Columbus Blue Jackets at San Jose Sharks
Saturday, February 17, 2024 – 10:30 PM ET
SAP Center at San Jose, San Jose, CA
TV: Bally’s Sports Ohio – Radio: 97.1 FM
Opponent’s blog: Fear the Fin
Columbus Blue Jackets, 16-26-10, 42 points, 8th Metro, 16th East
@
San Jose Sharks, 15-33-5, 35 points, 8th Pacific, 16th West
It’s the battle of the bottom of the conferences tonight in San Jose. Unlike the Blue Jackets, the Sharks are coming off a win and are 5-3-2 in their last 10 games. This would be a great game to get the ship headed in the right direction, but jet lag and a history of bad losses this season say nothing is for certain. It doesn’t help that the Sharks are a significantly better team at home.
Player(s) to Watch
The Troika
The Russian line is back. Chinakhov returns to the lineup after missing the Ottawa game, and Vincent has decided it’s time to reunite the Troika line. Voronkov has two goals in his last three games, and Marchenko could use a jump start to get back to his goal-scoring ways.
Jackets Notes
There is no shortage of news in Blue Jackets land, but all is quiet on the morning of February 17th. There are more questions than answers. How far along is the GM search? Will a new GM be in place before the deadline? Who starts in goal tonight? Will the players respond on the ice to Jarmo’s firing?
The Other Bench
Tomas Hertl is week-to-week after having minor knee surgery. That’s a big loss for the Sharks and a disappointing setback for San Jose’s leading scorer.
Season Series
2/17/24 – CBJ @ SJS
3/16/24 – SJS @ CBJ
Stats
| San Jose | Columbus | |
| 2.11 (31) | GPG | 2.90 (24) |
| 3.75 (32) | GAPG | 3.71 (31) |
| 17.2 (23) | PP% | 14.7 (27) |
| 74.1 (30) | PK% | 76.2 (26) |
| 43.09 (32) | 5v5 Shot Attempt % | 47.89 (23) |
| 42.90 (32) | 5v5 Unblocked Shot Attempt % | 48.25 (23) |
| 6.89 (32) | 5v5 Shooting % | 9.29 (7) |
| 90.93 (20) | 5v5 Save % | 90.77 (23) |
| Tomas Hertl, 15 | G Leader | Boone Jenner, 16 |
| Mikael Granlund, 24 | A Leader | Zach Werenski, 29 |
| Tomas Hertl, 34 | P Leader | Johnny Gaudreau, 35 |
| Luke Kunin, 53 | PIM Leader | Erik Gudbranson, 55 |
| 9-13-2 | Home/Road | 7-12-6 |
| 5-3-2 | Last 10 | 3-6-1 |
Projected Lines
Columbus Blue Jackets
| Johnny Gaudreau | Boone Jenner | Jack Roslovic |
| Yegor Chinakhov | Dmitri Voronkov | Kirill Marchenko |
| Kent Johnson | Cole Sillinger | Emil Bemstrom |
| Alexandre Texier | Sean Kuraly | Mathieu Olivier |
| Zach Werenski | Adam Boqvist |
| Ivan Provorov | Damon Severson |
| Jake Bean | Erik Gudbranson |
| Elvis Merzlikins |
| Daniil Tarasov |
San Jose Sharks
| Fabian Zetterlund | Mikael Granlund | Anthony Duclair |
| Alexander Barabanov | William Eklund | Luke Kunin |
| Mike Hoffman | Nico Sturm | Jacob MacDonald |
| Justin Bailey | Ryan Carpenter | Filip Zadina |
| Mario Ferraro | Jan Rutta |
| Marc-Edouard | Ty Emberson |
| Kyle Burroughs | Calen Addison |
| Kaapo Kahkonen |
| Mackenzie Blackwood |