Road trip!
Just the facts
When: Tonight, 7 PM
Where: Nationwide Arena – Columbus, OH
How to follow: NESN, 98.5 The Sports Hub
Opposing perspective: The Cannon
Know your enemy
- 6-12-4, 16PTS, last in the Metropolitan Division
- Zach Werenski: 1G-14A-15PTS; Boone Jenner: 11G-3A-14PTS; Ivan Provorov: 1G-12A-13PTS
- Elvis Merzlikins: 5-7-3, 3.11 GAA, .907 save percentage
Game notes
- The Bruins will look to work their way out of a rough patch beginning tonight, having lost two games in a row for the first time all season.
- On paper, this is a game the Bruins should absolutely win. They’re superior to the Blue Jackets in every aspect of the game, and Columbus played a road game at 5 PM on Sunday evening (a 3-2 loss to Carolina). As they say, however, the game isn’t played on paper.
- In that game, per Columbus scored twice early in the third to take a 2-0 lead, only to allow three goals in the game’s final ten minutes and lose in regulation.
- Elvis Merzlikins played on Sunday evening, meaning we’re likely to see back-up Spencer Martin tonight. He has lost his last three starts, allowing 13 goals in those games.
- Ol’ pal Sean Kuraly remains with his home state Blue Jackets, and he’s had a decent start to the season: 5G-3A-8PTS in 22 games.
- In a symbol of what ails Columbus, Kuraly’s five goals are just one less than Johnny Gaudreau and Patrik Laine combined — not exactly what Columbus expected to get out of its stars. Both of those guys have found themselves healthy scratched, benched, or both in recent weeks, so…yeah.
- We shouldn’t be too hard on Columbus, as the B’s have been a mess since Thanksgiving too. Truthfully, they probably should have lost the pre-Thanksgiving Florida game but were bailed out by Linus Ullmark. Gaps on defense, poor coverage, poor decision-making…it’s all been there lately. If there’s ever a game to turn that around, this is it.
- Boone Jenner, who strikes me as one of those guys who always scores against the Bruins, has been a bright spot for Columbus, with 11 goals in 22 games.
- The Jackets have a good penalty kill, second-best in the league at 88.9%.
See ya tonight!