.The Columbus Blue Jackets face the New York Rangers with two wins in their back pocket and are hoping to continue the streak in a Friday night game at Nationwide Arena.
The Rangers powerplay made minced meat of the Blue Jackets and turned the entire game on its head.
Although the Blue Jackets are without Alex Wennberg, it appears that Lukas Sedlak is getting closer and closer to returning to the lineup. The injuries will give Jordan Schroeder an opportunity to prove his worth in an NHL lineup.
VIDEO: John Tortorella
Torts breaks down today's #CBJ practice, tomorrow's game against the Rangers, and more: pic.twitter.com/3GxTpMKpii
— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) November 16, 2017
Blue Jackets Projected Lineup
| # | Player | Stats | # | Player | Stats | # | Player | Stats |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 | Artemi Panarin | 19 GP, 3-10-13 | 71 | Nick Foligno | 19 GP, 3-5-8 | 28 | Oliver Bjorkstrand | 19 GP, 5-6-11 |
| 38 | Boone Jenner | 12 GP, 2-4-6 | 17 | Brandon Dubinsky | 19 GP, 2-5-7 | 13 | Cam Atkinson | 15 GP, 4-2-6 |
| 64 | Tyler Motte | 8 GP, 2-1-3 | 18 | Pierre-Luc Dubois | 19 GP, 2-2-4 | 77 | Josh Anderson | 17 GP, 7-3-10 |
| 22 | Sonny Milano | 16 GP, 5-3-8 | 14 | Jordan Schroeder | 1 GP, 0-0-0 | 37 | Markus Hannikainen | 10 GP, 2-2-4 |
| # | Player | Stats | # | Player | Stats |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | Zach Werenski | 19 GP, 5-6-11 | 3 | Seth Jones | 19 GP, 3-9-12 |
| 7 | Jack Johnson | 19 GP, 1-3-4 | 58 | David Savard | 19 GP, 2-4-6 |
| 27 | Ryan Murray | 19 GP, 1-3-4 | 65 | Markus Nutivaara | 14 GP, 0-6-6 |
| # | Player | GS | W-L-OL | GAA | SV% | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 72 | Sergei Bobrovsky | 15 | 10-4-1 | 2.16 | .928 | 1 |
| 70 | Joonas Korpisalo | 4 | 1-3-0 | 3.28 | .896 | 0 |
Three Storylines
- New Contract-son: Cam Atkinson has a brand new and shiny seven-year contract worth a total of $40 million dollars. So it begs the question, how will he react? The beginning of this season hasn't been great for the player and he hasn't been scoring like he had in the past. Every goal scorer has droughts but Atkinson's has felt like an eternity. Is the contract going to be a kick in the pants or the reason he starts sitting back and relaxing? After watching him play, you would assume it is the former and not the latter.
- Establishing Ice Time: With injuries all throughout the forward group, it wouldn't be a surprise to see two or three of the current players in the lineup go back to being a healthy scratch on a regular basis. Anyone in the bottom-six has a chance to be removed from the lineup (except for Josh Anderson) and if the production doesn't return for any of them, the decisions could end up being easy.
- Another Power Play Shake Up: After having Seth Jones and Zach Werenski on the same power play unit, the two are now on different units. They have also switched where different players are going to play in the units. Most notably, Artemi Panarin is on the right side after playing on the left side all season long. Bjorkstrand will man the middle and it will be fascinating to see if that was the element that has been missing.
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