Game Preview : Streaking Into the New Year
Columbus opens 2017 at home after a perfect month. Can they keep it rolling?
Edmonton Oilers @ Columbus Blue Jackets
Tuesday, January 3, 2017 - 7:00 EST
Nationwide Arena, Columbus, Ohio
TV: Fox Sports Ohio; Radio: 97.1 WBNS FM
Game Faceoff
New year, same old Jackets? Let’s sure hope so.
Tonight, Columbus goes for #16 in a row. Unlike a certain other #16, let’s hope the Jackets come ready to play tonight. Lining up on the other side of center ice will be phenom / wunderkid / possible hockey Jesus Connor McDavid. McDavid leads the Oilers in every scoring category, captains the club, and leads the National Hockey League in points registered on the season. Safe to say, he’s pretty good.
Columbus comes into this game ... well, by now you know. They’ve won 15 straight, were perfect in the month of December, and lead the NHL at the start of 2017. Sergei Bobrovsky has regained his Vezina form (even if the NHL somehow cannot recognize it, which is beyond words baffling), Cam Atkinson is playing like a superstar in the NHL, and Torts has changed the culture in the locker room completely.
A win tonight means the Columbus Blue Jackets own sole possession of the second longest winning streak in NHL history. A win means two points in the standings, maintaining the blistering pace with the rest of the Metropolitan Division. A win keeps the magic going, and a win means a monster showdown on Thursday against the Washington Capitals.
In team news, we should expect no lineup changes for the Blue Jackets. Torts hasn’t messed with it throughout the streak, and there is no reason to expect that he will now. Bobrovsky gets the start between the pipes, as we all expected. The same cast of characters we’ve seen for a month now will be doing the work. Now it’s up to them to keep it rolling.
Go Jackets. #WeWant16
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 |
| Sergei Bobrovsky |
| Curtis McElhinney |
Edmonton Oilers
| Milan Lucic | Connor McDavid | Jordan Eberle |
| Patrick Maroon | Ryan Nugent-Hopkins | Leon Draisaitl |
| Benoit Pouliot | Drake Caggiula | Jesse Puljujarvi |
| Matt Hendricks | Mark Letestu | Zack Kassian |
| Oscar Klefborn | Adam Larsson |
| Kris Russell | Matt Benning |
| Brandon Davidson | Eric Gryba |
| Cam Talbot |
| Jonas Gustavsson |