Well, you have to start somewhere.
The Blue Jackets' opponent tonight happens to be the last-place Los Angeles Kings, who earned that (dis)honor due to the Chicago Blackhawks snapping their eight-game losing streak on Wednesday night.
The hope is that this would be a game to get the Blue Jackets back on track from losing three of their past four games (all loses at home).
But if this season has taught us anything, you shouldn't bet for or against the Jackets, because they're as unpredictable as they come.
PROJECTED LINES
Panarin – Dubois – Atkinson
Foligno – Jenner – Anderson
Bjorkstrand – Wennberg – Duclair
Hannikainen – Dubinsky – Nash
DEFENSEMEN
Murray – Jones
Nutivaara – Savard
Werenski – Harrington
GOALTENDER
Bobrovsky
STORYLINES
- In the only matchup so far this season between these two teams, the Kings embarrassed the Blue Jackets 4-1 in Los Angeles. This was a game that was truly the pinnacle of the Jackets special teams woes, which featured *two* short-handed goals by the Kings. Yikes.
- Josh Anderson is listed as day-to-day on the Blue Jackets injury report after suffering an upper-body injury in Tuesday's loss to the Vancouver Canucks. Anderson took a heavy dive into the post while attempting to cut to the Canucks' net, and was (cleanly, we might add), checked into the iron by the opposition. No official word has come yet on Anderson's status for tonight's game (though he missed practice), but forward Zac Dalpe has been recalled from AHL as a precautionary.
- The Blue Jackets, in the midst of their home-ice drama, still sit in second place with 34 points in the Metropolitan Division, only behind the Washington Capitals. There are three teams behind them by at most three points with just as many games played, meaning the Jackets can't get comfortable, if they were starting to by any means at all.
