Blue Jackets vs. Lightning – 7:00 PM
Game Faceoff
The Jackets have three games in four days, in three different cities. So, yeah, we knew it was going to happen. Welcome to the NHL, Joonas Korpisalo!
It makes some sense, as Dallas is arguably the best team in the league right now and Tampa Bay is this year’s 2014-15 Jackets in terms of production sitting on the shelf due to injury. I am hopeful we won’t see a redux of last season’s decision to put a rookie goalie in against the Lightning in order to give up four goals in the first period.
Not much else is changing with the lineup for Columbus after Saturday’s performance, other than Hartnell and Calvert swapping spots.
But, take a look at that Tampa lineup. If we hadn’t just had the same thing happen to us last season, I’d almost feel sorry for them. That said, we need points, so I’m not going to weep too much. And hey, who knew Mike Blunden was still an NHL player!
Projected Lineups
Columbus Blue Jackets
(11-17-3, 25 Points; 8th division, 16th conference)
| Boone Jenner | Ryan Johansen | Brandon Saad |
| Matt Calvert | Brandon Dubinsky | Nick Foligno |
| Scott Hartnell | Alexander Wennberg | Cam Atkinson |
| Gregory Campbell | William Karlsson | David Clarkson |
| Jack Johnson | David Savard |
| Ryan Murray | Andrew Bodnarchuk |
| Fedor Tyutin | Kevin Connauton |
| Joonas Korpisalo |
| Curtis McElhinney |
Tampa Bay Lightning
(14-13-3, 31 Points; 6th Division, 11th Conference)
| Vladislav Namestnikov | Steven Stamkos | Nikita Kucherov |
| Alex Killorn | Brian Boyle | Jonathan Marchessault |
| J.T. Brown | Valtteri Filppula | Ryan Callahan |
| Joel Vermin | Yanni Gourde | Mike Blunden |
| Victor Hedman | Anton Stralman |
| Nikita Nesterov | Jason Garrison |
| Braydon Coburn | Andrej Sustr |
| Ben Bishop |
| Evgeni Nabokov |