The Columbus Blue Jackets continue their holiday weekend of games with a road battle with the Carolina Hurricanes. Puckdrop is at 5pm on Bally Sports.

This is their first meeting of the season for the Metropolitan foes. Carolina is coming off a season from the Eastern Conference finals, where they were swept by the Florida Panthers.

Carolina has made some tweaks to the depth of the roster, but also made some decent additions.

Out

Forwards Jesse Puljujarvi, Stelio Mattheos, and Dominik Bokk were left unqualified.

Shayne Gostisbehere signed with Detroit.

Max Lajoie and William Lagesson signed with Toronto.

Forward Mackenzie MacEachern inked with St. Louis.

Max Paccioretty joined Washington.

Calvin De Haan signed with Tampa Bay.

Ondrej Kase signed with the Czech league after multiple concussions.

Massimo Rizzo was traded to the Flyers.

Caleb Jones was traded to Colorado after signing in the summer.

Zach Aston-Resse signed with Detroit after failing to make Carolina out of training camp.

In

Dmitry Orlov signed short term.

Michael Buntjng and Brendan Lemieux signed to give the team toughness.

Anthony DeAngelo returned after a buyout from the Flyers.

David Kase was acquired via trade from Philadelphia.

Carolina has been in a rough patch as goaltending has been in decline. They are all under a 0.900 save percentage with their only answer being scoring the way out of it by having nine players having 10+ points. They also have a top 10 powerplay at 22%.

Frederik Andersen is out long term due to blood clotting, leaving the tandem to be Antti Raanta and youngster Pyotr Kochetkov.

The Canes were crushed on Friday by the Bolts 8-2 at home, so expect some anger and motivation for revenge to come out against the Blue Jackets for the embarrassment.

Columbus is coming in with their first two wins in a row October 21st. On Friday, it was their first road win against the Eastern Conference. They also joined 12 other NHL teams in league history when 13 road teams won their games for the first time ever.

The Blue Jackets are missing the services of Alexandre Texier, who suffered an injury against the Blackhawks. Healthy scratches and recalls in Adam Boqvist and Eric Robinson have been contributors since, helping bring the team back to life.

Expect an Elvis v Kooch battle.

Projected Lineups

Carolina Hurricanes

Teuvo Terrivanen—Sebastian Aho—Seth Jarvis
Andrei Svechinkov—Jesperi Kotkniemi—Martin Necas
Jordan Martinook—Jordan Staal—Jesper Fast
Michael Bunting—Jack Drury—Stefan Nosen

Jacob Slavin—Brent Burns
Brady Skeji—Brett Pesce
Dmitry Orlov—Jalen Chatfield

Pytor Kochetkov
Antti Raanta

Scratched — Anthony DeAnglo

Injured — Frederik Andersen

Columbus Blue Jackets

Johnny Gaudreau—Boone Jenner—Kirill Marchenko
Dmitry Vokornov—Adam Fantilli—Patrik Laine
Yegor Chinakov—Cole Sillinger—Mathieu Olivier
Eric Robinson—Sean Kuraly—Justin Danforth

Zach Werenski—Adam Boqvist
Ivan Provorov—David Jiricek
Jake Bean—Erik Gubdranson

Elvis Merzlikins
Spencer Martin

Scratched — Andrew Peeke
Injured — Alexandre Texier, Damon Severson, Jack Roslovic, Daniil Tarasov

Players to Watch

Carolina — Sebastian Aho — the leading point scorer just got his massive contact extension, is looking to lead the team back to the playoff picture.

Columbus — Patrik Laine — healthy once again after a health bomb and concussion problems, meets some of his native Finnish friends in a game that is a must win for both sides. 3 goals in 11 games is not much for Laine, and needs to get that going to turn the Jackets around.


Predicted Final Score

CAR - 6

CBJ - 5

OT


Boston tomorrow night, so expect a double post game recap Tuesday.

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