Saturday, October 26, 2024 – 8:00 EDT
Bridgestone Arena – Nashville, Tennessee
TV: FanDuel Sports Network Ohio; Radio: 97.1 FM
Columbus Blue Jackets (3-3-0, 6 points, 6th Metro, 13th East)
at
Nashville Predators (1-5-0, 2 points, 8th Central, 15th West)
The Blue Jackets somehow managed to blow the doors off of the Toronto Maple Leafs in their last game. With a still depleted roster and with no reinforcements in sight, they will need to continue to play how they did in their last game. The Predators may not be off to a great start, but they are coming off a 4-0 win against the Bruins.
Player to Watch
Kirill Marchenko
Losing Chinakhov to the second line didn’t slow Marchenko down. He recorded a goal and an assist against the Maple Leafs and has moved to 3-5-8 in the first 6 games. Monahan is only a point behind and has proven to be a huge offseason signing. Hopefully, these two can continue to show their offensive firepower tonight.
Jackets Notes
On Tuesday, the Blue Jackets broke a franchise record for the number of goals scored in the first six games. Who had that on their bingo card?
The Other Bench
The Preds have started the season at 1-5-0, but it appears they may be a victim of a low PDO. They are 31st in shooting % and 30th in save %. I would expect those numbers to improve, especially given the talent on the roster.
It has been odd seeing Stamkos in a different sweater.
Season Series
10/26/2024 CBJ @ NSH
04/01/2025 NSH @ CBJ
Stats
| Nashville | Columbus | |
| 2.33 (28) | GPG | 4.00 (5) |
| 3.83 (26) | GAPG | 3.33 (18) |
| 16.7 (24) | PP% | 18.2 (21) |
| 89.5 (3) | PK% | 77.8 (15) |
| 55.5 (3) | 5v5 Shot Attempt % | 50.5 (15) |
| 53.8 (6) | 5v5 Unblocked Shot Attempt % | 51.6 (14) |
| 4.83 (31) | 5v5 Shooting % | 14.6 (1) |
| 87.7 (30) | 5v5 Save % | 88.4 (28) |
| Tommy Novak, 3 | G Leader | Marchenko, Monahan, Chinakhov, Olivier, 3 |
| Roman Josi, 5 | A Leader | Kirill Marchenko, 5 |
| O’Reilly, Forsberg, 7 | P Leader | Kirill Marchenko, 8 |
| Luke Schenn, 7 | PIM Leader | Mathieu Olivier, 10 |
| 1-4-0 | Home/Road | 1-1-0 |
| 1-5-0 | Last 10 | 3-3-0 |
Projected Lines
Columbus Blue Jackets
| Cole Sillinger | Sean Monahan | Kirill Marchenko |
| Mikael Pyyhtia | Adam Fantilli | Yegor Chinakhov |
| Zach Aston-Reese | Justin Danforth | Mathieu Olivier |
| James van Riemsdyk | Sean Kuraly | Kevin Labanc |
| Zach Werenski | Ivan Provorov |
| Jake Christiansen | Damon Severson |
| Jack Johnson | David Jiricek |
| Daniil Tarasov |
| Elvis Merzlikins |
Nashville Predators
| Filip Forsberg | Ryan O’Reilly | Gustav Nyquist |
| Steven Stamkos | Colton Sissons | Jonathan Marchessault |
| Mark Jankowski | Tommy Novak | Luke Evangelista |
| Zachary L’Heureux | Michael McCarron | Cole Smith |
| Brady Skjei | Roman Josi |
| Jeremy Lauzon | Alexandre Carrier |
| Marc Del Gaizo | Luke Schenn |
| Juuse Saros |
| Scott Wedgewood |