The Columbus Blue Jackets are on home ice Saturday night for their second home preseason game when they face the Buffalo Sabres for the second time this week.
Here's what to keep an eye on as the Blue Jackets exhibition season hits the halfway point:
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SATURDAY, 9/28/24
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The Blue Jackets lost 6-1 to the Sabres on Monday to kick off their preseason — but that Sabres team will look drastically different than this one. Buffalo's NHL roster is in Germany to prepare for the NHL Global Series, so Columbus will face the de facto Rochester Americans on Saturday night.
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...and that Columbus roster is going to be just about, if not entirely, what it looks like when the regular season openers. Forwards Boone Jenner and Sean Monahan will make their preseason debut, as well defenseman Zach Werenski.
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In Saturday mornings skate, Jenner and Monahan were skating with Kirill Marchenko. Adam Fantilli was flanked by James van Riemsdyk and Dmitri Vornkov. The youth movement of a third line consisted of Yegor Chinkahov (23 years old), Cole Sillinger (21), and Kent Johnson (21), while Cole's brother Owen Sillinger was on the fourth line with Sean Kuraly and Mathieu Olivier. On the blueline, Werenski was with Damon Severson, Ivan Provorov and David Jircek were together, as were Jake Christiansen and Erik Gudbranson. Jet Greaves and Elvis Merzlikins are projected to split the goaltending duties.
- Given the rosters, this should be a game that the Blue Jackets win — but more important than that will be the continued buy-in into the system and style of head coach Dean Evason. Columbus corrected a lot of mistakes between games one and two and between games two and three as well. The games don't count, but the progression and understanding of the new system do count.
