Preseason Game #1 Preview: Blue Jackets vs. Sabres
Bring on our rivals!
Monday, September 17, 2018 - 7:00 EST
Nationwide Arena, Columbus, OH
TV: Fox Sports G0 or BlueJackets.com; Radio: 1460 AM
Opponent’s Blog: Die By the Blade
Columbus Blue Jackets (0-0-0)
vs.
Buffalo Sabres (0-0-0)
Notes
It’s here! It’s finally here! After a long, worrisome offseason we finally get to watch a hockey game again. Sure it’s just preseason, but I’ll take what I can get.
Tonight’s lineup for Columbus features a number of Blue Jackets regulars as well as some key pieces for this year’s Cleveland Monsters. The players I’m most intrigued to watch are Vitaly Abramov and Jonathan Davidsson. Each has a chance to play his way onto the roster with a standout preseason.
Also worth watching is how Markus Nutivaara and David Savard play together as the new second pairing.
On the Buffalo side, the Sabres roster was not available at the time of writing. Here’s hoping that #1 overall draft pick Rasmus Dahlin makes the trip.
Who is going to the game? I will be in attendance. If you can’t make it, be sure to follow me on Twitter for in-game commentary. I will have a full recap with my observations up late tonight or first thing tomorrow morning.
Lineups
Columbus Blue Jackets
Vitaly Abramov
Oliver Bjorkstrand
Alex Broadhurst
Jonathan Davidsson
Brandon Dubinsky
Pierre-Luc Dubois
Anthony Duclair
Markus Hannikainen
Ryan MacInnis
Sonny Milano
Calvin Thurkauf
Sam Vigneault
Adam Clendening
Tommy Cross
Scott Harrington
Dean Kukan
Markus Nutivaara
David Savard
Matiss Kivlenieks
Brad Thiessen
UPDATE: Here are the projected lines:
#CBJ lines and pairs (in no order)#cantmakeatypoifyouhandwriteit pic.twitter.com/0PwD0JWJiM
— Alison (@AlisonL) September 17, 2018
Buffalo Sabres
This space will be updated when the roster is available.
UPDATE: Here is Buffalo’s roster (Thanks, Treffs!)
Here’s tonight’s lineup in Columbus. pic.twitter.com/mPaEJcyqxz
— John Vogl (@BuffaloVogl) September 17, 2018