Thursday night marks the fourth and final home game of the Columbus Blue Jackets preseason.
They will be coming back to Nationwide Arena to face the St. Louis Blues for the second time in the exhibition season. These games don't count, but you have to believe that the Blue Jackets would like to get their preseason back on track after the 8-1 routing they suffered at the hands of the Carolina Hurricanes on Monday night. That shouldn't be too difficult considering the club's biggest stars will be lacing up their skates for this one.
This game has a few intriguing storylines, perhaps the biggest of which is the return of captain Boone Jenner. He will see game action for the first time since he went down with a back injury on March 11th against the Minnesota Wild. Jenner had a career year last season as he set personal bests in goals, assists, and points per game. He will look to get off to a fast start this season as he tries to build off of that. If he can manage to stay healthy, the Canadian center may very well set more career records as he is projected to be anchoring the first line which will also feature Patrik Laine and Johnny Gaudreau.
#CBJ lineup vs St. Louis, preseason game No. 7 pic.twitter.com/l1IafJZhuS
— Aaron Portzline (@Aportzline) October 5, 2022
For the first time ever, we will likely get a look at this iteration of the first line as Gaudreau and Laine will also be donning sweaters on Thursday night. As long as they gel together as well as the fifth line hopes, this line should be high scoring and very fun to watch. Head coach Brad Larsen will likely not play them as many minutes as he will during the regular season, but hopefully, they will get enough time together to at least show us flashes of what is to come.
Other big names such as Zach Werenski and Jakub Voracek will be back in the lineup, as well. They will look to get their feet wet once again, before the regular season begins, in less than a week. In fact, this roster is likely very similar, if not a carbon copy of the one the Blue Jackets will begin the season with. There are only a few players in Thursday's lineup, such as Justin Danforth, Mathieu Olivier, and Liam Foudy, that are still trying to cement their place on this roster.
Yegor Chinakhov will look to continue his hot streak and continue his preseason goal-per-game average. He has been lights out so far, most likely securing his place on the opening-night roster. Danforth has also been excellent, with two assists and two goals in four games. However, he is still thought to be on the bubble and could really use a strong performance in this game in order to bolster his case to make the team.
This may only be an exhibition match, but it is filled with plenty of reasons for Jackets fans to tune in. The puck drop will commence at 7:00 p.m. Thursday, October 6th at Nationwide Arena.
