Game Preview: Blue Jackets at Panthers
Here’s what you need to know.
Columbus Blue Jackets @ Florida Panthers
BB&T Center, Sunrise, Florida - 7:00 EST
TV: Fox Sports Ohio; Radio: 97.1 WBNS FM
Opponent’s Blog: Litter Box Cats
Columbus Blue Jackets, 29-8-4, 62 points, 1st Metro, 1st East, 1st NHL
@
Florida Panthers, 19-17-8, 46 points, 5th Atlantic, 11th East
Columbus somehow (don’t ask me, I don’t know how) found a way to win last night. Nick Foligno called it their worst start of the season. Torts admitted to being furious after the first period. The new look lines lasted about 25 minutes. Tampa outshot the Jackets 19-6 in the first period and hit the post 4 times. Sergei Bobrovsky was scratched 20 minutes before gametime for Joonas Korpisalo.
And somehow, Blue Jackets won anyway.
Torts said in the postgame interview last night Korpisalo would likely start again tonight, so I’m expecting to see the Fastest Glove in Finland (nickname pending) go tonight. Other than that, expect no lineup changes for the Union Blue.
The team is 29-8-4 at the halfway mark of the season. Let’s start on the right foot for the back half.
UPDATE, 4:15 EST
Bobrovsky has been sent back to Columbus with an illness. The team hopes he will practice Monday. Korpisalo will start with Forsberg serving as his backup on emergency recall.
STATS MATCHUP
| Florida | Columbus | |
|---|---|---|
| 2.25 (27) | GPG | 3.32 (3) |
| 2.59 (12) | GAPG | 2.20 (3) |
| 15.2% (24) | PP% | 25.8% (1) |
| 85.7% (4) | PK% | 82.6% (12) |
| 51.6% (7) | CORGI | 50.3% (15) |
| 98.4 (26) | LUCK | 102.6 (3) |
| Jonathan Marchessault, 12 | G Leader | Cam Atkinson, 20 |
| Aleksander Barkov, 18 | A Leader | Alexander Wennberg, 28 |
| Aleksander Barkov, 27 | P Leader | Cam Atkinson, 40 |
| Aaron Ekblad, 40 | PIM Leader | Josh Anderson, 50 |
| 10-9-3 | Road / Home | 13-3-3 |
| 4-3-3 | Last 10 | 7-3-0 |
PROBABLE LINEUPS
Columbus Blue Jackets
| Brandon Saad | Alexander Wennberg | Nick Foligno |
| Boone Jenner | Brandon Dubinsky | Cam Atkinson |
| Scott Hartnell | William Karlsson | Josh Anderson |
| Matt Calvert | Lukas Sedlak | Sam Gagner |
| Zach Werenski | Seth Jones |
| Jack Johnson | David Savard |
| Markus Nutivaara | Ryan Murray |
| Joonas Korpisalo |
| Sergei Bobrovsky |
Florida Panthers
| Seth Griffith | Vincent Trocheck | Jaromir Jagr |
| Jonathan Marchessault | Jussi Jokinen | Reilly Smith |
| Jared McCann | Michael Sgarbossa | Colton Sceviour |
| Paul Thompson | Derek MacKenzie | Shawn Thornton |
| Keith Yandle | Mark Pysyk |
| Michael Matheson | Jason Demers |
| Jakub Kindl | Aaron Ekblad |
| Roberto Luongo |
| James Reimer |