Gameday: St. Louis Blues at Columbus Blue Jackets
Here’s what you need to know
Saturday, March 24, 2018 - 7:00 EST
Nationwide Arena, Columbus, OH
TV: Fox Sports Ohio; Radio: 97.1 WBNS FM
Opponent’s Blog: St. Louis Game Time
Columbus Blue Jackets, 42-28-5, 89 points, 3rd Metro, 6th East
vs.
St. Louis Blues, 41-28-5, 87 points, 5th Central, 9th West
Season Series
10/28/2017 CBJ 1 @ STL 4
03/24/2018 STL @ CBJ
It’s 5th Line Appreciation Night at Nationwide Arena this evening, as YOUR Columbus Blue Jackets host the St. Louis Blues. The Jackets have won 10 straight and an 11th consecutive win tonight would jump them above Pittsburgh for second place in the Metropolitan Division.
The Blues, meanwhile, are riding a hot streak of their own. A 4-1 victory at home last night over Vancouver was their 4th straight win. They are 7-2-1 in their last 10. They have one fewer point than Columbus, yet in the Western Conference that’s not good enough for a playoff position. They are one behind the surprising Colorado Avalanche for the second wild card. Suffice it to say the Blues come in as a motivated and desperate team.
Look at the stats below; it’s amazing how similar these teams appear to be, on paper.
On the Columbus side, Lukas Sedlak is out, recovering from being struck in the head by a Seth Jones slap shot on Thursday. Brandon Dubinsky - a healthy scratch for the previous two games - will return to the lineup in his place.
Stats
| St. Louis | Columbus | |
|---|---|---|
| 2.76 (23) | GPG | 2.77 (20) |
| 2.64 (6) | GAPG | 2.69 (8) |
| 15.6% (29) | PP% | 15.5% (30) |
| 80.5% (16) | PK% | 77.4% (24) |
| 51.46% (9) | EV Corsi % | 51.57% (8) |
| 101.1 (13) | EV PDO | 101.1 (13) |
| Vladimir Tarasenko, 28 | G Leader | Artemi Panarin, 25 |
| Brayden Schenn, 37 | A Leader | Artemi Panarin, 44 |
| Brayden Schenn, 62 | P Leader | Artemi Panarin, 69 |
| Brayden Schenn, 56 | PIM Leader | Nick Foligno, 48 |
| 18-13-5 | Home / Road | 25-11-2 |
| 7-2-1 | Last 10 | 10-0-0 |
Projected Lineups
| Artemi Panarin | Nick Foligno | Cam Atkinson |
| Sonny Milano | Pierre-Luc Dubois | Oliver BJORKSTRAND |
| Boone Jenner | Alexander Wennberg | Thomas Vanek |
| Matt Calvert | Brandon Dubinsky | Mark Letestu |
| Zach Werenski | Seth Jones |
| Ian Cole | David Savard |
| Ryan Murray | Markus Nutivaara |
| Sergei Bobrovsky |
| Joonas Korpisalo |
| Jaden Schwartz | Brayden Schenn | Vladimir Tarasenko |
| Patrik Berglund | Kyle Brodziak | Alex Steen |
| Dmitrij Jaskin | Vladimir Sobotka | Tage Thompson |
| Ivan Barbashev | Oskar Sundqvist | Chris Thorburn |
| Joel Edmundson | Alex Pietrangelo |
| Vince Dunn | Colton Parayko |
| Carl Gunnarsson | Robert Bortuzzo |
| Carter Hutton |
| Jake Allen |