The Columbus Blue Jackets are in for their final showdown before the holiday break hosting the Toronto Maple Leafs. Puckdrop is at 7pm from the Nationwide Arena on Bally Sports.

This is the second matchup of three, with the teams just playing each other last Thursday, the 14th of December. Despite the illness bug going through Toronto, they got the extra point.

Columbus put the foot on the gas pedal with five early goals in the first two periods.

With that said, this is the last time they did have Patrik Laine before he fractured his clavicle in a collision with William Lagesson. And no, I do not buy the Laine trade rumors. He has been sick and injury prone this season, the Jackets would be getting worse return for him now than ever. With that said, the Ducks and Kings have been interested in him dating back to his days in Winnipeg. Don’t know if the Kings would still want or need an offensive dynamo like him, but the Ducks should do need that. Zegras has been struggling mightly.

The core four has been carrying the Leafs through the season, with Matthews on a goal pace better than his 60 goal season a few years ago. He could easily become the best American born player of all time before he is even 30.

The goaltending is broken. Buffalo shelled Toronto 9-3 after the Sabres were humiliated 9-4 by the Jackets. Ilya Samsonov is at a 0.871 save percentage, and Martin Jones has lost his previous two games in the crease.

Scoring will be key for the Jackets, but not giving the Leafs the chances will be most important. A -17 goal differential is not good this early in the season for the Jackets, but they are expected to see the return of Damon Severson.

What this means for the future of the defense between David Jiricek and Nick Blankenburg on the main roster, and the trade availability of Jake Bean, Andrew Peeke, and Adam Boqvist remains to be seen.

To free up the roster space they may also look to move Spencer Martin to the minors or to a team like Edmonton who have been scouting the organization.

The Russian line is at 23 points in the last 10 games, including 13 goals in the stretch. These three have brought the Blue Jackets’ offense to life even with the injuries to Jenner, Roslovic, and Laine. They have been a machine. With a bit more defense, and production from Gaudreau, Fantilli, and Johnson, this could be a strong young top six in the interim.

Expect Martin v Jones.

Projected Lineups


Matthew Knies—Auston Matthews—William Nylander
Tyler Bertuzzi—John Tavares—Mitch Marner
Nicolas Robertson—Max Domi—Calle Jarnkrok
Bobby McMann—David Kampf—Noah Gregor

Morgan Reilly—TJ Brodie
Jake McCabe— Timothy Liljegren
Simon Benoit—William Lagesson

Martin Jones
Ilya Samsonov

Scratched — Connor Timmins,
Injured — Matt Murray, John Klingberg, Mark Giordano, Joseph Woll, Ryan Reaves


Columbus Blue Jackets

Johnny Gaudreau—Adam Fantilli—Justin Danforth
Yegor Chinakov—Dmitri Voronkov—Kirill Marchenko
Kent Johnson—Cole Sillinger—Emil Bemstorm
Brendan Gaunce—Sean Kuraly—Alexandre Texier

Zach Werenski—Damon Severson
Ivan Provorov—Andrew Peeke
Jake Bean—Erik Gudbranson

Daniil Tarasov
Elvis Merzlikins

Scratched — Mathieu Olivier, David Jiricek, Spencer Martin

Injured — Nick Blankenburg, Patrik Laine, Jack Roslovic, Boone Jenner, Adam Boqvist

Players to Watch

Toronto — William Nylander — pending UFA star that could be looking to move on or punch his ticket to Marner’s number.

Columbus — Adam Fantilli — home cooking against the hometown team, huge chance for his limelight to continue to grow.

Predicted Final Score

TOR - 5

CBJ - 4

More is coming before holiday break.

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