Trigger Warning: Chicago Blackhawks sexual assault case mentioned as former CBJ bench boss John Tortorella came forward with a direct message to the hockey world.
Game Day Action
After a few days off, the Columbus Blue Jackets return to the ice on the road to take on the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden. The Jackets' second road game will be under the bright lights of New York, taking on a motivated Rangers team, that is full of star talent in their top six, and grit and toughness in their bottom six. This will also be the first time that Blue Jackets' president John Davidson will do battle with his prodigy in current president and general manager Chris Drury, who took over the Blue Shirts after the Tom Wilson incident.
With the losses of Pavel Buchnevich, Anthony DeAngelo, and Brett Howden; they added Samy Blias, Ryan Reaves, Barclay Goodrow, Greg McKegg, Jared Tinordi, and Patrick Nemeth to add that age and strength to help the kids on the roster. Gerard Gallant is the new bench boss in New York, after being fired in 2020 from the Vegas Golden Knights. They also extended Mika Zibanejad to an 8 year extension, even after the trade rumors of being involved with the Sabres for Eichel and to Vegas to be the number one center, he stays alongside former Blue Jackets' winger Artemi Panarin for the next nine seasons, counting this one ongoing. The other fascination is the six alternate captains between Panarin, Zibanejad, Goodrow, Chris Kreider, Ryan Strome, and Jacob Trouba.
As for the lineup's tonight, per fellow Hockeybuzzer Jan Levine, it appears Kaapo Kakko will be returning. For Columbus, Max Domi returns early from his injury. Adam Boqvist also remains out with his lower-body injury, which gives Gabriel Carlsson more minutes. Gregory Hoffman slides into the top six to find a way to keep the hot streak rolling after his first career goal, and Alex Texier slips to the fourth line. Gus Nyqvist is also shifting himself with the kids, but it is still yet to be seen where Max will be tonight. The goaltending matchup is between Elvis Merzlikins and Igor Shesterkin.
Projected Lineups via Daily Faceoff
New York Rangers
Barclay Goodrow--Mike Zibanejad--Chris Kreider
Artemi Panarin--Ryan Strome--Kaapo Kakko
Alexis Lafreniere--Filip Chytil--Samuel Blias
Dryden Hunt--Kevin Rooney--Grey McKegg
Ryan Lindgren--Adam Fox
K'Andre Miller--Jacob Trouba
Patrik Nemeth--Nils Lundkvist
Igor Shesterkin
Alexandar Georgiev
Columbus Blue Jackets
Patrik Laine--Boone Jenner--Jakub Voracek
Gregory Hoffman--Jack Roslovic--Oliver Bjorkstrand
Gustav Nyqvist--Cole Sillinger--Yegor Chinakov
Eric Robinson--Sean Kuraly--Alexandre Texier
Zach Werenski--Jake Bean
Vladislav Gavrikov--Andrew Peeke
Gabriel Carlsson--Scott Harrington
Elvis Merzlikins
Joonas Korpisalo
Scratched: Gavin Bayruether, Max Domi
Injured: Trey Fix-Wolansky, Nathan Gerbe, Dean Kukan, Adam Boqvist
Keys to Win
Discipline -- after allowing multiple power play goals, this team cannot afford to go shorthanded with the snipers on the Rangers' offense, especially Panarin. The tough guys on the Rangers may not hesitate towards the Columbus kids, and Jenner and Larsen have to keep cooler heads in tougher moments against a Metro rival.
Speed-- the younger legs of Columbus and puck play into the corners will tire the Rangers out, and with extra rest, the Blue Jackets need to capitalize on this opportunity in Broadway.
Elvis in the Building-- Merzlikins is currently 4-0-0 with a 1.48 GAA and a 0.952 SV%. He is poised to keep his momentum going as he looks to win a Veznia in honor of Matiss Kivlenieks.
Players to Watch
NY Rangers --
Artemi Panarin -- the Bredman is currently at 4 points (1 goal, 3 assists) in 7 games played with a -4 rating. The former Blue Jacket has got to get back into the scoring side things for the Blue Shirts, and the Blue Jackets have to keep him off to win tonight.
Columbus --
Max Domi -- the son of Tie currently has 4 points (1 goal, 3 assists) in 2 games played, after missing the last 4 with his second rib injury since the summer. Domi is back early once again, but he is motivated and ready to help Columbus continue their winning ways early in the 2021-2022 season.
Before getting to the conclusion, we must conclude here with the tough news, but shed the light on it to keep up to date with it:
Tortorella's Message
Prayers to Kyle Beach and hoping for better things going forward for him and friends and family. With the former first rounder being revealed as the John Doe in the Chicago Blackhawks scandal, ESPN had the former Blue Jackets' coach John Tortorella discuss the sexual assault case, and he went into the Blackhawks' lack of ownership toward the mishandling of the case,
" “This wasn’t a one-man decision,” he said. “It’s multiple people. I just don’t get why one guy couldn’t just stand up and say, ‘You know what? No. This is wrong.'”
Torts also added:
“This is sexual assault, which casts a shadow over the game of hockey,” he added. “That’s what’s crazy to me, that one man couldn’t stand up and say, ‘You know what? No way. We have to get this straightened out right now.”
The Blackhawks have gone under this scrutiny since the summer, and chose on ice attempts to cover it up, in the additions of former Blue Jackets' defender Seth Jones and Veznia winner Marc-Andre Fleury as the headlines.
Tortorella spoke up, and was spot on in all his wording and message to the hockey world about what is going on with it in 2021.
Word on the street is since the resignation of former Panthers' and Blackhawks' head coach Joel Quenneville, Torts has come up as the frontrunner candidate for the head coaching position of the undefeated Florida Panthers.
All the best to Beach...
The taunt.
As of a few days ago, the investigation involving the Dallas Stars' fan and the Columbus Blue Jackets organization and arena security is still ongoing.
As reported by Aaron Portzline of the Athletic on October 26,
"Told CBJ and Nationwide Arena security are attempting to identify the fan who, according to Elvis Merzlikins, taunted Merzlikins regarding the off-season death of his friend and former teammate Matiss Kivlenieks before Monday's game versus Dallas."
A response tweet came from @therealholstien, identified as John's Plan, clipping the Blue Jackets' Instagram story where the taunt is quote
"don't light a firework"
Attacking someone in mourning is not the right thing to do at any moment, as it is a life and the people that care for him the most that are being affected, even to this day, by that loss.
As someone who has been diagnosed with complicated grief in the past, empathy can only go so far when so far from the team, but the loss and age difference being so close, also touched me as well.
I am just hoping that Elvis and family remain positive in a world where there is wrong people like this type of fan.
Thoughts on the game, Tortorella, Elvis, and more?
More to come....
Fans...
Follow me on Twitter @ZakMacBuzz for all the latest info...
Columbus Blue Jackets Blogger • 
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