BLUE JACKETS (23-34-12) at AVALANCHE (44-20-5)
9 p.m. ET; BSOH, ALT
Blue Jackets projected lineup
Johnny Gaudreau -- Boone Jenner -- Alex Nylander
Alexandre Texier -- Cole Sillinger -- Kirill Marchenko
Mikael Pyyhtia -- Dmitri Voronkov -- Trey Fix-Wolansky
Mathieu Olivier -- Brendan Gaunce -- Carson Meyer
Damon Severson -- Zach Werenski
Jake Bean -- Ivan Provorov
Jake Christiansen -- Erik Gudbranson
Elvis Merzlikins
Daniil Tarasov
Scratched: David Jiricek
Injured: Adam Fantilli (calf), Patrik Laine (upper body), Justin Danforth (concussion), Sean Kuraly (lower body), Yegor Chinakhov (upper body), Adam Boqvist (upper body)
Avalanche projected lineup
Valeri Nichushkin -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Mikko Rantanen
Artturi Lehkonen -- Casey Mittelstadt -- Jonathan Drouin
Brandon Duhaime -- Ross Colton -- Zach Parise
Miles Wood -- Andrew Cogliano -- Yakov Trenin
Devon Toews -- Cale Makar
Samuel Girard -- Josh Manson
Jack Johnson -- Sean Walker
Alexandar Georgiev
Justus Annunen
Scratched: Caleb Jones, Joel Kiviranta
Injured: None
Status report
Werenski will be a game-time decision after taking part in the Blue Jackets morning skate; the defenseman blocked a shot in the third period of a 4-3 overtime loss at the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday. ... Jiricek, a defenseman, is on an emergency recall from Cleveland of the American Hockey League in case Werenski can’t play. … Merzlikins will start. ... Georgiev will make his fifth start in seven games.
