Columbus Blue Jackets vs. Florida Panthers
Saturday, February 27, 2016 – 3:00 PM EST
Nationwide Arena – Columbus, Ohio
TV: FSNOH – Radio: 97.1 WBNS FM
Opponents’ Blog: Litter Box Cats
I love matinee games. Over before dinner, leaving the whole evening open to (hopefully) celebrate!
We’ll know more about the lineup when Torts speaks in about 45 minutes, but until then we’ll assume it’s Cody Goloubef stepping in for Jack Johnson, who was injured on Thursday, while the Panthers are without Jonathan Huberdeau and Willie Mitchell.
Put me among those who’d like to see Michael Paliotta make his Jackets debut this afternoon. Though, if that happens I think we can confirm that Goloubef is locked inside the Torts doghouse.
The Panthers are stingy, and the Jackets will have to bring more of what they showed Thursday against the Devils. It was the Calvert-Karlsson-Foligno line that did all the damage in that tilt, who’ll step up this afternoon?
On the crappy side of things, this is the last game before the trade deadline, which means it could be the last time you see certain players in a CBJ sweater. I’ll be paying close attention to the guys who’s names have been mentioned in rumors of late.
On the positive side, let your eyeballs focus on Jaromir Jagr. In ten years you’ll be able to say “yeah, I was able to watch him play”. #Legend
Post Coffee Mug – 12-7-5, 29 pts in 24 games
Columbus Blue Jackets – 25-29-8, 58 pts – 8th Metro, 14th East
vs.
Florida Panthers – 35-18-7, 77 pts – 1st Atlantic, 2nd East
Season Series
FLA: 2-0-0
CBJ: 0-1-1
12/04/15 – Florida 2 at Columbus 1 (SO)
12/27/15 – Florida 3 vs. Columbus 2
02/27/16 – New Jersey at Columbus
Projected Lineups
Columbus Blue Jackets
(25-29-8, 56 Points; 8th division, 14th conference)
| Boone Jenner | Brandon Dubinsky | Cam Atkinson |
| Scott Hartnell | Alexander Wennberg | Brandon Saad |
| Matt Calvert | William Karlsson | Nick Foligno |
| Rene Bourque | Gregory Campbell | Kerby Rychel |
| Ryan Murray | Seth Jones |
| Fedor Tyutin | David Savard |
| Cody Goloubef | Dalton Prout |
| Joonas Korpisalo |
| Curtis McElhinney |
Florida Panthers
(35-18-7, 77 Points; 1st Division, 2nd Conference)
| Jussi Jokinen | Aleksander Barkov | Jaromir Jagr |
| Logan Shaw | Nick Bjugstad | Kyle Rau |
| Vincent Trocheck | Derek MacKenzie | Reilly Smith |
| Garrett Wilson | Greg McKegg | Shawn Thornton |
| Dmitry Kulikov | Aaron Ekblad |
| Brian Campbell | Erik Gudbranson |
| Steve Kampfer | Alex Petrovic |
| Roberto Luongo |
| Al Montoya |
Head to Head Stats
| Florida | Columbus | |
| 2.68 (11) | GPG | 2.55 (20) |
| 2.28 (1) | GAPG | 3.02 (27) |
| 16.6% (27) | PP% | 17.6% (22) |
| 81.4% (15) | PK% | 80.8% (16) |
| 47.5% (25) | EV CF% | 47.9% (22) |
| 102.0 (3) | EV PDO | 99.7 (17) |
| -39 (20) | EV SC +/- | +34 (13) |
| Jaromir Jagr, 20 | G leader | Brandon Saad, 23 |
| Jussi Jokinen, 30 | A leader | Brandon Dubinsky, Nick Foligno, 23 |
| Jaromir Jagr, 44 | Pts leader | Scott Hartnell, Brandon Saad, 39 |
| Alex Petrovic, 75 | PIM leader | Scott Hartnell, 92 |
| 15-9-3 | Road/Home | 12-12-6 |
| 5-3-2 | Last 10 | 6-1-3 |
| 2/25 @ Coyotes, W 3-2 | Last Game | 2/25 vs. Devils, W 6-1 |