SETTING THE STAGE:Coming off a stretch in which they played five games in seven days and then hit the road out west, this mild week must feel like foreign territory to the Blue Jackets.
After a 4-1 win over the Arizona Coyotes on Monday night at Nationwide Arena, they've had a day off, two practice days and now travel to Detroit to face the Red Wings on Friday night. It's the Blue Jackets' penultimate trip to Joe Louis Arena, which will give way to Little Caesars Arena as the new home of the Red Wings (and Detroit Pistons) beginning next fall.
This is the first of three meetings this season between the Blue Jackets and Red Wings, who will play once more at Joe Louis Arena (on Feb. 7) and once at Nationwide Arena (Feb. 11) before the regular season wraps up. The Red Wings begin a five-game home stand when they face Columbus, and it sounds as though they'll get speedy forward Andreas Athanasiou back in the lineup after missing 11 games with a knee injury.
The Blue Jackets entered Thursday's games occupying third place in the Metropolitan Division (15-5-4, 34 points), good for the second-best win percentage in the NHL.
NOTEWORTHY NEWS: Columbus is down to seven defensemen on its active roster after Dalton Prout was loaned to Cleveland (AHL) on a conditioning assignment Thursday. Defenseman Zach Werenski (death in the family) is expected to play on Friday, coach John Tortorella said. Sergei Bobrovsky is expected to start in goal.
PROJECTED CBJ LINEUP:
Saad - Wennberg - Foligno
Jenner - Dubinsky - Atkinson
Hartnell - Karlsson - Anderson
Calvert - Sedlak - Gagner
Werenski - Jones
Johnson - Savard
Murray - Nutivaara
Bobrovsky
