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Match-up - Columbus Blue Jackets (8-15-2) @ Florida Panthers (18-6-2)
Road/Home records - 4-7-1 -------------- 11-2-1
TV - SUN, FS-O
Puck drop - 7:00 p.m. ET
Season series - 1-0 Lightning
Last 10 - Blue Jackets: 4-5-1 ------------ Lightning: 7-2-1
Projected starting goalies - Sergei Bobrovsky vs Ben Bishop
Projected lines for the Lightning via DailyFaceoff.com:
Alex Killorn - Steven Stamkos - Ryan Callahan
Ondrej Palat - Tyler Johnson - Nikita Kucherov
Cedric Paquette - Valtteri Filppula - Brett Connolly
Jonathan Drouin - Brian Boyle - Brenden Morrow
Victor Hedman - Anton Stralman
Jason Garrison - Andrej Sustr
Matt Carle - Radko Gudas
Projected lines for the Blue Jackets:
*questionable
Scott Hartnell - Ryan Johansen - Nick Foligno
Kerby Rychel - Boone Jenner - Cam Atkinson
Matt Calvert - Michael Chaput - Jack Skille
Brian Gibbons - Adam Cracknell - Jared Boll
Jack Johnson - Dalton Prout
Kevin Connauton - James Wisniewski
Jordan Leopold - David Savard
Injured: Brandon Dubinsky*, Artem Anisimov, Nathan Horton, Mark Letestu, Ryan Murray, Fedor Tyutin, Cody Goloubef.
Game notes:
- The best defense for the Jackets in this one will be a good offense. Tampa Bay is loaded with talent and they play a very up tempo game that's very hard to defend, so the best way to do it is to keep the puck as long as possible. If the Jackets can grind the Tampa Bay defense down low and cycle well they should be able to sustain some long possessions to slow down Tampa's attack.
- The Jackets defense will need to be very alert, because if they stop moving their feet for a second it'll be trouble. They must also avoid misreading a play on a pinch or there will be an odd-man rush going the other way.
- Sergei Bobrovsky probably won't have to stop 52 pucks, but I'm sure he'll see his fair share tonight. He'll need to be very good once again if the Jackets want to have a shot against one of the top teams in hockey.
- Kerby Rychel has points in two consecutive games and has impressed in all three games despite only playing about 11 minutes per contest. It'll be interesting to see if that number shoots up a bit tonight.
- After a very hot start to the season, Scott Hartnell has just one point in his last 11 games. He'll have to be better if the Jackets are going to make any sort of push towards the playoffs. They've won consecutive games and now it's time to build on that.
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