Game Day #21: Elvis Goes For Fifth Straight Win And The Blue Jackets Their Fourth Straight As Columbus Seeks To Feast On Montreal

Three straight wins? For the first time since March of 2022: check.

Four straight? With a win Wednesday night over the Montreal Canadiens, the Columbus Blue Jackets would have "W-4" in the streak column for the first time since... well, not much earlier: February of 2022.

But a win would put the Blue Jackets over .500 on Thanksgiving, something that didn't seem likely just seven weeks ago when the season started. 

It would also serve as a bit of revenge against the Canadiens, who defeated the Blue Jackets 5-1 just 11 nights ago.

Sam Montembeault was between the pipes for Montreal in that win; the Blue Jackets will face Cayden Primeau on Wednesday. He has struggled in a big way this season: a 4.59 goals against average and .842 save percentage in five starts. Montreal started Montembault on Tuesday night, and the Canadiens come into Columbus on the second half of a back-to-back against a Columbus team that had three days off and figure to be well-rested.

He'll be opposed by Elvis Merzlikins, who is getting his fourth straight start for the Blue Jackets.

Here's what else to know when the Blue Jackets and Canadiens face off a half hour later than normal: 

• Merzlikins start is, as mentioned, his fourth straight — but he's seeking his fifth straight win. The last time he had five straight: October, 2021, but even that carries an asterisk: four of those wins came to start the season but the fifth was in his season finale during the COVID-shortened 2020-21 season. The last time he had five straight victories in the same season was part of an eight-game win streak Merzly had in January and February of 2020. 
   
• Zach Werenski, Kirill Marchenko, and Sean Monahan are all tied for the team lead with 20 points through 20 games. That's never happened before in franchise history. Of course, this means that one of them will score and it will be assisted by the other two to create a tie at 21. Right?
   
• The Blue Jackets 60% chance to win on MoneyPuck and -185 betting odds on ESPNBet are the best odds for a Columbus win this season on either site.
   
• Montreal's best chance to win will come on special teams: This is a team that, despite being the worst in the Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference, has done really well on both the power play (10th at 21.4%) and penalty kill (8th, 83.3%). Columbus can probably win this game 5-on-5, but if they can't stay out of the box and can't connect when given an opportunity on the power play, it may not go so well. The Canadiens' penalty kill is 13/13 over the last four games.
   
• Cole Sillinger was on the ice and involved in practice Wednesday, but will not play against the Canadiens with an upper-body injury. James van Riemsdyk, who was a healthy scratch Saturday, steps back in. Here are the complete projected lineups: