Joonas Korpisalo — surprise! — gets the start tonight for the Blue Jackets in Winnipeg.
Sergei Bobrovsky has played a lot, including a back-to-back last weekend, so it makes some sense to give him a night off and get back at it later this week against Tampa Bay and Los Angeles (both games at Nationwide Arena). The Jets are going with Steve Mason between the pipes as he looks to rebound from a poor start to his debut season in Winnipeg.
#CBJ Korpisalo vs. #NHLJets Mason tonight from Winnipeg
— Aaron Portzline (@Aportzline) October 17, 2017
Puck drop is 8 p.m. at Bell MTS Place (FOX Sports Ohio, FS GO).
Blue Jackets Projected Lineup
| # | Player | Stats | # | Player | Stats | # | Player | Stats |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 | Artemi Panarin | 5 GP, 1-6-7 | 10 | Alexander Wennberg | 5 GP, 1-4-5 | 13 | Cam Atkinson | 5 GP, 2-0-2 |
| 11 | Matt Calvert | 5 GP, 0-1-1 | 71 | Nick Foligno | 5 GP, 0-4-4 | 28 | Oliver Bjorkstrand | 5 GP, 0-3-3 |
| 22 | Sonny Milano | 5 GP, 4-0-4 | 17 | Brandon Dubinsky | 5 GP, 0-0-0 | 77 | Josh Anderson | 3 GP, 1-0-1 |
| 18 | Pierre-Luc Dubois | 5 GP, 1-0-1 | 45 | Lukas Sedlak | 5 GP, 1-0-1 | 36 | Zac Dalpe | 4 GP, 0-0-0 |
| # | Player | Stats | # | Player | Stats |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | Zach Werenski | 5 GP, 2-2-4 | 3 | Seth Jones | 5 GP, 1-3-4 |
| 7 | Jack Johnson | 5 GP, 0-1-1 | 58 | David Savard | 5 GP, 1-1-2 |
| 27 | Ryan Murray | 5 GP, 1-1-2 | 65 | Markus Nutivaara | 0 GP, 0-0-0 |
| # | Player | GS | W-L-OL | GAA | SV% | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 72 | Sergei Bobrovsky | 4 | 4-0-0 | 1.48 | .952 | 1 |
| 70 | Joonas Korpisalo** | 1 | 0-1-0 | 5.00 | .828 | 0 |
Four Storylines
- Nuti Debut: The Blue Jackets recalled Markus Nutivaara earlier this week after a conditioning assignment in Cleveland; reports indicated that Nutivaara played well and Tortorella isn't wasting any time getting him into the lineup. It wasn't the best outing for Scott Harrington on Saturday in Minnesota, so Nutivaara is the latest to take a turn with Ryan Murray (who has been a nice surprise) on the third pairing.
- Need Ya, Korpi: Despite a lopsided score in Chicago two weeks ago, the Blue Jackets weren't as far off in that game as it seemed. They needed more save from their goaltender, and Korpisalo gets another whack at it tonight while Bobrovsky takes a rest. It's a high-powered Winnieg forward group with Patrik Laine, Mark Scheifele, Nikolaj Ehlers and others, meaning the Blue Jackets defense and goaltender will be tested tonight.
- Shooooooooot: Tortorella has lamented the Blue Jackets' power play woes and has accused them of overpassing and "being too cute." After all the talk and conversation surrounding their reluctance to shoot, one would expect them to focus on volume at the start of tonight's game. Whether it's on the power play or at even strength, the Blue Jackets need to get into the habit of creating chances "inside," which means away from the boards and around the face-off circles.
- Let's Shuffle: Matt Calvert gets a noticeable promotion tonight and will begin with Nick Foligno and Oliver Bjorkstrand. Tortorella has been a fan of Calvert's game from Game 1 of the new season, and he's sending a message to the rest of the group (again) that strong play will be rewarded. It just so happens to come in his home province of Manitoba with plenty of family and friends in the building.
