Gameday: Columbus Blue Jackets at Vancouver Canucks
Here’s what you need to know
Saturday, March 31, 2018 - 4:00 EST
Rogers Arena, Vancouver, BC
TV: Fox Sports Ohio; Radio: 97.1 WBNS FM
Opponent’s Blog: Nucks Misconduct
Columbus Blue Jackets, 44-29-5, 93 points, 3rd Metro, 6th East
vs.
Vancouver Canucks, 29-40-9, 67 points, 7th Pacific, 14th West
Season Series
01/12/2018 VAN 5 @ CBJ 2
03/31/2018 CBJ @ VAN
Preview
We’ve got matinee hockey today from Canada’s West Coast, as the Columbus Blue Jackets continue their push for the playoffs. They’ve won the first two games of their Western Canada road trip, and look for the sweep against Vancouver.
The Canucks are out of playoff contention, but have won 3 games in a row coming into today. This is impressive considering they’ve suffered several major season-ending injuries, including to rookie phenom Brock Boeser. He still leads the team in goals and points despite only playing 62 games. Our old friend Derek Dorsett leads the team in PIM despite suffering a career ending back injury in late November.
It’s also worth noting that Vancouver decisively defeated Columbus in Nationwide back in January. How much would we like to have those 2 points back right now?
Speaking of old friends, Vancouver features Sam Gagner playing with the Sedin Twins. The Canucks lineup also includes Tyler Motte and Jussi Jokinen, both traded in exchange for Thomas Vanek.
Expect the same lineup for the Blue Jackets, assuming Brandon Dubinsky is recovered from the illness that sat him for most of Thursday’s game.
Other games of note
There are several other games today which will have an impact on the CBJ’s place in the standings:
1:00 P.M.: Florida at Boston
7:00 P.M.: NY Islanders at New Jersey
7:00 P.M.: Montreal at Pittsburgh
Today we are all Bruins, Islanders, and Canadiens fans.
Stats
| Vancouver | Columbus | |
|---|---|---|
| 2.60 (27) | GPG | 2.83 (20) |
| 3.15 (26) | GAPG | 2.67 (8) |
| 21.5% (9) | PP% | 15.3% (30) |
| 78.9% (21) | PK% | 77.7% (24) |
| 47.66% (25) | EV Corsi % | 51.49% (8) |
| 99.1 (23) | EV PDO | 100.5 (13) |
| Brock Boeser, 29 | G Leader | Artemi Panarin, 26 |
| Henrik Sedin, 45 | A Leader | Artemi Panarin, 47 |
| Brock Boeser, 55 | P Leader | Artemi Panarin, 73 |
| Derek Dorsett, 74 | PIM Leader | Nick Foligno, 50 |
| 14-18-6 | Home / Road | 19-17-3 |
| 4-6-0 | Last 10 | 9-1-0 |
Projected Lineups
| Artemi Panarin | Pierre-Luc Dubois | Cam Atkinson |
| Boone Jenner | Alexander Wennberg | Thomas Vanek |
| Sonny Milano | Brandon Dubinsky | Oliver BJORKSTRAND |
| Matt Calvert | Mark Letestu | Markus Hannikainen |
| Zach Werenski | Seth Jones |
| Ian Cole | David Savard |
| Ryan Murray | Markus Nutivaara |
| Sergei Bobrovsky |
| Joonas Korpisalo |
| Nikolay Goldobin | Bo Horvat | Jussi Jokinen |
| Daniel Sedin | Henrik Sedin | Sam Gagner |
| Darren Archibald | Brandon Sutter | Tyler Motte |
| Reid Boucher | Adam Gaudette | Jake Virtanen |
| Alexander Edler | Troy Stecher |
| Michael Del Zotto | Derrick Pouliot |
| Ashton Sautner | Alex Biega |
| Jacob Markstrom |
| Anders Nilsson |