The Columbus Blue Jackets are back home tonight at the Nationwide Arena hosting the Buffalo Sabres at the NHL Network.
Telecast commences at 7pm.
This is the third and final meeting of the season for the two clubs. They have been dead split on games won and lost.
Columbus is coming off the plane from California less than 24 hours after the Emil Bemstrom trade. In the current JD interim GM era, the team is 2-2-0.
Buffalo has been riding even and deadline speculation is being discussed publicly regarding their potentially available players.
Zemgus Girgensons, Kyle Okposo, and Victor Olofsson have come up as potential bait. Casey Mittlestadt’s name has also been tossed around, which makes no sense to me.
Buffalo was expected to be the surprise team of the season, with the rise of the young goaltending and defenders finding themselves. Instead, they were shelled. The right veterans and enforcer may help the kids build the confidence and break the longest playoff drought for next season.
Columbus has been riding the hot steaks of superstars Johnny Gaudreau, Boone Jenner, and Zach Werenski since the all star break. They have combined for 21 points in the last 5 games - 9 goals and 12 assists.
The expectation is Alex Nylander will be arriving to Columbus from Scranton sometime today, and will be the spare forward. Look for the same lineups as used in Anaheim, with Tarasov getting to go v UPL.
Tonight is also Adam Boqvist’s 200th career NHL game.
Projected Lineups
Buffalo Sabres
Jeff Skinner—Tage Thompson —Alex Tuch
Jordan Greenway—Casey Mittlestadt—Dylan Cozens
Zach Besnon—Peyton Krebs—JJ Peterka
Eric Robinson—Zemgus Girgensons—Kyle Okposo
Rasmus Dahlin—Henri Jokiharju
Jacob Bryson—Connor Clifton
Kale Clague—Erik Johnson
Ukka-Pekka Lukkonnen
Eric Comrie
Injured — Owen Power, Mattias Samuelsson, Jack Quinn,
Columbus Blue Jackets
Johnny Gaudreau -- Boone Jenner -- Jack Roslovic
Yegor Chinakhov -- Dmitri Voronkov -- Kirill Marchenko
Kent Johnson -- Cole Sillinger -- Justin Danforth
Alexandre Texier -- Sean Kuraly -- Mathieu Olivier
Zach Werenski -- Adam Boqvist
Ivan Provorov -- Damon Severson
Jake Bean -- Erik Gudbranson
Daniil Tarasov
Elvis Merzlikins
Scratched: Andrew Peeke, Alex Nylander
Injured: Adam Fantilli (calf), Patrik Laine (upper body)
Players to Watch
Buffalo - Casey Mittlestadt — 44 points this season. Yet he is somehow available? Don’t get it.
Columbus - Jack Roslovic - the hometown rental is on a 4 game point streak. A goal and 4 helpers. This is hopefully boosting his value.
Predicted Final Score
BUF - 5
CBJ - 6
Columbus Blue Jackets Blogger • 
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