Columbus Blue Jackets at Edmonton Oilers
Thursday, December 16, 2021 – 9:00 PM EST
Rogers Place, Edmonton, Alberta
TV: Bally Sports Ohio – Radio: 97.1 FM
Opponent’s Blog: Copper and Blue
Columbus Blue Jackets (14-11-1, 29 points, 5th Metro, 10th East)
@
Edmonton Oilers (16-11-0, 32 points, 4th Pacific, 8th West)
The Blue Jackets are coming off a frustrating loss against the Canucks where they blew another three goal lead. Now they head to Edmonton to take on the two leading scorers in the NHL. This feels like a bad matchup for the Blue Jackets defensively, but the Oilers do give up a decent numbers of goals the other way. They have also lost their last six games in regulation. The key will be to staying out of the box. The Oilers lead the league in power play percentage at 30.9 — McDavid and Draisaitl have already combined for 18 power play goals this season.
One piece of housekeeping — Saturday’s game against Calgary has been postponed due to a COVID outbreak in the Flames’ locker room. The Jackets will head home after tonight’s game before flying to Buffalo for Monday’s game against the Sabres.
Player(s) to Watch
McDavid & Draisaitl
These two are scoring at an incredible pace. Both have 45 points in 27 games — a 137 point pace. Draisaitl is hunting down Ovechkin’s salary cap era record of 65 goals set in 2007-2008. McDavid continues to be an ankle breaker and a highlight reel machine.
Blue Jackets Notes
Your guess is as good as mine on what lineup changes, if any, could happen prior to tonight. Brad Larsen didn’t want to make any changes after the team barely held on and gutted out an OT win against Seattle. After the terrible loss in Vancouver, I would expect someone to come out. That could be a veteran and/or someone like Hofmann or Danforth. Laine is also on the verge of returning to the lineup.
Season Series
12/16/21 – CBJ @ EDM
4/24/22 – EDM @ CBJ
Stats
| Edmonton | Columbus | |
|---|---|---|
| 3.30 (7) | GPG | 3.22 (9) |
| 3.15 (21) | GAPG | 3.30 (25) |
| 30.9% (1) | PP% | 19.4% (15) |
| 82.1% (11) | PK% | 80.0% (17) |
| 50.4% (17) | 5v5 Shot Attempt % | 48.3% (24) |
| 49.0% (19) | 5v5 Unblocked shot attempt % | 47.3% (25) |
| 7.8% (16) | 5v5 Shooting % | 9.0% (5) |
| .911 (27) | 5v5 Save % | .912 (26) |
| Leon Draisaitl, 23 | G Leader | Boone Jenner, 11 |
| Connor McDavid, 29 | A Leader | Jakub Voracek, 21 |
| Draisaitl & McDavid, 45 | P Leader | Oliver Bjorkstrand, 23 |
| Zach Kassian, 31 | PIM Leader | Sillinger & Peeke, 19 |
| 9-6-0 | Home / Road | 5-9-0 |
| 3-7-0 | Last 10 | 3-6-1 |
Projected Lineups
| Max Domi | Jack Roslovic | Jakub Voracek |
| Gus Nyquist | Cole Sillinger | Justin Danforth |
| Gregory Hofmann | Boone Jenner | Oliver Bjorkstrand |
| Eric Robinson | Sean Kuraly | Alexandre Texier |
| Zach Werenski | Jake Bean |
| Vladislav Gavrikov | Andrew Peeke |
| Gabriel Carlsson | Gavin Bayreuther |
| Elvis Merzlikins |
| Joonas Korpisalo |
| Ryan Nugent-Hopkins | Leon Draisaitl | Kailer Yamamoto |
| Warren Foegele | Connor McDavid | Jesse Puljujarvi |
| Colton Sceviour | Derek Ryan | Zack Kassian |
| Tyler Benson | Devin Shore | Kyle Turris |
| Cody Ceci | Duncan Keith |
| Evan Bouchard | Darnell Nurse |
| Tyson Barrie | Markus Niemelainen |
| Mikko Koskinen |
| Stuart Skinner |