The Blue Jackets have their fair share of problems.
Their power play has been non-existent, their fourth line has rarely been used and they've got a couple of injuries, notably to Cam Atkinson.
Yet through a dozen games, they've won eight times. They are near the top of the vaunted Metropolitan Division and their puck possession metrics are favorable, if not strong. So they have plenty of reasons to feel confident heading into tonight's game against the Florida Panthers, a team that pulled off a rare feat against Tampa last weekend: they scored five goals and lost in regulation (they gave up eight).
John Tortorella Pre-Game
Torts goes into detail on Foligno's play at center and the multiple roles of numerous #CBJ players: pic.twitter.com/ubwnFegd5a
— ColumbusBlueJackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) November 1, 2017
Blue Jackets Projected Lineup
| # | Player | Stats | # | Player | Stats | # | Player | Stats |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 | Artemi Panarin | 12 GP, 1-9-10 | 71 | Nick Foligno | 12 GP, 3-5-8 | 77 | Josh Anderson | 10 GP, 3-3-6 |
| 38 | Boone Jenner | 5 GP, 1-0-1 | 17 | Brandon Dubinsky | 12 GP, 0-2-2 | 64 | Tyler Motte | 1 GP, 1-0-1 |
| 11 | Matt Calvert | 12 GP, 3-3-6 | 10 | Alexander Wennberg | 12 GP, 1-8-9 | 28 | Oliver Bjorkstrand | 12 GP, 2-4-6 |
| 22 | Sonny Milano | 11 GP, 5-1-6 | 18 | Pierre-Luc Dubois | 12 GP, 1-0-1 | 37 | Markus Hannikainen | 4 GP, 0-0-0 |
| # | Player | Stats | # | Player | Stats |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | Zach Werenski | 12 GP, 3-3-6 | 3 | Seth Jones | 12 GP, 2-6-8 |
| 7 | Jack Johnson | 12 GP, 1-3-4 | 58 | David Savard | 12 GP, 2-2-4 |
| 27 | Ryan Murray | 12 GP, 1-2-3 | 65 | Markus Nutivaara | 7 GP, 0-3-3 |
| # | Player | GS | W-L-OL | GAA | SV% | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 72 | Sergei Bobrovsky | 9 | 7-2-0 | 1.97 | .934 | 1 |
| 70 | Joonas Korpisalo | 3 | 1-2-0 | 3.67 | .887 | 0 |
Three Storylines
- Back to Basics: The Blue Jackets aren't going to try anything inventive with their power play; they're simply going to review what has made them successful in the past and reiterate the roles of each player. Tortorella wants them to continuously have a shooting mindset, primarily because it's the easiest way to deconstruct the opposition's penalty kill. Shots from the top of the ice, rebounds and outnumbered situations are what they're looking for tonight.
- Fresh Start: Monday's game gave Tortorella some quality footage for his video meetings, particularly at the start of the game. The Blue Jackets had not clocked in on time over their last few games but they did so against the Bruins, funneling pucks below the goal line, directing shots toward the net from all angles and trying to find second and third opportunities. They hunted pucks and retrieved a ton, which set them up for several long shifts in the offensive zone.
- Move the Legs: There's only one way to draw penalties and try to fix the power play, and that's to skate. When the Blue Jackets are skating and using their four-line rotation (who knows if we'll see 11 forwards again tonight), they draw a lot of penalties because they're good at keeping fresh legs.
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