Saturday, March 26, 2022 – 8:00 EDT
Xcel Energy Center – St. Paul, Minnesota
TV: ESPN+/Hulu; Radio: 97.1 FM
Opponent’s Blog: Hockey Wilderness
Columbus Blue Jackets (32-29-4, 68 points, 5th Metro, 9th East)
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Minnesota Wild (38-20-4, 80 points, 2nd Central, 3rd West)
Whew! Quick turnaround from last night’s OT loss in Winnipeg – the Jackets are back in the States to take on a wily Minnesota team, and based on their last matchup on March 11, it could get ugly quickly.
Player to Watch
Marcus Foligno
The final few moments of the Jackets/Wild last matchup were melodramatic, as Marcus Foligno delivered a sharp knee hit to Jakub Voracek, sending him limping down the tunnel in the last minutes of overtime. The Jackets came out victorious in an overtime that led to a shootout, and fortunately Jake wasn’t seriously injured – but the Jackets should be careful not to bite off more than they can chew in getting physical with a team that has proven they’re happy to be physical right back.
#CBJ aren’t built to challenge #mnwild when it comes to the rough stuff, so coach Brad Larsen wisely tried to downplay any talk of retaliation for Marcus Foligno’s dirty hit on Jake Voracek in March 11 game. pic.twitter.com/LwMPtIMItK
— Aaron Portzline (@Aportzline) March 26, 2022
Despite Larsen’s wise words here, I have to imagine it’ll get chippy pretty quickly. Clearly, the love the CBJ extends to Nick Foligno absolutely does not stretch so far as to include his brother. We’ll see how it goes tonight!
Jackets Notes
Merzlikins is in net again tonight … After scoring his 11th goal of the season last night, Adam Boqvist will be swapped out for Gabriel Carlsson tonight, as they’re managing his ice time during his return to playing … Jet Greaves had his first professional shutout last night in a Monsters game with 31 saves in a 1-0 win over Charlotte … Gavin Bayreuther is the other healthy scratch tonight.
The Other Bench
Fleury will be making his Minnesota Wild debut tonight in net against the Blue Jackets, so that’ll be a familiar foe for those looking to score on him. The Wild are on a four-game winning streak, so we have that going against us.
Season Series
3/11/2022 MIN 2 @ CBJ 3
3/26/2022 CBJ @ MIN
Stats
| Minnesota | Columbus | |
|---|---|---|
| 3.65 (4) | GPG | 3.23 (12) |
| 3.13 (19) | GAPG | 3.71 (31) |
| 19.4% (21) | PP% | 19.4% (20) |
| 76.1% (22) | PK% | 77.8% (20) |
| 51.7% (11) | 5v5 Shot Attempt % | 47.1% (25) |
| 51.4% (11) | 5v5 Unblocked shot attempt % | 46.4% (28) |
| 9.9% (1) | 5v5 Shooting % | 9.3 (6) |
| .915 (19) | 5v5 Save % | .907 (30) |
| Kirill Kaprizov, 33 | G Leader | Patrik Laine, 25 |
| Kirill Kaprizov, 45 | A Leader | Jakub Voracek, 43 |
| Kirill Kaprizov, 78 | P Leader | Oliver BJORKSTRAND, 49 |
| Marcus Foligno, 105 | PIM Leader | Sean Kuraly, 53 |
| 21-7-1 | Home / Road | 14-16-1 |
| 6-3-1 | Last 10 | 4-4-2 |
Projected Lineups
| Gus Nyquist | Jack Roslovic | Patrik Laine |
| Jake Voracek | Cole Sillinger | Oliver BJORKSTRAND |
| Eric Robinson | Sean Kuraly | Justin Danforth |
| Emil Bemstrom | Brendan Gaunce | Yegor Chinakhov |
| Zach Werenski | Andrew Peeke |
| Vladislav Gavrikov | Jake Bean |
| Dean Kukan | Gabriel Carlsson |
| Elvis Merzlikins |
| J.F. Berube |
| Kirill Kaprizov | Ryan Hartman | Mats Zuccarello |
| Kevin Fiala | Frederick Gaudreau | Matthew Boldy |
| Jordan Greenway | Joel Eriksson Ek | Marcus Foligno |
| Brandon Duhaime | Tyson Jost | Nicolas Deslauriers |
| Jacob Middleton | Jared Spurgeon |
| Jonas Brodin | Mathew Dumba |
| Alex Goligoski | Dmitry Kulikov |
| Marc-Andre Fleury |
| Cam Talbot |