SETTING THE STAGE: This is certainly shaping up to be an entertaining game in Columbus between two Metropolitan Division foes.
On one side, you have the Blue Jackets, who continued the best start in franchise history with a 4-1 win over the Red Wings at Joe Louis Arena last night. They're 16-5-4 after a stellar Sergei Bobrovsky performance earned them two points in a game in which they didn't play their best, which Brandon Dubinsky said is the mark of a good team - one that can find different ways to win.
Then we have the New York Islanders, who started slowly out of the gate but are digging themselves out of an early hole with a red-hot run of late. Coming into tonight's game, the Islanders are 5-0-1 in their last six games and, most recently, knocked off the St. Louis Blues at Barclays Center on Thursday night. They're starting to show signs of the fast, aggressive style that's been their hallmark under coach Jack Capuano, and captain John Tavares has been leading the way.
This is the first meeting of the season between the Blue Jackets and Islanders.
NOTEWORTHY NEWS: Oliver Bjorkstrand, called up Friday morning from Cleveland (AHL), arrived in Detroit an hour before the game and suited up alongside Alex Wennberg and Brandon Saad. John Tortorella said he liked Bjorkstrand's game and thought the puck followed him around for a few chances. Captain Nick Foligno (illness) missed Friday's game, and his status for tonight's game is unknown.
PROJECTED CBJ LINEUP:
Saad - Wennberg - Bjorkstrand
Jenner - Dubinsky - Atkinson
Hartnell - Karlsson - Anderson
Calvert - Sedlak - Gagner
Werenski - Jones
Johnson - Savard
Murray - Nutivaara
Bobrovsky
