Game #5 Preview: Columbus Blue Jackets need to rock the Hurricanes

Saturday, October 12, 2019 — 7 p.m. EST
PNC Arena, Raleigh, North Carolina
TV: Fox Sports Ohio; Radio: 97.1 FM

Opponent’s Blog: Canes Country

Carolina Hurricanes (5-0-0, 1st Metro, 1st Eastern)

vs.

Columbus Blue Jackets (1-3-0, 7th Metro, 14th Eastern)

The Hurricanes are off to a historic start to their season — for the first time in franchise history, they’re 5-0-0 at the beginning of the season, one of four NHL teams able to claim that stat right now — and the Blue Jackets are off to a slow start, to say the least. Momentum is not in our favor as the teams meet tomorrow night in Raleigh, but the Jackets need only make some tweaks if they want to start producing offensively.

The Jackets had a sloppy loss last night to Anaheim that included lots of dinged posts and almost-goals — despite a strong showing on defense, the game was defined by the Jackets inability to finish on the chances they created. That’s not going to cut it against the fast-paced game the Hurricanes will create; at 38.0 shots per game, they’re second in the NHL in that regard.

Player(s) to Watch

Boone & Bjorky

Each are within reach of career milestones tonight — Oliver Bjorkstrand is two points away from 100 in his career, while Boone Jenner is one point away from 200. Those points would come in handy tonight, and would redeem Boone’s wacky shot from last night’s game… if you don’t know what I’m talking about, check Twitter. Or don’t. It wasn’t pretty.

Jackets Notes

Josh Anderson is still day-to-day, Joonas Korpisalo is looking more solid and sure by the game, and Pierre-Luc Dubois had a significant night last night, netting his first goal of the season and winning 7 of 11 face-offs. Again, the defense can look their best but the team won’t start winning regularly until they can figure out how to click offensively. There’s a Panarin-shaped hole in their offense; the team was used to having someone make up for messy passing and errant shots and turn them into offensive opportunities. All of the pieces are still there — the Jackets just need to figure out how to use them correctly.

The Other Bench

The Hurricanes average 4.2 goals per game to the Jackets’ 2.0, so matching Carolina’s pace will be necessary right off the bat — not something the Jackets are going to be able to decide to do in a final push in the third period — they’ll be way in the hole at that point. The Jackets will need to be on high-alert for Andrei Svechnikov, who is leading the team in points right now, as well as Teuvo Teravainen and former CBJ forward Ryan Dzingel.

Season Series

10/12/2019 CBJ @ CAR

10/24/2019 CAR @ CBJ

1/16/2020 CAR @ CBJ

4/3/2020 CBJ @ CAR

Stats

Projected Lineups