The Golden Knights return home after turning around a four-game road trip with back-to-back wins against the Lightning and Red Wings. Tonight’s matchup is the second of two meetings against the Blue Jackets, who enter tonight’s contest with wins in two straight as well.
The Blue Jackets have been the subject of nonstop speculation regarding the futures of Artemi Panarin and Sergei Bobrovsky, who will both be unrestricted free agents at the end of this season. Bobrovsky has struggled of late but is coming off a 29-save win against the Coyotes. Plus, he shut out the Knights back in December, making 28 saves in a 1-0 effort. Panarin has been red-hot, recording 15 points in his last 11 games.
For the Knights, the top line is starting to wake up after combining for five points the other night in Detroit. That line will remain intact for tonight’s tilt, with William Karlsson skating between Jonathan Marchessault and Reilly Smith as he faces his former team. Valentin Zykov will drop down to the third line. William Carrier has been activated from injured reserve and will be back on the fourth line.
Here are the projected lineups for both clubs:
Golden Knights
Marchessault — Karlsson — Smith
Pacioretty — Stastny — Tuch
Nosek — Eakin — Zykov
Carrier — Bellemare — Reaves
McNabb — Schmidt
Theodore — Engelland
Merrill — Miller
Fleury
Subban
Blue Jackets
Panarin (#9) — DuBois (#18) — Atkinson (#13)
Foligno (#71) — Jenner (#38) — Anderson (#77)
Duclair (#91) — Wennberg (#10) — Bjorkstrand (#28)
Hannikainen (#37) — Nash (#20) — Sedlak (#45)
Jones (#3) — Murray (#27)
Werenski (#8) — Savard (#58)
Harrington (#4) — Nutivaara (#65)
Bobrovsky (#72)
Korpisalo (#70)
ICYMI, here is the preview for tonight’s game, as well as the preview from The Cannon, the SB Nation site for the Columbus Blue Jackets.
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