Monday, August 17, 2020 – 3:00 EST
Scotiabank Arena – Toronto, Ontario
TV: Fox Sports Ohio & NBCSN; Radio: 97.1 FM
Opponent’s Blog: Raw Charge
#2 Tampa Bay Lightning vs. #7 Columbus Blue Jackets
On Saturday night, in their eight game in 14 days, the Blue Jackets finally showed signs of fatigue and got heavily outplayed for the final 48 minutes of the game. The good news? They still scored twice and only lost by one goal. They need to play much, much better today but the series so far has proven that they can hang with the Lightning. This series is far from over, but a tied series helps mentally more than a 3-1 deficit would.
Player to Watch
Eric Robinson
The speedy young winger scored his first career playoff goal on Saturday. He was one of the few Blue Jackets who still had their legs. He got more work in the third period as reward; will this promotion carry over to today’s game? Further scoring from the depth forwards will take a lot of pressure off the top line forwards.
Jackets Notes
The Jackets did not practice yesterday. Obviously they could use the rest … No word yet on the status of forward Cam Atkinson, still listed as “unfit to play” … Aaron Portzline of The Athletic reported that the injury to goaltender Elvis Merzlikins is a groin injury. He is out indefinitely. Veini Vehvilainen has traveled to Toronto to serve as the third goalie.
The Other Bench
Rookie Carter Verhaeghe made his playoff debut on Saturday, and scored his first playoff point. It was a primary assist on Victor Hedman’s game-winning goal. That should be enough to keep him in the lineup.
Season Series
02/10/20 TBL 2 @ CBJ 1 (OT)
08/11/2020 CBJ 2 vs. TBL 3 (5OT)
08/13/2020 CBJ 3 vs. TBL 1
08/15/2020 TBL 3 vs. CBJ 2
08/17/2020 TBL vs. CBJ
08/19/2020 CBJ vs. TBL
08/21/2020 TBL vs. CBJ (if necessary)
08/22/2020 CBJ vs. TBL (if necessary)
Playoff Stats
Tampa Bay | Columbus | |
---|---|---|
2.17(16) | GPG | 2.38 (14) |
2.50 (9) | GAPG | 2.13 (6) |
16.7% (11) | PP% | 7.7% (22) |
87.0% (7) | PK% | 90.0% (4) |
61.4% (1) | 5v5 Shot Attempt % | 42.1% (23) |
60.3% (2) | 5v5 Unblocked shot attempt % | 43.0% (21) |
5.4 (15) | 5v5 Shot % | 6.9 (12) |
.931 (10) | 5v5 Save % | .966 (1) |
Brayden Point, 4 | G Leader | Pierre-Luc Dubois, 4 |
Nikita Kucherov, 4 | A Leader | Pierre-Luc Dubois, Alexandre Texier, 4 |
Brayden Point, 7 | P Leader | Pierre-Luc Dubois, 8 |
Blake Coleman, 13 | PIM Leader | Nick Foligno, 10 |
Projected Lineups
Alexandre Texier | Pierre-Luc Dubois | Oliver BJORKSTRAND |
Nick Foligno | Boone Jenner | Liam Foudy |
Gustav Nyquist | Riley Nash | Alexander Wennberg |
Eric Robinson | Devin Shore | Emil Bemstrom |
Zach Werenski | Seth Jones |
Vladislav Gavrikov | David Savard |
Ryan Murray | Dean Kukan |
Joonas Korpisalo |
Matiss Kivlenieks |
Nikita Kuherov | Brayden Point | Ondrej Palat |
Blake Coleman | Yanni Gourde | Barclay Goodrow |
Alex Killorn | Anthony Cirelli | Tyler Johnson |
Patrick Maroon | Cedric Paquette | Carter Verhaeghe |
Ryan McDonagh | Erik Cernak |
Victor Hedman | Zach Bogosian |
Mikhail Sergachev | Kevin Shattenkirk |
Andrei Vasilevskiy |
Curtis McElhinney |