Saturday, January 14, 2023 7:00PM ET
Little Caesars Arena – Detroit, Michigan
TV: Bally Sports Ohio – Radio: 105.7 FM
Opponent’s Blog: Winging It In Motown
Columbus Blue Jackets (12-27-2, 26 points, 8th Metropolitan, 16th East)
at
Detroit Red Wings (18-15-7, 43 points, 4th Atlantic, 10th East)
It’s hard to be optimistic these days. The Red Wings won the last two meetings between these two teams by a combined seven goals. To make matters worse, the Jackets have only 2 wins out of 17 road tries this season. However, there is a possibility a few old faces could reinforce the Jackets tonight.
The first game of the second half of the season finds the Blue Jackets in last place in the NHL. Stop the count!
Player(s) to Watch
Johnny Gaudreau & Dylan Larkin
While Detroit has certainly had more success than Columbus this season, and therefore more players have more points comparatively, tonight’s matchup is largely the Gaudreau and Larkin show. Both players lead their team in goals, assists, and points.
Larkin loves to play the Blue Jackets. In 24 career games, he has 6-17-23 against Columbus. But Gaudreau has had even more success against Detroit in his career. He’s 5-15-20 in 15 games.
Jackets Notes
Jenner and Robinson both returned to practice on Friday. It’s unclear if either of them will suit up tonight. As a result, the lineup is a total guess.
Merzlikins also returned to practice on Friday … Fix-Wolansky and Greaves were both sent back to Cleveland.
The Other Bench
The Red Wings may only be 5-4-1 in their last 10, but they are coming off of two impressive wins, beating both the Jets and Maples Leafs by a combined score of 11-6. While they likely aren’t a playoff team this season, they have been showing progress season-to-season since bottoming out in 2019-20. They are on pace to break .500 for the first time since the 2015-16 season.
Season Series
11/19/22 – DET 6 @ CBJ 1
12/4/22 – DET 4 @ CBJ 2
1/14/23 – CBJ @ DET
Stats
| Detroit | Columbus | |
|---|---|---|
| 3.10 (20) | GPG | 2.54 (30) |
| 3.33 (20) | GAPG | 3.98 (31) |
| 20.6% (21) | PP% | 15.4% (31) |
| 75.6% (20) | PK% | 75.7% (19) |
| 46.0% (27) | 5v5 Shot Attempt % | 45.3% (29) |
| 46.5% (27) | 5v5 Unblocked shot attempt % | 45.1% (29) |
| 9.0% (6) | 5v5 Shooting % | 7.7% (27) |
| .915 (19) | 5v5 Save % | .903 (30) |
| Dylan Larkin, 14 | G Leader | Johnny Gaudreau, 12 |
| Dylan Larkin, 23 | A Leader | Johnny Gaudreau, 27 |
| Dylan Larkin, 37 | P Leader | Johnny Gaudreau, 39 |
| Ben Chiarot, 33 | PIM Leader | Mathieu Olivier, 49 |
| 11-8-3 | Home / Road | 2-14-1 |
| 5-4-1 | Last 10 | 2-8-0 |
Projected Lineups
| Eric Robinson | Sean Kuraly | Mathieu Olivier |
| Gus Nyquist | Jack Roslovic | Patrik Laine |
| Emil Bemstrom | Kent Johnson | Johnny Gaudreau |
| Kirill Marchenko | Cole Sillinger | Liam Foudy |
| Tim Berni | Erik Gudbranson |
| Vladislav Gavrikov | Andrew Peeke |
| Gavin Bayreuther | Marcus Bjork |
| Elvis Merzlikins |
| Joonas Korpisalo |
| Tyler Bertuzzi | Dylan Larkin | Lucas Raymond |
| David Perron | Michael Rasmussen | Dominik Kubalik |
| Robby Fabbri | Andrew Copp | Jonatan Berggren |
| Adam Erne | Joe Veleno | Oskar Sundqvist |
| Moritz Seider | Jake Walman |
| Filip Hronek | Ben Chiarot |
| Olli Maatta | Jordan Oesterle |
| Ville Husso |
| Magnus Hellberg |