyle Connor | Mark Scheifele | Gabriel Vilardi |
| Vlad Namestnikov | Brad Lambert | Cole Perfeti |
| Nino Neiderreiter | Adam Lowry | Mason Appleton |
| Morgan Barron | Rasmus Kapari | Alex Iafallo |
| Josh Morrisey | Dylan DeMelo |
| Haydn Fleury | Neal Pionk |
| Logan Stanley | Ville Heinola |
| Eric Comrie |
| Connor Hellebuyck |