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Columbus Blue Jackets (70 pts) vs. Vegas Golden Knights (83 pts) Game Preview

Columbus Blue Jackets center Cole Sillinger (4) scores a goal against Vegas Golden Knights goaltender Ilya Samsonov (35) during an overtime period to give the Blue Jackets a 2-1 victory at T-Mobile Arena (Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images)

The Columbus Blue Jackets welcome the Vegas Golden Knights into Nationwide Arena on Thursday. The Blue Jackets won their only meeting of the season in Vegas back on Jan. 30 in OT

This game is important for Columbus, there's no doubt about that. Thursday's game is the first of a four-game homestand that concludes next Thursday against Florida. 

Vegas is 7-2-1 in their last 10 and is atop the Pacific Division, but they've lost their last two games against LA and Pittsburgh. 

The Golden Knights are an elite team but are just 14-12-4 on the road. The Jackets are very good at home, so look for this game to be a barnburner. 

Golden Knights Stats

  • Power Play – 28.9% - 2nd in NHL
  • Penalty Kill – 76.2% - 23rd in NHL
  • Goals For – 214 – 6th – 3.34 GPG – 5th
  • Goals Against – 175 – 8th – 2.73 GPG – 9th

Series History vs. The Golden Knights

  • Columbus is 4-1-1 at home and 7-5-1 in 13 all-time meetings vs. Vegas.
  • The Jackets are 3-2-1 in the last six games.

Who To Watch For The Golden Knights

  • Jack Eichel leads the VGK with 58 assists and 78 points.
  • Tomas Hertl leads Vegas with 27 goals.
  • Goalie Aiden Hill is 23-11-4 with a .904 SV%.
  • Ilya Samsonov is 15-8-3 with a .889 SV%.

CBJ Player Notes vs. Golden Knights

  • Zach Werenski has 8 points in 11 games vs. Vegas
  • Kirill Marchenko has 4 points in 4 games.
  • Elvis Merzļikins is 3-1 with a .930 SV% vs. the Golden Knights.

Injuries

  • Erik Gudbranson (upper body) is on Injured Reserve on Oct. 16 (61 Games)
  • Sean Monahan (upper body) is on Injured Reserve retroactive to Jan. 7 (23 Games)
  • Kevin Labanc (shoulder) is on Injured Reserve as of Feb. 21 and out for the season (8 Games)
  • Cole Sillinger is day-to-day with an upper body injury (5 Games)

TOTAL MAN GAMES LOST: 274

How to Watch & Listen: Tonight's game will be on FanDuel Sports Network. Steve Mears will be on the play-by-play. The radio broadcast will be on 97.1 The Fan, with Bob McElligott behind the mic doing the play-by-play.

Let us know what you think below.

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Oleksandr Usyk ordered to fight Joseph Parker by WBO in blow to Daniel Dubois

  • Usyk has 30 days to agree heavyweight title defence
  • Britain’s Dubois had hoped for rematch with Ukrainian

Oleksandr Usyk has been ordered to start negotiations to defend his WBO heavyweight title against Joseph Parker, potentially scuppering Daniel Dubois’ hopes of a rematch with the Ukrainian.

The WBO has announced Usyk, who also holds the WBC and WBA crowns, has 30 days to “reach terms” for a mandatory title defence against New Zealand’s Parker or the sanctioning body will call for purse bids.

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Perkins claims T-wolves ‘more serious' than Warriors as threat in West

Perkins claims T-wolves ‘more serious' than Warriors as threat in West originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

The red-hot Warriors (37-28) aren’t the only ones surging in the Western Conference at the right time.

The Minnesota Timberwolves (38-29) have won six games in a row and are neck-and-neck with Golden State for the Western Conference’s No. 6 playoff seed. While both teams are undoubtedly playing their best basketball of the season, ESPN’s Kendrick Perkins is convinced by only one of them.

“Oh, right now. Right now we have to start taking them serious,” Perkins said Wednesday night on “Sports Center” of the Timberwolves after Minnesota’s 115-95 win over the Denver Nuggets. “They’re more serious than the Golden State Warriors to me when it comes to being a threat in the Western Conference. And now what we’re watching is a Minnesota Timberwolves team that has found their identity again, and that’s getting it done defensively.

“We have them lock up the Denver Nuggets tonight, holding them to 40-percent shooting, 20 percent from 3-point range. But again, it comes down to Anthony Edwards leading the charge. We know he’s going to put up points and put up buckets, but when you watch Anthony Edwards engaged on the defensive side of things, picking up 94 feet, the rest will follow their best player.”

Like the Timberwolves, the Warriors have been on a hot stretch of their own.

Since their big trade deadline acquisition of six-time NBA All-Star Jimmy Butler, Golden State is 12-2 and winners of its last five contests and 10 of its last 11.

With Butler in the mix, Curry is averaging 29.9 points on 49.6-percent shooting from the field and 42.4 percent from 3-point range, with 4.1 rebounds, 6.1 assists and 1.1 steals in 32.9 minutes in 14 games.

For the Timberwolves, Edwards is averaging 25.8 points on 51.3-percent shooting from the field and 41.3 percent from long range, with 5.8 rebounds, 4.6 assists and 1.0 steals in 34.7 minutes in his last five games.

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