It has been a tale of two teams thus far with the Columbus Blue Jackets, who dismantled the New York Islanders and fell apart against the Chicago Blackhawks.
Which team is going to show up tonight?
The lines are going to be mixed up and the Blue Jackets will get forward Josh Anderson in the lineup for the first time this season. It's sure to be a tough game against an emerging Carolina Hurricanes team that is going to challenge for a playoff spot this year.
Blue Jackets Projected Lineup
| # | Player | Stats | # | Player | Stats | # | Player | Stats |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 | Pierre-Luc Dubois | 2 GP, 1-0-1 | 10 | Alexander Wennberg | 2 GP, 0-2-2 | 28 | Oliver Bjorkstrand | 2 GP, 0-1-1 |
| 9 | Artemi Panarin | 2 GP, 0-3-3 | 71 | Nick Foligno | 2 GP, 0-2-2 | 13 | Cam Atkinson | 2 GP, 1-0-1 |
| 11 | Matt Calvert | 2 GP, 0-0-0 | 17 | Brandon Dubinsky | 2 GP, 0-0-0 | 77 | Josh Anderson | 0 GP, 0-0-0 |
| 22 | Sonny Milano | 2 GP, 2-0-2 | 45 | Lukas Sedlak | 2 GP, 0-0-0 | 37 | Markus Hannikainen | 2 GP, 0-0-0 |
| # | Player | Stats | # | Player | Stats |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | Zach Werenski | 2 GP, 1-0-1 | 3 | Seth Jones | 2 GP, 0-1-1 |
| 7 | Jack Johnson | 2 GP, 0-0-0 | 58 | David Savard | 2 GP, 0-0-0 |
| 27 | Ryan Murray | 2 GP, 1-0-1 | 53 | Gabriel Carlsson | 2 GP, 0-1-1 |
| # | Player | GS | W-L-OL | GAA | SV% | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 72 | Sergei Bobrovsky | 1 | 1-0-0 | 0.00 | 1.0 | 1 |
| 70 | Joonas Korpisalo | 1 | 0-1-0 | 5.00 | .828 | 0 |
John Tortorella Explains The Line Changes
Tortorella on changing up the lines:
"We never really controlled the puck (against Chicago). We never won battles. Quite honestly in the first game, we struggled with that also. We've added skill but we're going to need their determination too. Sometimes skilled guys want someone else to get them the puck. They need to do their own work too."
Tortorella on if changes were inspired by anything he saw statistically:
"I never go by stats, I go by what I see."
Four Storylines
- Concussion: It appears that Hurricanes defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk is going through concussion protocol and will not be in the lineup against the Blue Jackets. van Riemsdyk is one of the elder statesmen on the blue line and was expected to eat up large swaths of minutes after being acquired from the Blackhawks this past offseason. Tough break for a player that is going to be a key component for the Hurricanes' playoff hopes moving forward.
- Are Their Kids Alright? The talk almost always centers around the Blue Jackets' young team and the players they have in prominent roles. The Carolina Hurricanes are right up there and have multiple very young players making an impact: Jaccob Slavin, Elias Lindholm, Teuvo Teravainen and Sebastian Aho highlight the group and are only getting better after each had solid seasons. You may not know their names yet, but you better learn fast.
- Oh, Darling: The Blue Jackets will be seeing a lot of Scott Darling over the coming years as the new netminder has taken the starter's job in Raleigh. It was a spot long occupied by Cam Ward, but it appears the team is ready to hand the reigns off to Darling, another player acquired from Chicago. Darling has only played against the Blue Jackets once in his career in mop-up duty, and made 13 saves that night.
- Werenski vs. Hanifin: It's silly to compare these two players considering their draft positions and the way they both came out of college, but we'll hear about it whenever they face-off against one another. Werenski has had the better start to his career, but the potential for Hanifin is right there as the battle between the No. 5 and No. 8 overall picks in the 2015 draft rages on.
