Game #44 Preview: Columbus Blue Jackets at Washington Capitals
Here’s what you need to know.
Columbus Blue Jackets at Washington Capitals
Saturday, January 12, 2019 - 7:00 EST
Capital One Arena, Washington D.C.
TV: Fox Sports Ohio - Radio: WBNS FM
Opponent’s Blog: Japers’ Rink
Columbus Blue Jackets, 25-15-3, 53 points, 3rd Metro, 6th East
@
Washington Capitals, 27-12-4, 58 points, 1st Metro, 3rd East
On the heels of Thursday’s ... eventful win over the Nashville Predators that was played under the cloud of Sergei Bobrovsky’s not-a-suspension suspension from the team stemming from an “incident”, the Columbus Blue Jackets travel to the nation’s capital to take on the defending Stanley Cup Champion Washington Capitals. This will be the third matchup between the two clubs this season, with the two teams splitting the first two games in the series. Washington, leading the Metro, will be looking to put distance between themselves and challengers, while Columbus will look to take two points from their division leader and beat their second division leader of the week.
Ryan Murray is sick and did not travel to Washington with the team.
In Jackets team news:
#CBJ Sergei Bobrovsky will travel with club to Washington. No word yet on who is starting vs. #Caps
— Aaron Portzline (@Aportzline) January 11, 2019
Kekalainen would not comment when asked if Bobrovsky has been asked to waive his no-move clause. #CBJ
— Aaron Portzline (@Aportzline) January 11, 2019
Jarmo said the meeting with Bobrovsky this morning was with him & the whole team, then became players only meeting. #CBJ
— Brian Hedger (@BrianHedger) January 11, 2019
Player to Watch
Sergei Bobrovsky
After Thursday’s drama, how can you not watch him? He may not play in tonight’s game, but his play and situation bears watching from now until his time in Columbus comes to an end, whenever it does. After his incident in Tampa Bay, if Bobrovsky does play, it will be interesting to watch for his response in net, as well as the team’s response around him. Will they circle the wagons and protect their netminder? Or are they frustrated with whatever antics occurred?
Stay tuned, Jackets fans. This may only just be getting started.
Jackets Notes
John Tortorella won his 600th career game as head coach on Thursday night, 154th with Columbus ... Panarin’s first power play goal on Thursday snapped an 0-25 streak that lasted for 11 games ... Thursday was the fourth game of the season with multiple power play goals, and first since November 9 ... Boone Jenner scored his first goal since December 6 ... Zach Werenski has 4-5-9 over his last nine games ... Columbus is 5-2-1 in overtime this season
The Other Bench
The Capitals are 14-6-2 on the road this season, 9-2-1 against Eastern Conference opponents ... TJ Oshie left the Capitals game on Thursday night to enter concussion protocol ... Dmitry Orlov also was sent off for a concussion evaluation ... Since his return from suspension this season, Tom Wilson has 13 goals
Season Series
11/09/2018 CBJ 2 @ WSH 1
12/08/2018 WSH 4 @ CBJ 0
01/12/2019 CBJ @ WSH
02/12/2019 WSH @ CBJ
Stats
| Washington | Columbus | |
|---|---|---|
| 3.49 (6) | GPG | 3.23 (9) |
| 2.91 (16) | GAPG | 3.07 (19) |
| 21.2% (13) | PP% | 14.2% (29) |
| 78.1% (24) | PK% | 80.9% (11) |
| 48.19% (24) | EV Corsi % | 49.72% (17) |
| 1.036 (1) | EV PDO | 1.002 (9) |
| Alex Ovechkin, 32 | G Leader | Cam Atkinson, 24 |
| John Carlson, 35 | A Leader | Artemi Panarin, 32 |
| Alex Ovechkin, 49 | P Leader | Artemi Panarin, 47 |
| Tom Wilson, 39 | PIM Leader | Pierre-Luc Dubois, 40 |
| 13-6-2 | Home / Road | 13-7-1 |
| 7-2-1 | Last 10 | 7-3-0 |
Projected Lineups
| Artemi Panarin | Pierre-Luc Dubois | Cam Atkinson |
| Anthony Duclair | Alexander Wennberg | Oliver Bjorkstrand |
| Nick Foligno | Boone Jenner | Josh Anderson |
| Eric Robinson | Lukas Sedlak | Riley Nash |
| Zach Werenski | Seth Jones |
| David Savard | Markus Nutivaara |
| Dean Kukan | David Savard |
| Sergei Bobrovsky |
| Joonas Korpisalo |
| Alex Ovechkin | Evgeny Kuznetsov | Tom Wilson |
| Jakub Vrana | Nicklas Backstrom | TJ Oshie |
| Brett Connolly | Lars Eller | Travis Boyd |
| Chandler Stephenson | Nic Dowd | Devante Smith-Pelly |
| Michal Kempny | John Carlson |
| Dmitry Orlov | Matt Niskanen |
| Brooks Orpik | Jonas Siegenthaler |
| Braden Holtby |
| Pheonix Copley |