After some extra days off and suffering with the Coyotes’ loss on Tuesday night, the Columbus Blue Jackets return to Nationwide Arena to battle the best team in the Eastern Conference (currently) and in the NHL — the Boston Bruins.

Boston has been on a tear this early in the season, and it’s shocking given the injuries to the roster; the returning veterans; and the new bench boss. The Bruins had quite the summer, with the number of surgeries and roster turnover.

Boston extended captain Patrice Bergeron and reacquired center David Krejci, after a one-year retirement to Czechia. A number of journeymen came in to fill the depth of the organization — forwards Vinni Lettieri and AJ Greer; defensemen Dan Renouf, Connor Carrick, and Anton Stralman; and goaltender Keith Kinkaid. Pavel Zacha was acquired from New Jersey in exchange for forward Erik Haula. Zdeno Chara signed a one day contract to retire as a member of the Boston Bruins.

Bruce Cassidy was fired to hire Jim Montgomery, the previous coach of the Dallas Stars.

In last night’s win against Detroit, veteran winger Brad Marchand made his season debut; and the Bruins traded forward Jack Stunidcka to the Vancouver Canucks for goalie Michael DiPietro and defenseman Jonathan Myrenberg. Also, David Krejci left last night’s game with an upper body injury.

The Bruins have been able to overcame the wave of injuries, with the surgeries for Marchand, Charlie McAvoy, and Matt Grzelyck. Brandon Carlo also suffered his 5th concussion earlier in the year, and Krejci is unknown for tonight as of this morning.

Everything is going well in Boston.

In Columbus, the news just continues to suck. Jake Bean is I’ll and is a game time decision this morning. Adam Boqvist is on the IR. Justin Danforth is fine for the year. Nick Blanenburg is out. No word of Joona Luoto.

The brightest news is from the Finnish players on the roster, as Laine returned and the most recent update shows Joonas Korpisalo is practicing and will join the team in their Global Series matchups in his native country.

With extra rest, and plying a team that is on a back-to-back, this is a must win before the wonky schedule takes an afternoon game in New Jersey on Sunday, then flying to Finland for Friday.

Projected Lineups


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

Hampus Lindholm—Matt Grzelyck
Derek Forbort—Connor Clifton
Jakub Zboril—Brandon Carlo

Linus Ullmark
Jeremy Swayman

Scratched — Anton Stralman
Injured — David Krejci, Charlie McAvoy


Columbus Blue Jackets

Johnny Gaudreau—Jack Roslovic—Patrik Laine
Yegor Chinakov—Cole Sillinger—Jakub Voracek
Gustav Nyquist—Boone Jenner—Kent Johnson
Eric Robinson—Sean Kuraly—Liam Foudy

Zach Werenski—Andrew Peeke
Vladislav Gavrikov—David Jiricek
Gavin Bayreuther—Erik Gubdranson

Elvis Merzlikins
Daniil Tarasov

Scratched — Mathieu Oliver
Injured — Jake Bean, Nick Blankenburg, Adam Boqvist, Joona Luoto, Justin Danforth, Joonas Korpisalo


Players to Watch

Boston — David Pastrnak — 4 goals and 6 assists in his last 5 games. A pending unrestricted free agent, and is tied for first in league scoring with Oilers Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. He is the best player in Boston and everything he touches right now is gold. Pasta has 14 points in 15 games career against Columbus.


Columbus — Sean Kuraly — the former Bruin and Dublin local boy, Kuraly just passed his 100th career point against the Rangers. Kuraly has 2 assists in 3 games against Boston with a -1 rating and 2 shots on net.

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