GAME DAY | Canadiens – Blue Jackets: Preview, Lines, Goalies, TV, Fantasy

• P.K. Subban will be a game-time decision. Subban missed the game-day skate with the flu. If Subban cannot play, Greg Pateryn or Tom Gilbert will take his spot in the lineup.
• Nick Foligno on the Blue Jackets’ loss against the Bruins Saturday night: “You’re happy to come away with a point, especially against a good team, but, man, I just thought that game was ours for the taking. All facets of our game, minus our power play, were outstanding tonight and that’s disappointing, because that’s how you win games.”
• Max Pacioretty: “I think it’s important just to build off that and know we have to be a little bit better, you take the two points and you don’t talk about what happened in the past; you just look ahead.”
• Since December 1, 2015 (at which point the Canadiens were atop of the conference in points), the Canadiens have an NHL worst 6-16-1 record. They currently find themselves outside of a playoff position.
• The Canadiens’ aren’t alone in their struggles without their former Vezina winning, number one goaltender. Columbus’ number one goalie, Sergei Bobrovsky, suffered his third groin injury of this season last week and there hasn’t been a timetable for his return.
• While the Canadiens have a 20-9-3 record versus teams in the Eastern Conference this season, the Blue Jackets have a 8-16-4 record against teams from the East.
• So far this season, the Canadiens have a 9-5-2 record versus teams in the Metropolitan division, while the Blue Jackets have struggled mightily with a 1-8-2 record versus teams coming from the Atlantic Division.
• The Canadiens have maintained in their placing for the goals against category, they are currently in 14th in the league in goals against, with 124 in 48 games. The Blue Jackets have allowed 159 goals in 49 games and find themselves in 30th in the league.
• The Canadiens have maintained their place in the standings in the goals for category as they are currently in 9th place in the NHL, with 132 over their first 48 games. The Blue Jackets are 18th in this category with 123 goals scored in 49 games.

2015-16 statistics

• Having a “young core” is a great thing to have in the NHL, most teams who are out of playoff contention are given hope when a team’s best players are under the age of 25. It signifies that the future is brighter and makes the losses a little more bearable. Enter the Columbus Blue Jackets; their number one Center (Alexander Wennberg), top defensive pairing (Seth Jones and Ryan Murray) and their starting goaltender (Jonas Korpisalo) are all under the age of 22. Of these players, Alexander Wennberg is the most intriguing of a fantasy option. Although he only has 17 points this season, 16 of them have been in his last 22 games. Not to mention that he has been logging at least 17:03 over his past four games, mostly on the top unit (be it not the best top unit of late). Wennberg is a great option in deep leagues going into the final few fantasy match-ups before playoff time, but his real value lies in keeper league as he is a must own in those leagues.
• Top scorers for the Blue Jackets at home this season are:

1. Brendan Saad (with 19 points in 23 games).
2. Cam Atkinson and Brandon Dubinsky (with 16 points in 22 and 19 games respectively)
3. Scott Hartnell and Boone Jenner (with 14 points in 21 and 23 games respectively)

• Top scorers for the Canadiens on the road this season are:

1. Max Pacioretty (with 21 points in 25 games)
2. Tomas Plekanec and P. K. Subban (both with 18 points in 25 games)
3. Alex Galchenyuk and Andrei Markov (both with 16 points in 25 games)

* – Currently injured

Player stats from War-on-Ice, NHL.com and Yahoo Sports.

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