Game 61 Preview: Columbus Blue Jackets @ Ottawa Senators

Tick-tock, tick-tock. 72 hours to the trade deadline.

You want lineups? We don’t even really know what the roster will look like at this point. Safe bet it won’t include Mark Stone or Ryan Dzingel, while Matt Duchene is going to suit up for the Blue Jackets. Drake Batherson and Logan Brown have been called up and will likely be in the lineup somewhere, with Cody Goloubef and Darren Archibald heading back down to the farm. Craig Anderson will make his first start since February 6th.

Here’s our best guess, based on what we saw against the Devils:

Game Notes

• Pretty sure tonight turns Matt Duchene into a trivia answer. Can’t be many other players who have played their old team in their first game post-trade, and tonight makes it TWICE for him.
• Just how fast can the Sens put together a “Welcome back” video, anyways?
• While practically speaking Batherson and Brown should probably be in Belleville helping to make the playoffs, it’ll be nice to see what Brown can do with some NHL action. Him and Batherson have been a dynamic duo on Belleville, and will likely be core pieces for the team’s future. Here’s hoping Boucher decides to play them for more than six minutes each.
• On the other hand, it’s also clear that these call-ups were very PR-based, with Duchene gone and Stone and Dzingel next in line.
• For Columbus, every game matters a lot from this point forward. They sit one point out of a wild card spot, with two games in hand on Montreal, Carolina and Pittsburgh. The Duchene acquisition certainly increases the pressure to have a big post-season run.
• Game time is 7:00 p.m. You can catch the broadcast on TSN5 and RDS.

Here are some stats for tonight’s matchup, via NHL.com and Natural Stat Trick: