Game #40 Preview: Jackets welcome St. Louis Blues

Saturday, January 4, 2025 – 7:00 PM EST
Nationwide Arena – Columbus, OH
TV: FDSNOH, Radio 97.1 FM

St. Louis Blues (19-17-4, 42 points, 5th Central, 10th West)

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Columbus Blue Jackets (16-17-6, 38 points, 5th Metro, 10th East)

Tonight the Jackets square off for the first time against the St. Louis Blues, a team with a similar position in the standings but in the other conference. The Blues are coming off a 4-0 win last night and bring fan favorite Alex Texier with them.

Player to Watch

Zach Werenski

He’s always the player to watch. He leads the team in points, tied the record for most points through 39 games in franchise history, leads the league in avg TOI, and is third in the league in points per game among D. The guy has been fantastic this year.

Jackets Notes

Dean Evason would not commit to any lineup changes before the game tonight. Questions about changing from 11/7 have been met with the response “Maybe”. I think we’ll see them go 12/6 but no idea which defenseman will come out. We’ll also likely see new lines 2-4.

Portzline had a piece today talking about the lack of Tarasov we’ve seen, with a note that he refused the AHL conditioning stint due to injury concerns. Tarasov was injured during his last couple of trips to the AHL.

Chinakhov, Jenner, Danforth all skating today after the optional morning skate.

The Other Bench

It’s been a fairly exciting season in St. Louis thus far. In the offseason they made news when they signed offer sheets to two Oilers players, Holloway and Broberg, that Edmonton could not match. They hired Jim Montgomery less than a week after he was let go in Boston. They traded for long time Anaheim Duck Cam Fowler just before his 1000th NHL game played. Reports in December said the Blues are looking to trade former Jacket Brandon Saad after complaints about effort. And after all that, this team is in a similar standings position as Columbus and has an odd mix of a very old back end and some nice younger forwards. Texier has been scratched 3 times this year and has tallied 3-4-7, he will likely play today. Binnington has been a large part of the Blues success this year, but the Jackets will see the backup Hofer tonight.

Season Series

01/04/2025 STL @ CBJ
01/11/2025 CBJ @ STL

Stats

Projected Lineups

Columbus Blue Jackets

St. Louis Blues