Game #40 Preview: Blue Jackets head south to face the Hurricanes
Kicking off a challenging January schedule
Friday, January 4, 2018 - 7:30 EST
PNC Arena, Raleigh, NC
TV: Fox Sports Ohio; Radio: 97.1 FM
Opponent’s Blog: Canes Country
Columbus Blue Jackets (23-13-3, 49 points, 3rd Metro, 7th East)
at
Carolina Hurricanes (17-17-5, 39 points, 6th Metro, 12th East)
The Jackets kick off their new year with a southern road trip, starting tonight in Raleigh. It seems like this series is always close and hard-fought, and the stats bear that out. Columbus holds a 17-16-3 record all-time against the Hurricanes, with an average score of 2.64-2.47 in favor of Columbus.
Player to Watch
Curtis McElhinney
Our old friend “McBackup” has had a surprisingly good season since being claimed by the Hurricanes. On the season, he has an 8-5-0 record with a .924 save percentage and a GAA of 2.22.
#CMac4Vezina
Jackets Notes
Seth Jones and Cam Atkinson will head to San Jose later this month to represent Columbus in the All Star Game ... The NHL is introducing a “Last Man In” vote for the final spot on each All Star Game roster, and you can vote for Nick Foligno here ... Why is it Foligno and not Artemi Panarin or Pierre-Luc Dubois? ... Speaking of the Captain, he is still away from the team as his daughter Milana recovers from surgery. There is no timetable yet for his return, but Coach John Tortorella is in daily contact with Fligs and assured the media yesterday that everything is going as planned ... Zac Dalpe will represent the Cleveland Monsters in the AHL All Star Game. The former Buckeye has 14 goals and 13 assists through 28 games this season.
The Other Bench
The host team is on the second leg of a back-to-back after a 5-3 win in Philadelphia last night. Teuvo Teravainen led the way with two goals and an assist and Petr Mrazek stopped 33 shots against his former team ... Carolina’s representative to the All Star Game is Sebastian Aho. I’ve always found the young Finn to be a fun player to watch, and he leads his team this season in goals, assists, and points for a 15/26/41 line through 39 games ... As in recent seasons, these Canes are strong defensively and have a great Corsi. Their goaltending is slightly better than in previous years, but what has been their Achilles’ Heel this season is shooting. They are shooting a worst-in-the-league 5.6% at even strength. In contrast, the Jackets are tied for fourth at 9.5%.
Season Series
10/05/2018 CAR 3 @ CBJ 1
11/17/2018 CBJ 4 @ CAR 1
01/04/2019 CBJ @ CAR
03/15/2019 CAR @ CBJ
Stats
| Carolina | Columbus | |
|---|---|---|
| 2.51 (28) | GPG | 3.31 (9) |
| 2.82 (6) | GAPG | 3.03 (18) |
| 15.4% (25) | PP% | 13.2% (30) |
| 80.3% (13) | PK% | 79.8% (15) |
| 55.90% (1) | EV Corsi % | 49.76% (15) |
| 97.5 (30) | EV PDO | 101.0 (16) |
| Sebastian Aho, 15 | G Leader | Cam Atkinson, 24 |
| Sebastian Aho, 26 | A Leader | Artemi Panarin, 31 |
| Sebastian Aho, 41 | P Leader | Artemi Panarin, 43 |
| Andrei Svechnikov, 34 | PIM Leader | Pierre-Luc Dubois, 40 |
| 10-7-4 | Home / Road | 12-5-1 |
| 4-5-1 | Last 10 | 7-2-1 |
Projected Lineups
| Artemi Panarin | Pierre-Luc Dubois | Cam Atkinson |
| Anthony Duclair | Alexander Wennberg | Josh Anderson |
| Markus Hannikainen | Boone Jenner | Oliver BJORKSTRAND |
| Lukas Sedlak | Brandon Dubinsky | Riley Nash |
| Zach Werenski | Seth Jones |
| Ryan Murray | Markus Nutivaara |
| Hott Scarrington | David Savard |
| Sergei Bobrovsky |
| Joonas Korpisalo |
| Brock McGinn | Sebastian Aho | Teuvo Teravainen |
| Jordan Martinook | Lucas Wallmark | Justin Williams |
| Andrei Svechnikov | Victor Rask | Micheal Ferland |
| Warren Foegele | Clark Bishop | Saku Maenalanen |
| Jaccob Slavin | Brett Pesce |
| Calvin DeHaan | Justin Faulk |
| Trevor Van Riemsdyk | Dougie Hamilton |
| Curtis McElhinney |
| Petr Mrazek |