Friday, December 27, 2024 – 7:00 PM EST
Nationwide Arena – Columbus, Ohio
TV: FDSNOH; Radio 97.1 FM
Boston Bruins (19-13-4, 42 points, 3rd Atlantic, 6th East)
at
Columbus Blue Jackets (14-15-6, 34 points, 5th Metro, 10th East)
Tonight is the first game in what the NHL should do more of: a home-and-home series. The Bruins are visiting Nationwide tonight, and then the Jackets will head to Boston after the game tonight. These games tend to get a little spicy, and to make matters even more interesting, former Blue Jacket Joonas Korpisalo will likely get one of the starts.
Sorry, I couldn’t resist the cover photo.
Player to Watch
Kirill Marchenko
Marchenko is currently riding a six-game points streak with 3-7-10 in those games. He has 13 goals and 37 total points in 35 games. He’s certainly taken his game to a new level this season and has developed chemistry with Monahan. Those two combined are dangerous nightly and elevate whoever is playing on the other wing.
Jackets Notes
Mateychuk and Pyyhtia have been recalled from Cleveland. It looks like Mateychuk will play his second NHL game tonight … Severson will draw back in after being a healthy scratch … It sounds like they may be going 11/7 again – hopefully, Chinakhov will be back soon.
The Other Bench
The Bruins didn’t have a great start to the season, but they’ve now won 11 of their last 16 games. On paper, this is a pretty even matchup, but the Bruins are on a bit of a hot streak.
David Pastrnak left the Bruins’ last game early with an upper-body injury. As of the publishing of this article, his status tonight is unknown.
Brad Marchand currently holds the longest points streak in the NHL at 10 games.
Season Series
11/18/2024 CBJ 5 @ MTL 1
12/27/2024 BOS @ CBJ
12/28/2024 CBJ @ BOS
Stats
| Boston | Columbus | |
| 2.64 (26) | GPG | 3.31 (9) |
| 3.03 (16) | GAPG | 3.63 (30) |
| 13.6 (31) | PP% | 19.1 (19) |
| 77.3 (23) | PK% | 74.0 (27) |
| 49.6 (16) | 5v5 Shot Attempt % | 49.3 (17) |
| 49.2 (21) | 5v5 Unblocked Shot Attempt % | 49.3 (20) |
| 8.4 (24) | 5v5 Shooting % | 10.1 (5) |
| 91.4 (14) | 5v5 Save % | 90.1 (26) |
| Brad Marchand, 15 | G Leader | Kirill Marchenko, 13 |
| David Pastrnak, 12 | A Leader | Marchenko & Werenski, 24 |
| David Pastrnak, 35 | P Leader | Kirill Marchenko, 37 |
| Nikita Zadorov, 67 | PIM Leader | Mathieu Olivier, 62 |
| 8-7-2 | Home/Road | 10-4-3 |
| 7-2-1 | Last 10 | 3-4-3 |
Projected Lineups
Columbus Blue Jackets
| Dmitri Voronkov | Sean Monahan | Kirill Marchenko |
| James van Riemsdyk | Adam Fantilli | Zach Aston-Reese |
| Mathieu Olivier | Cole Sillinger | Kent Johnson |
| Mikael Pyyhtia | Sean Kuraly |
| Zach Werenski | Dante Fabbro |
| Denton Mateychuk | Ivan Provorov |
| Jake Christiansen | Damon Severson |
| Jordan Harris |
| Elvis Merzlikins |
| Daniil Tarasov |
Boston Bruins
| Morgan Geekie | Pavel Zacha | David Pastrnak |
| Brad Marchand | Elias Lindholm | Charlie Coyle |
| Justin Brazeau | Trent Frederic | Oliver Wahlstrom |
| John Beecher | Mark Kastelic | Cole Koepke |
| Nikita Zadorov | Charlie McAvoy |
| Jordan Oesterle | Brandon Carlo |
| Mason Lohrei | Andrew Peeke |
| Jeremy Swayman |
| Joonas Korpisalo |