SETTING THE STAGE: The Blue Jackets already faced one opponent on this road trip that was vastly improved from a year ago. On Friday night in Calgary, they'll face another.
They had their six-game winning streak snapped by the Tampa Bay Lightning on Wednesday night, but the Flames are in the midst of a bounce-back season under first-year head coach Glen Gulutzan, who worked under Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella in Vancouver. The Flames have flown under the radar a bit, especially with the winning ways of the Metropolitan Division, but they've shaken off a poor start and gotten themselves into the playoff race in the Pacific Division.
Goaltender Chad Johnson, signed to be the backup to new No. 1 Brian Elliott, has been the Flames' MVP to this point. He already has one win over the Blue Jackets on his record this season, a 2-0 shutout back on Nov. 23 at Nationwide Arena. It remains to be seen whether he or Elliott get start on Friday, but both goaltenders have provided the Flames a reliable backstop on any given night.
Off to their best start in franchise history (18-5-4), the Blue Jackets are seeking an eighth straight win to keep pace with the aforementioned craziness in their own division. The Philadelphia Flyers have won 10 straight, the Penguins and Blue Jackets each have seven wins in a row - creating a logjam in the Metro that's also seen separation between the division's top five teams and the rest of the conference.
NOTEWORTHY NEWS: The Blue Jackets got captain Nick Foligno back in the lineup on Tuesday in Edmonton. He had missed the previous two games due to an illness. Tortorella made a small tweak to the lines in that game against the Oilers, moving Matt Calvert up with William Karlsson and Josh Anderson while Scott Hartnell joined forces with Lukas Sedlak and Sam Gagner. Sergei Bobrovsky is expected to 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
