Saturday, December 8, 2018 – 7:00 EST
Nationwide Arena, Columbus, Ohio
TV: Fox Sports Ohio; Radio: 97.1 FM
Opponent’s Blog: Japers’ Rink
Columbus Blue Jackets (16-10-2, 34 points, 2nd Metro, 5th East)
vs.
Washington Capitals (16-9-3, 35 points, 1st Metro, 4th East)
Tonight is Part 2 of the rematch of last year’s playoff series. The Jackets drew first blood in a game a month ago in Washington. Can they guarantee at least a split of the season series? A win would also leap the Jackets over the Caps for first place in the Metro, where those two teams have separated themselves from the pack (5 points ahead of third place Pittsburgh).
Player to Watch
Zach Werenski
Late in Thursday’s OT win over Philadelphia, Werenski saw himself stapled to the bench, and Seth Jones partnered with Ryan Murray again. So it appears the battle to improve his defensive game continues. Will he remain paired with Jones tonight, or will he spend more time on the third pair?
Jackets Notes
In case you missed it, here is the recap of what went down in Thursday’s win…There are multiple health issues on the coaching staff, with assistant coach Brad Shaw hospitalized for an abdominal issue, and head coach John Tortorella fighting a flu…Cam Atkinson has an active 12 game point streak.
The Other Bench
The Capitals completed a west coast trip with a win at Arizona…Their loss at Vegas featured a late hit by Ryan Reaves on Tom Wilson that left Wilson with a concussion. I don’t wish that injury on anyone, but if Wilson remains out tonight it means one less scoring threat to stop AND less chance of a Jacket getting taken out with a dirty hit, like Wilson’s hit on Alexander Wennberg in the playoffs…Alex Ovechkin continues to be an incredible hockey player. His 21 goals is twice as many as his nearest teammate. He recently became the fastest NHL player to 5000 career shots.
Season Series
11/09/2018 CBJ 2 @ WSH 1
12/08/2018 WSH @ CBJ
01/12/2019 CBJ @ WSH
02/12/2019 WSH @ CBJ
Stats
| Washington | Columbus | |
|---|---|---|
| 3.61 (4) | GPG | 3.57 (5) |
| 3.18 (21) | GAPG | 3.36 (25) |
| 26.1% (7) | PP% | 16.3% (24) |
| 76.7% (25) | PK% | 77.6% (20) |
| 47.89% (22) | EV Corsi % | 49.28% (20) |
| 102.4 (2) | EV PDO | 100.9 (10) |
| Alex Ovechkin, 21 | G Leader | Cam Atkinson, 19 |
| John Carlson and Nicklas Backstrom, 24 | A Leader | Artemi Panarin, 24 |
| Nicklas Backstrom and Alex Ovechkin, 34 | P Leader | Artemi Panarin and Cam Atkinson, 31 |
| Evgeny Kuznetsov, 26 | PIM Leader | Pierre-Luc Dubois, 36 |
| 8-5-1 | Home / Road | 7-5-1 |
| 8-2-0 | Last 10 | 6-4-0 |
Projected Lineups
| Artemi Panarin | Pierre-Luc Dubois | Cam Atkinson |
| Nick Foligno | Boone Jenner | Josh Anderson |
| Brandon Dubinsky | Alexander Wennberg | Oliver BJORKSTRAND |
| Lukas Sedlak | Riley Nash | Markus Hannikainen |
| Zack Werenski | Seth Jones |
| Ryan Murray | Markus Nutivaara |
| Scott Harrington | David Savard |
| Sergei Bobrovsky |
| Joonas Korpisalo |
| Alex Ovechkin | Nicklas Backstrom | Andre Burakovsky |
| Jakub Vrana | Evgeny Kuznetsov | Brett Connolly |
| Chandler Stephenson | Lars Eller | Devante Smith-Pelly |
| Dmitrij Jaskin | Nic Dowd | Travis Boyd |
| Michael Kempny | John Carlson |
| Dmitri Orlov | Matt Niskanen |
| Jonas Siegenthaler | Christian Djoos |
| Braden Holtby |
| Pheonix Copley |