{coyotes} Blue Jackets to sit Johansen against Coyotes

Thursday 17 December 2015

{coyotes} Blue Jackets to sit Johansen against Coyotes

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BLUE JACKETS (11-19-3) at COYOTES (14-14-2)

TV: FS-O, FS-A

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Hoping to send a message to his slumping team, Columbus Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella will sit center Ryan Johansen against the Arizona Coyotes on Thursday.

Johansen, who is second on the Blue Jackets in scoring with 22 points, sat the entire third period of a 5-1 loss against the Dallas Stars on Monday and played just over 11 minutes in the game, the fewest since he was a rookie in 2012-13.

Columbus has lost five straight games and has one win in the first nine games of December (1-5-3).

"He's an important guy in our organization," Tortorella said. "This is a reset for him in understanding what we're looking for, not just in the points but in the play.

"You can't look at it as a punishment. It's part of the process for him."

Tortorella has sat other top players since coming to Columbus. He benched defenseman Fedor Tyutin for two games in October and leading scorer Scott Hartnell in early December.

Johansen had a goal and an assist in a 5-2 win against Arizona on Nov. 14 in Columbus.

Forward Jared Boll will take Johansen's place in the lineup against the Coyotes and play for the first time since Nov. 17.

The Coyotes will be missing their top center as well. Arizona coach Dave Tippett said Martin Hanzal will miss his fourth straight game with a lower-body injury. Hanzal was able to take part in practice Wednesday but is still a few days away from playing.

Each team is shorthanded on defense.

The Coyotes will play without defenseman Zbynek Michalek, who misses a second straight game with a lower-body injury. Stefan Elliott will play for Arizona.

"It's an injury that has been lingering and he wants to get a handle on it," Tippett said of Michalek. "When he plays, he plays really hard, and we want to make sure this doesn't turn into a long-term thing for him."

Columbus will be missing defenseman David Savard, who is bothered by a lower-body injury. Dalton Prout steps into the lineup with Kevin Connauton moving up into Savard's spot.

Each team is in the midst of a long stretch without its starting goalie.

Curtis McElhinney of the Blue Jackets will start with Sergei Bobrovsky sidelined by a groin injury.

Anders Lindback is now the No. 1 goalie for Arizona after Mike Smith had abdominal surgery earlier this week that will sideline him 8-10 weeks. Lindback played well in a 2-1 overtime win against the Minnesota Wild on Dec. 11, then took a backward step in a 5-4 overtime loss to the Carolina Hurricanes the next day.

"He practices hard, he's played well and he's a real good teammate," Tippett said. "With that being said, you have to get in there and get the results and that's what we're looking for. He's done it in the past. If you look at his numbers from last year (with the Buffalo Sabres), when he went on a run he played very well. That's what we're expecting.

"He's been around the League for a long time and he understands what this role is all about."

Here are the projected lineups:

BLUE JACKETS

Scott Hartnell – Alexander Wennberg – Brandon Saad

Matt Calvert – Brandon Dubinsky – Cam Atkinson

Nick Foligno - Boone Jenner - David Clarkson

Gregory Campbell – William Karlsson - Jared Boll

Kevin Connauton - Andrew Bodnarchuk

Jack Johnson - Ryan Murray

Fedor Tyutin – Dalton Prout

Curtis McElhinney

Joonas Korpisalo

Injured: Sergei Bobrovsky (lower body), Rene Bourque (upper body), Cody Goloubef (jaw), Markus Hannikainen (shoulder), David Savard (lower body).

Scratched: Justin Falk

COYOTES

Tobias Rieder - Antoine Vermette - Mikkel Boedker

Max Domi – Viktor Tikhonov - Anthony Duclair

Jordan Martinook - Brad Richardson – Shane Doan

Kyle Chipchura - Boyd Gordon – Steve Downie

Oliver Ekman-Larsson - Michael Stone

Klas Dahlbeck - Stefan Elliott

Nicklas Grossmann - Connor Murphy

Anders Lindback

Louis Domingue

Injured: Martin Hanzal (lower body), Zbynek Michalek (lower body), Mike Smith (abdominal surgery), Joe Vitale (fractured orbital bone

Scratched: John Scott

Status report: The Coyotes sent forward Craig Cunningham to Springfield of the American Hockey League. … Johnson is nursing an upper-body injury for Columbus, but is expected to play. … Bobrovsky skated after the rest of the Blue Jackets on Thursday and could be ahead of schedule. He was expected to miss three weeks.

Who's hot: Domi leads the Coyotes in home scoring with 11 points (three goals) in 12 games. … The Coyotes are 5-0-1 in the past six home games, their longest point streak since Oct. 3- Nov. 21, 2013 (11 straight games).

Team Stats