Thursday, March 14, 2024 – 7:00 PM EDT
Nationwide Arena, Columbus, Ohio
TV: Bally Sports Ohio; Radio: 97.1 FM
Ottawa Senators (26-33-4, 56 points, 8th Atlantic, 15th East)
at
Columbus Blue Jackets (22-23-10, 54 points, 8th Metro, 16th East)
It’s a battle between the two worst teams in the Eastern Conference, and Ottawa has had an even more disappointing season than Columbus, relative to pre-season expectations.
Player(s) to Watch
Goaltenders
Will the Blue Jackets go with Daniil Tarasov, who is playing well and is coming off of a shutout relief effort on Tuesday? Or give another chance to Elvis Merzlikins, who was pulled mere minutes into the game after giving up 3 goals on his 4 shots faced?
On the other side, the Senators feature two former Blue Jackets, both of whom are struggling this season. Joonas Korpisalo and his big new contract have delivered a .889 save percentage and 3.32 GAA. His backup and former Cleveland teammate Anton Forsberg has .888 and 3.29.
Jackets Notes
When it rains it pours, huh?
In addition to the previously added Trey Fix-Wolansky, Carson Meyer, and Brendan Gaunce, on Wednesday the Jackets recalled forward Mikael Pyyhtia. He made his NHL debut in two games late last season and has a 10/20/30 line with Cleveland so far this season.
The Other Bench
In addition to the goalie struggles, the Senators are missing two key defensemen in Thomas Chabot and Travis Hamonic. They have also just lost center Josh Norris for the rest of the season with a shoulder injury … Prior to an overtime win at home against Pittsburgh on Tuesday, the Senators had lost 7 straight.
Season Series
12/01/2023 OTT 2 @ CBJ 4
02/13/2024 CBJ 3 @ OTT 6
03/14/2024 OTT @ CBJ
Stats
| Ottawa | Columbus | |
| 3.17 (14) | GPG | 2.92 (22) |
| 3.51 (28) | GAPG | 3.60 (30) |
| 16.4 (27) | PP% | 13.9 (31) |
| 73.8 (30) | PK% | 76.5 (25) |
| 50.0 (18) | 5v5 Shot Attempt % | 48.5 (22) |
| 51.0 (14) | 5v5 Unblocked Shot Attempt % | 48.5 (21) |
| 9.0 (10) | 5v5 Shooting % | 9.2 (7) |
| 90.1 (31) | 5v5 Save % | 91.1 (18) |
| Brady Tkachuk, 27 | G Leader | Boone Jenner, 19 |
| Tim Stutzle, 44 | A Leader | Johnny Gaudreau, 35 |
| Tim Stutzle, 59 | P Leader | Johnny Gaudreau, 45 |
| Brady Tkachuk, 108 | PIM Leader | Erik Gudbranson, 59 |
| 8-19-2 | Home/Road | 12-17-4 |
| 3-6-1 | Last 10 | 4-6-0 |
Projected Lines
Columbus Blue Jackets
| Johnny Gaudreau | Boone Jenner | Trey Fix-Wolansky |
| Mikael Pyyhtia | Dmitri Voronkov | Kirill Marchenko |
| Alexandre Texier | Cole Sillinger | Alex Nylander |
| Carson Meyer | Brendan Gaunce | Mathieu Olivier |
| Zach Werenski | Adam Boqvist |
| Ivan Provorov | Damon Severson |
| Jake Bean | Erik Gudbranson |
| Daniil Tarasov |
| Elvis Merzlikins |
Ottawa Senators
| Brady Tkachuk | Shane Pinto | Drake Batherson |
| Mathieu Joseph | Tim Stutzle | Claude Giroux |
| Ridly Greig | Zack Ostapchuk | Dominik Kubalik |
| Boris Katchouk | Mark Kastelic | Parker Kelly |
| Jake Sanderson | Artem Zub |
| Jakob Chychrun | Max Guenette |
| Erik Brannstrom | Jacob Bernard-Docker |
| Joonas Korpisalo |
| Anton Forsberg |