SETTING THE STAGE:The Blue Jackets carry the NHL's longest active winning streak into Vancouver to conclude their three-game road trip through western Canada.
On Friday night, Columbus used a two-goal first period and then a two-goal second period to pull away from the Calgary Flames, who had been playing quite well in their own right and particularly so on home ice. The Blue Jackets' eight-game winning streak has them part of the impressive logjam within the Metropolitan Division, in which the top five teams are among the top seven teams in the entire league.
For this Sunday matinee at Rogers Arena, the Blue Jackets face a Canucks team coming off a strong victory of its own; Vancouver rallied for a 4-2 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Friday night to kick off a four-game homestand that continues with this game against the Blue Jackets. The Canucks have had some ups and downs in the early part of the season, but played well in their last outing and held off a desperate Lightning team in the third period.
Columbus' 19-5-4 record (42 points) is the best 28-game start in team history and the current eight-game win streak is tied for the second longest in franchise history.
NOTEWORTHY NEWS: Alex Wennberg's first-period fight on Friday was the first fight of his professional career. He later said it was the first hockey fight of his life. The Blue Jackets are not expected to make any lineup changes for Sunday's game. John Tortorella confirmed that Sergei Bobrovsky will start in goal for Columbus.
PROJECTED CBJ LINEUP:
Saad - Wennberg - Foligno
Jenner - Dubinsky - Atkinson
Calvert - Karlsson - Anderson
Hartnell - Sedlak - Gagner
Werenski - Jones
Johnson - Savard
Murray - Nutivaara
Bobrovsky
