Columbus hasn't had much fun at home lately. The Blue Jackets came back to beat Dallas 2-1 in a shootout after Zach Werenski tied it late, then dropped home games to Florida and Tampa Bay. The Tampa loss stung. The Lightning were missing Brayden Point, Anthony Cirelli and Erik Cernak on the back end of a back-to-back. Columbus outshot them and still beat backup Dennis Hildeby only once, on a 1st-period power play. That was their 2nd straight 1-goal game.
The Blue Jackets' injury picture is mostly about up front. Conor Garland is out with an upper-body injury and no timetable, and Isac Lundestrom is on LTIR after Achilles surgery. Sean Monahan was dealing with a knee issue from a blocked shot as of November 9. The defense is in better shape now that Ivan Provorov and Dante Fabbro are both back, which leaves the problem squarely at the other end of the ice.
So the matchup is pretty simple. Columbus is getting shots and not finishing them, and Philadelphia keeps games close without closing them out. If the Blue Jackets' volume finally turns into goals against a Flyers team that just finished a long road swing, Nationwide gets a comfortable night. If it doesn't, this has the look of another 1-goal game, which is exactly where the Flyers have been living.
