Game Preview: Bespoke Artisanal Hockey
The road trip continues
Q: Why was the Brooklyn hipster better at swimming than skating?
A: He liked the ice before it was cool.
The Blue Jackets are a team which appears to be struggling in every game. Flu has torn through the locker room. 2⁄3 of the regular defensemen are out with injury for an indeterminate amount of time. And yet...those same Jackets have won 3 of the last 4 and are 5-5 since the famous 16 game win streak. It’s not ideal, but treading water is good enough for now. After just 2 more games they’ll get a much-needed respite during the All Star break.
As for the Islanders, the afterthought of Jay-Z’s stately pleasure dome, some moron thought they’d be the #2 team in the Metro this season. Instead they’re sitting in last place in the division and fired coach Jack Capuano. Under new coach Doug Weight, they are 2-0-1. Expect another motivated opponent for Columbus.
At least we have the offensive juggernauts that are Scott Harrington and Dalton Prout. That pairing was on the ice for 3 goals in each of the weekend’s games. What?
No morning skate so I’ll assume no changes to the lineup. Torts won’t speak to the media until later this afternoon.
Projected Lineups
| Brandon Saad | Alexander Wennberg | Nick Foligno |
| Boone Jenner | Brandon Dubinsky | Cam Atkinson |
| Matt Calvert | William Karlsson | Josh Anderson |
| Scott Hartnell | Lukas Sedlak | Sam Gagner |
| Zach Werenski | Seth Jones |
| Jack Johnson | Ryan Murray |
| Scott Harrington | Dalton Prout |
| Sergei Bobrovsky |
| Joonas Korpisalo |
| Anders Lee | John Tavares | Josh Bailey |
| Brock Nelson | Ryan Strome | Stephen Gionta |
| Anthony Beauvillier | Alan Quine | Jason Chimera |
| Nikolay Kulemin | Casey Cizikas | Cal Clutterbuck |
| Nick Leddy | Adam Pelech |
| Thomas Hickey | Johnny Boychuk |
| Calvin de Haan | Dennis Seidenberg |
| Thomas Greiss |
| Jean-Francois Berube |