The Columbus Blue Jackets return to the ice in a rare afternoon tilt. This time, at the TD Garden against the Boston Bruins. One of the most beautiful arenas I’ve ever attended. It’s a must experience venue.

Speaking of must, something must be in the air in Boston, as they are leading the league in points with 48. The Bruins last shutout Columbus at Nationwide Arena on October 28.

A lot of the roster is expiring, and they’re pushing in a now run to win one last Stanley Cup before a rebuild.

The Bruins are coming into the game with a shootout loss to the LA Kings on Thursday, where the Jackets lost to Tampa Bay in regulation at Amalie Arena (another amazing venue, the concourse blew it away for me).

Columbus is 5 points away from the next worst team in the Eastern Conference, and need to catchup for any hope to succeed and surprise this season, in the right way.

Projected Lineups

Boston Bruins

Brad Marchand—Patrice Bergeron—Jake DeBrusk
Pavel Zacha—David Krejci—David Pastrnak
Taylor Hall—Charlie Coyle—Trent Frederic
Nick Foligno—Tomas Nosek—AJ Greer

Derek Forbort—Charlie McAvoy
Hampus Lindholm—Connor Clifton
Matt Grzelyck—Brandon Carlo

Linus Ullmark
Jeremy Swayman

Scratched —
Injured —

Columbus Blue Jackets

Johnny Gaudreau—Boone Jenner—Gustav Nyquist
Yegor Chinakov—Jack Roslovic—Patrik Laine
Kent Johnson—Cole Sillinger—Kirill Marchenko
Liam Foudy—Sean Kuraly—Mathieu Oliver

Vladislav Gavrikov—Marcus Bjork
Jake Christiansen—Andrew Peeke
Tim Breni—Erik Gudbranson

Elvis Merzlikins
Daniil Tarasov

Scratched — Eric Robinson, Gavin Bayreuther, Carson Meyer
Injured— Zach Werenski, Jakub Voracek, Jake Bean, Adam Boqvist, Nick Blankenburg, Joonas Korpisalo, Justin Danforth

Players to Watch

Boston — Patrice Bergeron — first ballot hall of famer, and should be in running for both the Mark Messier leadership award and the Frank J Selke award. 22 points in 29 games.

Columbus — Gustav Nyquist — 13 points in 29 games, the rental would only catch middling value, even with salary retained.

Final Score

BOS — 6
CBJ — 2

Thoughts? More to come…

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