Zak MacMillan

"CBJ"

Harrisburg, PA • United States • 23 Years Old • Male

CBJ Game No. 63- Florida Panthers v. Columbus Blue Jackets

CBJ Game No. 63- Florida Panthers v. Columbus Blue Jackets

Today's NHL Free Game of the Day on the App.

The Jackets stay at home today to take on the Florida Panthers in an afternoon tilt. Florida is on top of the Atlantic Division, and are looking to remain there by pulling a season sweep on the Jackets. The Panthers last played on Thursday against the Arizona Coyotes, and winning. 3-1. The Jackets look to earn their first and only win against Florida this season, and they last played on Thursday, dominating the New Jersey Devils by a final score of 6-1.

The Panthers have a lot to look forward to, including being buyers at the trade deadline and making a postseason appearance. General Manager Dale Tallon has said that he needed scoring wingers. Darren Dreger reported Florida was interested in Dale Weise, but he was traded with ex-Panther Tomas Fleschimann to the Chicago Blackhawks for Philip Danault and a 2018 2nd round pick. I have heard they are looking at Scott Hartnell in Columbus; Mikkel Boedker in Arizona; and Teddy Purcell and Justin Schultz in Edmonton.

Columbus has a lot looking towards the future, with the official word of them being sellers at Monday's NHL Trade Deadline. Scott Hartnell; Fedor Tyutin; Rene Borque; Gregory Campbell; and Dalton Prout might be playing their final games in Columbus uniforms. They have a high draft pick in this year's draft, and are looking to add more draft picks. The Jackets are also looking forward to contract negotiations with Seth Jones, who is a pending RFA. The Jackets are also looking forward to the progression of their youngsters on every position, from Alex Wennberg and Boone Jenner to Ryan Murray and Zach Werenski to Joonas Korpisalo and Anton Forsberg.

These two teams played twice in December.

On December 4th, the Jackets lost to the Florida Panthers in a shootout. This loss is the Jackets first overtime loss of the season. The final score was 2-1.

For Florida, Vincent Trocheck scored his goal after it hit off Justin Falk's knee pad. Al Montaya stopped 22 of 23 shots for a 0.957 save percentage (95.7%).

For Columbus, Michael Chaput scored his first goal of the season in his CBJ regular season debut. Also, defenseman Andrew Bodnarchuk has his first point on the Blue Jacket goal (an assist). My player to watch, Gregory Campbell, has a helper on the Chaput goal. Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 31 of 32 shots for a 0.969 save percentage (96.9%)


On the 27th of December in South Florida, the Panthers held on by a final score of 3-2.

The Panthers got goals from Aaron Ekblad and Sasha Barkov (2). Roberto Luongo stopped 15 of 17 shots for a 0.882 save percentage (88.2%).

Columbus got goals from Brandon Saad and Cam Atkinson. Curtis McElhinney stopped 29 of 32 shots for a 0.906 save percentage (90.6%).

In terms of the lineups, the Panthers recently got back Alex Barkov and Erik Gubdransson, but are still without Jonathan Huberdeau and Brandon Pirri. The Jackets put Jack Johnson on IR after suffering an upper-body injury against New Jersey on Thursday, and recalled Michael Pilotta, who they acquired with Brandon Saad this summer. According to Aaron Portzline, David Clakrson is back in the ice and is expected to return at some point next week.

Projected Lineups

Columbus Blue Jackets

Scott Hartnell-Alex Wennberg-Brandon Saad
Boone Jenner-Brandon Dubinsky-Cam Atkinson
Matt Calvert-William Karlsson-Nick Foligno
Kerby Rychel-Gregory Campbell-Rene Borque

Ryan Murray-Seth Jones

Cody Goloubef-David Savard

Fedor Tyutin-Dalton Prout

Joonas Korpisalo

Curtis McElhinney

Scratched: Michael Pilotta,
Injured: Jack Johnson (UBI), David Clarkson (UBI), Jared Boll (foot), Sergei Bobrovsky (groin)

Florida Panthers



Players to Watch

Columbus: Rene Borque. He might be playing one of his final games in a Jackets uniform after coming here a year ago. The Jackets might be trying to find a taker now.

Florida: Jaromir Jagr. The legend continues his hot streak at the age of 44. He leads the Panthers in points and looks to continue to play hockey.

Enjoy the games today. More to come…