Game Preview #13 - Blood In The Water
The Jackets are at a point where they need to ask themselves what kind of team they're going to be. Can they start building something, or are they just chum for the Sharks at this point?
So, after my very first rec league game of this fall session, I was sitting and talking with my new goalie. We had a core of people move up a division (D7!!), and so we were also grabbing some existing players from that level to form a new team. Our first game out, we didn't have any chemistry. A few of us hadn't played at the higher level before, and took some time to adjust to the speed of the game. We lost, 3-0, but it was far more lopsided than that. Like, we maybe got four shots on goal, and our goalie played his ass off (one of those three goals was an empty netter).
At any rate, I asked the goalie if he needed another beer. He just looked at me and simply said, "You were out there. You saw it."
I've run out of ways to set these games up. You all were out there. You all saw it.
Here's what we know: Alexander Wennberg is out. Fedor Tyutin is back in, Dalton Prout is out (woot!). Looks like Jared Boll is in, and Rene Bourque is out. Bob is starting in net.
The Sharks are... the Sharks? Good but not great, but still capable. Still able to score goals. Still tough to play against in San Jose. This game starts at 10:30. Woof.
Projected Lineups
Columbus Blue Jackets
(2-10-0, 4 Points; 8th division, 16th conference)
| Boone Jenner | Brandon Dubinsky | Brandon Saad |
| Matt Calvert | Ryan Johansen | Cam Atkinson |
| Scott Hartnell | William Karlsson | Nick Foligno |
| Jared Boll | Gregory Campbell | David Clarkson |
| Jack Johnson | David Savard |
| Ryan Murray | Cody Goloubef |
| Fedor Tyutin | Kevin Connauton |
| Sergei Bobrovsky |
| Curtis McElhinney |
San Jose Sharks
(6-5-0, 12 Points; 3rd Division, 9th Conference)
| Joonas Donskoi | Joe Thornton | Joe Pavelski |
| Patrick Marleau | Tomas Hertl | Joel Ward |
| Matt Nieto | Chris Tierney | Tommy Wingels |
| Barclay Goodrow | Ben Smith | Mike Brown |
| Marc-Edouard Vlasic | Justin Braun |
| Paul Martin | Brent Burns |
| Brenden Dillon | Matt Tennyson |
| Martin Jones |
| Alex Stalock |