Down to the Nitty Gritty

Columbus is looking to redeem themselves after a devastating loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday.

Tampa Bay was able to score three unanswered goals in the first period of that fateful game. The Blue Jackets were able to cut the deficit late in the second period with two goals of their own, but the final 20 minutes would be their undoing. Tampa Bay scored five more unanswered goals to bring the final score to 8-2.

The team had almost a week off to mull over what happened, and as Cam Atkinson says, it can be good and bad.

"Sometimes when you get spanked you'd like to play the next afternoon just to get it over with to clear your head.

"Other times it's good to have three or four days where you can watch film and talk about it and chew at it a little bit and get back at it.”

With the upsetting loss, fans wondered if John Tortorella would put Bobrovsky back in net for tonight’s matchup against the Philadelphia Flyers.

“There’s not a chance people can blame him for that 8-2 loss, not a chance,” the coach stated confidently. The entire team recognized the difference in score was because of their lack of defense and stupid plays.

Furthermore, Bob has an excellent record against the Flyers. The Russian goalie boasts a 10-3-1 record against them. As for the rest of the team, expect to see some line changes.

Torts is still figuring things out, but he’s moved Josh Anderson to third line and dropped Oliver Bjorkstrand to the fourth. The penalty kill and power play units will also most likely be switched up after they failed to produce results in Florida.

The Flyers are coming off a hard-fought victory over the Florida Panthers on Tuesday. In the second period alone, they scored five goals, but Florida was able to tie it up and the game eventually went to a shootout.

Philadelphia ultimately won the game with a goal from Jordan Weal and Cal Pickard’s save on Frank Vartrano.

The Flyers also have a tough decision to make for who they’re going to start tonight. Pickard relieved their primary goalie Brian Elliott during the third period. Elliott had let in four goals on 23 shots. Regardless, he’s still projected to open.

CBJ Projected Lineup

Artemi Panarin — Pierre-Luc Dubois — Cam Atkinson

Nick FOligno — Alexander Wennberg— Anthony Duclair

Boone Jenner — Riley Nash — Josh Anderson

Sonny Milano — Lukas Sedlak — Oliver Bjorkstrand

Zach Werenski — David Savard

Ryan Murray — Markus Nutivaara

Scott Harrington — Adam Clendening

Sergei Bobrovsky

Joonas Korpisalo

Additional note: there was an optional practice this morning and Seth Jones was seen on the ice. The young defenseman has missed several games with a knee injury.

Philadelphia Flyers Projected Lineup

Claude Giroux — Sean Couturier — Jakub Voracek

Oskar Lindblom — Jordan Weal — Travis Konecny

Michael Raffl — Scott Laughton — Wayne Simmonds

Dale Weise — Jori Lehtra — Corban Knight

Ivan Provorov — Shayne Gotisbehere

Robert Hagg — Christian Folin

Travis Sanheim — Radko Gudas

Brian Elliott

Calvin Pickard