The Flyers and Blue Jackets made their game-day lineups clearer on Friday, and the biggest change landed on Columbus’ side: Sean Monahan is out injured, Luca Del Bel Belluz is in, and Don Granato will run the bench while Rick Bowness misses a second straight game because of a health issue.
That is the reason Flyers Vs Blue Jackets is drawing attention before puck drop. The projected lineups show the Flyers dressing the same 18 skaters they used in a 3-2 overtime loss at the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday, while Woll is set to start after Vladar made 21 saves at Edmonton. The shift for Columbus is more complicated. Monahan was injured in a 3-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday, and his spot is being handed to Del Bel Belluz before the clubs even leave the morning skate behind them.
The Flyers’ forward groups were laid out with Michael Bunting, Christian Dvorak and Owen Tippett on the top line; Tyson Foerster, Trevor Zegras and Travis Konecny on the second; Porter Martone, Noah Cates and Matvei Michkov on the third; and Denver Barkey, Sean Couturier and Noel Acciari on the fourth. Simon Benoit, David Jiricek and Cole Knuble were scratched. Those are the same 18 skaters the Flyers used two nights earlier, a sign they are keeping the lineup steady rather than searching for something new after the trip to Edmonton.
Columbus, though, is working around absence on two fronts. The Blue Jackets’ projected lineup had Matthew Knies, Del Bel Belluz and Kent Johnson together on the first line, with Dmitri Voronkov, Adam Fantilli and Valeri Nichushkin behind them, while Cole Sillinger, Charlie Coyle and Mathieu Olivier filled the third line and Ryan Lomberg, Jack Williams and Steven Lorentz made up the fourth. Isac Lundestrom, Conor Garland and Monahan were listed as injured. That leaves the Blue Jackets with a forward replacement and a bench-level change at the same time, the kind of disruption that can alter matchups before the game has even started.
Granato taking over behind the bench gives Columbus continuity in the short term, but the unresolved question is how long Bowness will remain unavailable. For now, the Blue Jackets move ahead with a reshuffled lineup and an interim voice, while the Flyers arrive with almost no changes at all.
