Projected Lineups for Blue Jackets vs Penguins – 1/7/25

The Columbus Blue Jackets take on the Pittsburgh Penguins tonight. Here are the projected/expected lineups sourced from NHL.com staff writers, independent correspondents, and others.

BLUE JACKETS (17-17-6) at PENGUINS (17-17-7)

7 p.m. ET; FDSNOH, SN-PIT

Blue Jackets projected lineup

Dmitri Voronkov — Sean Monahan — Kirill Marchenko
James van Riemsdyk — Cole Sillinger — Kent Johnson
Zach Aston-Reese — Adam Fantilli — Mathieu Olivier
Mikael Pyyhtia — Sean Kuraly — Kevin Labanc

Zach Werenski — Dante Fabbro
Denton Mateychuk — Ivan Provorov
Jack Johnson — Jake Christiansen

Elvis Merzlikins
Daniil Tarasov

Scratched: Jordan Harris, Damon Severson

Injured: Yegor Chinakhov (upper body), Justin Danforth (lower body)

Status report

Labanc will enter the lineup for the Blue Jackets, who will return to using 12 forwards and six defensemen after using 11 forwards and seven defensemen the previous six games; Labanc was expected to play in a 6-4 win against the St. Louis Blues on Saturday before his wife went into labor. 

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Penguins projected lineup

Rickard Rakell — Sidney Crosby — Bryan Rust
Michael Bunting — Evgeni Malkin — Cody Glass
Drew O’Connor — Kevin Hayes — Jesse Puljujarvi
Matt Nieto — Blake Lizotte — Noel Acciari

Marcus Pettersson — Kris Letang
Matt Grzelcyk — Erik Karlsson
Owen Pickering — P.O Joseph

Tristan Jarry
Alex Nedeljkovic

Scratched: Ryan Shea, Ryan Graves, Anthony Beauvillier

Injured: Philip Tomasino (lower body)

Status report

Puljujarvi could play for the first time since Dec. 7, having been a healthy scratch the past 12 games. He replaced Beauvillier, a forward, at third-line right wing in during the Penguins morning skate Tuesday. … Tomasino skated on an individual basis Tuesday; the forward is week to week after being injured in a 3-2 shootout loss at the Florida Panthers on Friday.

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