Columbus Blue Jackets Roll Out Starters for Preseason Finale

The Columbus Blue Jackets are not holding back for their last game of the NHL preseason against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Saturday’s matchup against the Pittsburgh Penguins will be the final 2017 preseason game for the Columbus Blue Jackets. And the CBJ are going to play this game like the regular season, it seems.

The Blue Jackets’ lineup pretty much includes everyone you’d imagine will play in a normal weekend game during the season—excluding Boone Jenner. He’s still sitting out with an undisclosed middle-body injury.

But everyone else—Nick Foligno, Artemi Panarin, Sergei Bobrovsky and even Brandon Dubinsky—will be suiting up in union blue Saturday to face the flightless birds of Pittsburgh.

Dubinsky returns to the lineup after finally healing from wrist surgery in the offseason. And it’s only fitting that he returns against the Penguins as he loves them so very much.

Lineup Breakdown

The lines are what we basically expected as well from the Blue Jackets. Artemi Panarin, Cam Atkinson and Alexander Wennberg on the first line together on what we can only hope is one of the highest scoring forward lines in the entire league. On defense with them is Seth Jones and Zach Werenski, two of the best young defensemen in the NHL.

Sonny Milano is undoubtedly the biggest surprise as he is situated on the second line for Saturday’s game. He’ll be teaming up with Oliver Bjorkstrand and captain Nick Foligno, who will take over at center on the line. Milano has stood out more than most expected this preseason, and it looks like he’s being rewarded with a golden opportunity to play with the captain and one of the team’s most lethal offensive threats in Bjork.

Dubinsky’s return will see him on the same line as Matt Calvert and star prospect Pierre-Luc Dubois. PLD has shown his worth this preseason with his offensive ability, so it should be fun to watch him play alongside veterans in Dubi and Stitches.

On the fourth line, Markus Hannikainen and Zac Dalpe play the wingers as Lukas Sedlak takes the center position. Admittedly, this is not a very impressive line. None of these players are bad, per say, but there are certainly better fourth lines around the league.

The defense behind Jones and Werenski are the usual suspects, Jack Johnson and David Savard on the second pairing with Ryan Murray and Gabriel Carlsson on the third.

Starting in goal is none other than two-time Vezina Trophy winner Sergei Bobrovsky. Joonas Korpisalo will be the backup. Notable scratches include Markus Nutivaara and Tyler Motte.

The Blue Jackets can expect to see the best of the Pittsburgh Penguins for the finale as Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Phil Kessel are in the lineup. And we as fans can expect a lot of chippiness as these two teams battle it out before the real season starts.