Thursday, December 12, 2019 – 7:00 EST
PPG Paints Arena, Pittsburgh, PA
TV: ESPN+, Fox Sports Ohio; Radio: 97.1 FM
Opponent’s Blog: Pensburgh
Columbus Blue Jackets (12-14-4, 28 points, 7th Metro, 13th East)
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Pittsburgh Penguins (17-9-4, 38 points, 5th Metro, 6th East)
The Blue Jackets have split the first two games of the season series with the Penguins, most recently winning 5-2 on Black Friday behind Gustav Nyquist’s second career hat trick. Columbus is also coming off a 5-2 win in their last outing against the league-best Capitals on Monday night. That game saw Cam Atkinson score twice for his first multi-goal game, and just his second multi-point game this season. He now has three goals in his last three games following a sluggish start offensively.
Pittsburgh has done its part to stay towards the upper echelon of the Metro division, but they saw their three-game win streak end with a 4-1 loss to the Canadiens on Tuesday.
Player to Watch
Pierre-Luc Dubois is tied for second among points with 18, and leads the club with 10 goals, but he’ll enter tonight without a goal in his last eight games. Over that span, he has just one assist, which came Nov. 29 against Pittsburgh. In 10 career games, Dubois has seven points (one goal, six assists).
Jackets Notes
As you can see, Joonas Korpisalo had himself quite the night in Monday’s win against the Capitals.
After review, Joonas Korpisalo was credited with an assist on Cam Atkinson’s 3rd period empty net goal in #CBJ‘s 5-2 win over the Capitals last night. The assist is the first of Korpisalo’s #NHL career.
GAME SHEET: https://t.co/TnCTqmLowC
— CBJ Public Relations (@BlueJacketsPR) December 10, 2019
Korpisalo made 37 saves in the win tonight, his second-highest save total this season (10/26 at PHI, 39). The win is his 6th since Nov. 15 (9 GP), which is 2nd-T in the NHL. He now has a 2-0-0 record with a 1.47 GAA and a .954 SV% in three career games vs. Washington.
— CBJ Public Relations (@BlueJacketsPR) December 10, 2019
… As BlueJackets.com Insider Jeff Svoboda wrote Wednesday, John Tortorella aims to develop Alexandre Texier into playing center; “I think we need to start developing him right away as a center because I think that’s what he’s going to be.” … What does that mean for Alexander Wennberg? That’s pretty clear and Tortorella didn’t mince words Monday, prior to the game against the Caps, in which Wennberg had an assist:
#CBJ Alexander Wennberg is back in the lineup vs. #ALLCAPS, but only because of an injury to Emil Bemstrom. He’s lost his spot at center. Coach John Tortorella is clearly fed up with Wennberg, who hasn’t scored (0-4-4) in his last 19 games. This is Tortorella from this morning: pic.twitter.com/ieQI0lR8oU
— Aaron Portzline (@Aportzline) December 9, 2019
The Blue Jackets are 0-5-3 in their last eight visits to Pittsburgh. … Seth Jones is one game away from playing 300 career with the Blue Jackets, and is two away from 500 games played overall. … Sonny Milano is two games away from 100 career games played. … Emil Bemstrom is going to be out 6-8 weeks with a dislocated rib and broken cartilage suffered on Saturday in the game at the Panthers … On behalf of all of us at The Cannon, we send best wishes to Jody Shelley who is recovering from appendicitis.
Speedy recovery to @shelleyhawk45, who did not travel with the team to Pittsburgh and will miss the next two broadcasts on Fox Sports Ohio due to appendicitis.
— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) December 12, 2019
… But with that comes the surprising and happy temporary return of Bill Davidge!
In the booth for the next two games @jrimercbj will be joined by @JLGP34; @bdavidge99 will fill in on #CBJ pregame and postgame shows. @FOXSportsCbus
— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) December 12, 2019
The Other Bench
Head coach Mike Sullivan said Tuesday that Sidney Crosby is “doing great” as he recovers following sports hernia surgery last month. … There is no timetable for the return of the Penguins captain, who has 17 points (five goals, 12 assists) on the season. … Nick Bjugstad (undisclosed), Brian Dumoulin (lower body), and Patric Hornqvist (knee) are all currently out. … Tristan Jarry is 12-10-7, .938 SV%, 1.92 GAA. … Matt Murray is 10-5-4, .897 SV%, 2.85 GAA. … Jake Guentzel is the leading scorer (32 points), (17 goals), and second on the team with 15 assists behind Evgeni Malkin’s 19. … No one else on the Penguins has reached double-digit goals. … In spite of this, the Penguins are still a lethal scoring team (7th, 3.32 GF/GP) and have 14 different players with at least 10 points. … Conversely the Penguins do a good job defensively in keeping the puck out of the net (10th, 2.74 GA/GP). … Jack Johnson (4—1-3) is somehow a +8, and is one game away from 900 career games played.
Season Series
10/5/2019 CBJ 2 @ PIT 7
11/29/2019 PIT 2 @ CBJ 5
12/12/2019 CBJ @ PIT
03/12/2020 PIT @ CBJ
Stats Preview
Pittsburgh | Columbus | |
---|---|---|
3.32 (7) | GPG | 2.53 (28) |
2.74 (8) | GAPG | 3.07 (19) |
15.9% (24) | PP% | 18.2% (18) |
81.0% (15) | PK% | 80.0% (17) |
53.72% (2) | 5v5 Corsi % | 50.76% (12) |
54.71% (1) | 5v5 Fenwick % | 52.67% (6) |
8.7 (9) | 5v5 Shot % | 6.5 (29) |
.921 (11) | 5v5 Save % | .919 (14) |
Jake Guentzel, 17 |
G Leader | Pierre-Luc Dubois, 10 |
Evgeni Malkin, 19 |
A Leader | Seth Jones, 13 |
Jake Guentzel, 32 |
P Leader | Gustav Nyquist, 19 |
Teddy Blueger, Patric Hornqvist, 17 |
PIM Leader | Nick Foligno, 26 |
12-4-2 | Home / Road | 4-6-3 |
6-3-1 | Last 10 | 4-6-0 |
Projected Lineups
Columbus Blue Jackets
Sonny Milano | Pierre-Luc Dubois | Oliver Bjorkstrand |
Nick Foligno |
Boone Jenner | Josh Anderson |
Gustav Nyquist | Alexandre Texier | Cam Atkinson |
Alexander Wennberg | Riley Nash |
Eric Robinson |
Dean Kukan | Seth Jones |
Ryan Murray | David Savard |
Vladislav Gavrikov | Andrew Peeke |
Joonas Korpisalo |
Elvis Merzlikins |
Pittsburgh Penguins
Jake Guentzel | Evgeni Malkin | Bryan Rust |
Dominik Kahun | Jared McCann | Zach Aston-Reese |
Alex Galchenyuk | Teddy Blueger | Brandon Tanev |
Dominik Simon | Sam Lafferty | Stefan Noesen |
Kris Letang | John Marino |
Jack Johnson | Justin Schultz |
Marcus Pettersson | Chad Ruhwedel |
Tristan Jarry |
Matt Murray |