COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Sergei Bobrovsky, the Blue Jackets' Vezina-winning goaltender who watched Thursday's game from the press box, will get the start in tonight's rematch with the Penguins, John Tortorella confirmed after his team's morning skate.
The Blue Jackets have no other changes to the lineup tonight.
The Penguins will stick with Matt Murray in net after Murray posted a 25-save shutout on Thursday.
The only change to the Penguins' starting lineup from the previous game is bumping Dominik Simon up to the first-line right wing and Jared McCann back to the third-line left wing.
The Simon-McCann swap was an adjustment that Sullivan made midway through last game. Following that win, Sullivan offered an endorsement of Simon's play on the top line, saying "he has a comfort level playing there, he can play their give-and-go game and their down-low game, he's always a guy that can play with those guys."
Sidney Crosby spoke on what he hopes to see carry over from Thursday's game.
"(The Blue Jackets) played aggressive, they finished their hits, they're physical," he said. "So I guess just making sure we beat their forecheck, manage the puck, that's probably the biggest thing. At times last time, especially in the second period, we got on our heels a bit. We didn't manage the puck well. So that's just something we need to make sure we do."
Entering tonight's game, Tortorella says he isn't focused on what happened in the previous losses to the Penguins this season. It's a new game.
"We're playing Pittsburgh tonight. You guys can talk about the record," he said, waving his finger at the reporters in the room. "We're playing Pittsburgh. It's a very important game for both teams, it doesn't matter what the record was before. We never talk about it. We looked at tape as far as the things we did good, some of the things we need to correct. When you do play a team twice, as we're doing back-to-back here, we did spend a little more time in maybe some of their tendencies as we do in playoffs."
Tortorella, unprompted, also offered his take that the Penguins' second goal on Thursday was offside.
So, he's at least a little focused on the past.
TAYLOR'S VIEW
Obviously not a surprise to see the Blue Jackets make a change in goal after last game. They have a Vezina-winner in Bobrovsky and a guy who has the Penguins' number in Kinkaid on the roster, and they go with ... Korpisalo last game? Didn't make sense then, still doesn't make sense.
Simon back on the top line is going to get everyone riled up but I don't have an issue with that. Yes, Simon hasn't been able to finish lately. But with the high-volume of shots he takes, he creates a lot of rebound chances for the guys who can finish them, like Crosby and Jake Guentzel. A lot of Simon's chances are from the close-range high-danger areas of the ice. That's the "down-low" game Sullivan was referring to.
Also, if 'Torts' hadn't wasted his challenge 2:22 into the last meeting, maybe he could have risked challenging the second goal he had an issue with. That still doesn't change the fact that they got shut out, though.
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Keith Kinkaid watches the loss from the bench Thursday, in Pittsburgh. - MATT SUNDAY / DKPS[/caption]
MATT SUNDAY'S VIEW
When the Blue Jackets remodeled their roster at the trade deadline, the deal I always felt was most intriguing was the one acquiring Kinkaid from the Devils. Dejan Kovacevic and I talked a lot about this over the course of a long trip and neither of us blinked an eye at why they did this.
It appears we were both wrong. In the third game between the Jackets and the Penguins since Kinkaid made the swap, he's still waiting to hear his number called against the Penguins.
Kinkaid was 3-1 against the Penguins with the Devils this season, allowing 10 goals but maintaining a .926 save percentage against 135 Penguins' shots. That means Kinkaid is significantly more efficient than the rest of the field at .893.
If not to beat the Penguins, then why? Well, Bobrovsky will surely move on at the end of the season with Korpisalo taking the reins. The Jackets will still have Kinkaid under control for three seasons when this one finishes, so he's likely here to be a long term backup. I would have played Kinkaid Thursday, though, and I would play him tonight. But again, I don't coach the Blue Jackets.
MATT SUNDAY GALLERY
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Penguins at Blue Jackets morning skate, Columbus, Ohio, March 9, 2019 - MATT SUNDAY / DKPS[/caption]
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