It's a new gameday, everyone.
After an underwhelming performance against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday night, the Columbus Blue Jackets look to rebound and continue to build chemistry with their new-look team tonight at Nationwide Arena.
This test will be against the Philadelphia Flyers, a club that seemed out of the playoff race in the Eastern Conference for the first half of the season, but has now won 14 of the last 18 games they've played. They sit just behind the Blue Jackets for the final wild card spot in the conference, six points back, but with plenty of time to catch up (especially with the way they've been playing).
Every point matters, especially against a divisional opponent. The Blue Jackets now have 20 games left on their schedule, and the strength of their opponents is rather difficult. Let's see how they can utilize their home-ice advantage tonight.
PROJECTED LINES:
Panarin - Dubois - Atkinson
Dzingel - Duchene - Bjorkstrand
Foligno - Jenner - Anderson
Robinson - Wennberg - Nash
DEFENSEMEN:
Werenski - Jones
Nutivaara - Savard
McQuaid - Harrington
GOALTENDERS:
Bobrovsky/Korpisalo
STORYLINES:
- This will be the fourth and final meeting on the season for the Blue Jackets and Flyers, as Columbus looks to sweep the season series against their Metropolitan Division foe. The past two games between the two clubs have been decided by one goal, but the two teams haven't faced off since the Flyers' latest playoff surge. This should be a tight game for two teams fighting for their playoff lives.
- The hype around Tuesday night's game against the Penguins was high, but the Blue Jackets seemed to struggle a bit under the expectations and drop their seventh-straight contest against one of their bigger rivals. Recently acquired players in Matt Duchene, Ryan Dzingel and Adam McQuaid all had decent outings, but getting acclimated to a new team, no matter the environment, doesn't happen overnight (or even in a week). The clock is ticking on the regular season, though, and the hope is that these three can build some chemistry and comfortability sooner rather than later.
- The Blue Jackers and Flyers were both active at Monday's trade deadline, moving big assets one way or another. Columbus brought in high-end talent in forwards Duchene and Dzingel from the Ottawa Senators, while Philadelphia shipped off soon-to-be unrestricted free agent forward Wayne Simmonds to the Nashville Predators for Ryan Hartman and a conditional fourth-round pick in the 2020 draft.
