Tonight is the first game of four in a road trip for the Columbus, and it is also the debut of new head coach John Tortorella. Columbus plays the Minnesota Wild, the same team they traded Jordan Leopold to in a friendly deal that benefited everyone, and the same team that stole Mike Reilly from us. The Wild are pretty much the same team, besides Reilly.
The Jackets are going with another different group of players because John Tortorella is now the bench boss. Bobs is looking for his confidence, and is getting the go in between the pipes. Cam Atkinson is back in and Rene Borque is scratched.
BLUE JACKETS
Boone Jenner - Ryan Johansen - Nick Foligno
Scott Hartnell - Alexander Wennberg - Brandon Saad
Matt Calvert - Brandon Dubinsky - David Clarkson
William Karlsson - Gregory Campbell - Cam Atkinson
Jack Johnson - David Savard
Fedor Tyutin - Dalton Prout
Cody Goloubef - Ryan Murray
Sergei Bobrovsky
Curtis McElhinney
Scratched: Jared Boll, Rene Bourque, Kevin Connauton
Injuries: None
WILD
Zach Parise - Mikael Granlund - Jason Pominville
Jason Zucker - Mikko Koivu - Nino Niederreiter
Thomas Vanek - Charlie Coyle - Justin Fontaine
Chris Porter - Erik Haula - Ryan Carter
Ryan Suter - Jared Spurgeon
Jonas Brodin - Matt Dumba
Marco Scandella - Christian Folin
Devan Dubnyk
Darcy Kuemper
Injured: Tyler Graovac (groin)
Scratched: Niklas Backstrom, Nate Prosser
Things to Watch:
1. John Tortorella- the new coach in the lineup means new changes, and we will see how the players play under Torts.
2. Brandon Dubinsky- Duber knows Torts from their New York Ranger days. Let's see how these two reconnect in Columbus.
3. Sergei Bobrovsky- Let's see if he can get his confidence back. If he can, Columbus will be back on the right track. Otherwise, a the same story will be written.
4. Thomas Vanek- It is surprising to see such a prolific goal scorer like Vanek be on the third line. The Austrian is now playing more of secondary role with Minnesota- which he has not really ever had in his career.
Enjoy the games tonight. More to come...