CBJ vs. Panthers Preview
The Columbus Blue Jackets finish up a weekend homestand today against the Florida Panthers. They beat the St. Louis Blues on Friday night.
The Panthers come into Columbus having won their last two games against the Dallas Stars and Pittsburgh Penguins. Sergei Bobrovsky has started the last two games for the Panthers. To be such a highly skilled team, the Panthers, oddly enough, are 21st on the PP. Their PK currently sits at 14th in the league. They're 30th in the NHL in the amount of PIMs they give up, so the CBJ will have their shots on the powerplay.
The Panthers are currently 2nd in the Atlantic, 3rd in the East, and 7th in the NHL.
Three Keys
- Throw The Puck At The Net As Much As Possible. The Panthers give up the second-most amount of shots per game in the league. So, even though they don't give up many goals, scoring chances will be there.
- Play Like They Did Against St. Louis. The Blue Jackets thoroughly handled the Blues, handing Jet Greaves his first NHL win. They played very well after getting thumped by NYI on Thursday night and should be getting Patrik Laine and Erik Gudbranson back to help them out. Adam Fantilli's line along with the Russian line has been playing very well, and everyone hopes that Vincent keeps them together.
- Leave It All On The Ice. After today's game, the CBJ will have three days off to prepare for the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday in Toronto. After playing 3 games in 4 nights, the Jackets should have some tired legs, but leave it all out there and take a few days to rest.
Series History
- Columbus is 16-5-3 all-time at NWA, and 26-17-5 in the series.
- The CBJ have killed off 27-of-31 Florida power play chances over the past 11 games.
- The Jackets have been shut out six times by the Florida Panthers in the series.
Who to watch for Florida
- Sam Reinhart has 17 goals and 33 points this season.
- Noted Jacket slayer Carter Verhaeghe has 12 goals and 22 points.
- Aleksander Barkov has 9 goals and 25 points.
- Sergei Bobrovsky is 13-6-1 with a GAA of 2.42 and a save % of .913. He played on Friday night and beat the Penguins 3-1.
- Anthony Stolarz is 3-2-1 with a GAA of 2.34 with a save % of .917.
Player Notes
- Johnny Gaudreau has 17 points in 18 career games against Florida.
- Patrik Laine has 20 points in 17 career games against the Panthers.
- Ivan Provorov has 4 points in the last 6 games vs. Florida.
How to Watch & Listen: Tonight's game will be on Bally Sports Ohio. As always, the legendary Jeff Rimer will be on the play-by-play. The radio broadcast will be on 97.1 The Fan with Bob McElligott behind the mic doing the play-by-play.
Join Jason Newland's Columbus Blue Jacket page on Bunches, a new app that connects sports fans. Also, you can watch a new YouTube game show about the Blue Jackets, Around the Fifth Line.