Columbus Blue Jackets - Boston Bruins predictions and free betting tips [03/01/2024]

On the morning of 3rd January, as part of the regular NHL championship, Columbus Blue Jackets will play against Boston Bruins.

Columbus Blue Jackets

The Columbus Blue Jackets have recently been through a losing streak, dropping 6 out of 10 games, including losing 4 of the last 5 encounters. The team experienced three consecutive overtimes, scored a victory against Toronto 6:5, but suffered defeats from New Jersey 3:4 and Buffalo 2:3. Their notable win against Buffalo 9:4 with Marchenko's hat-trick remains fresh in memory. The team is faced with the task of recuperating after Zach Werenski's injury. According to Coach Pascal Vincent, Werenski is not yet match-ready, whereas Jack Roslovic has made a return post his ankle fracture. The team also bears injuries from Sean Kuraly, Laine, Bokvist and Jenner. The goalie line with Elvis Merzlikins is unstable, with Tarasov and Martin showing no consistency either. Canadian rookie Jet Greaves, benched since 12th December, shows a remarkable 93% save percentage. The team did manage to break a run of 6 games conceding goals on the powerplay, but it's not enough for victories.

Key players for the Blue Jackets this season have been Werenski with 1 goal and 24 assists, and Johnny Gaudreau adding 22 points and 16 assists. Kirill Marchenko has bagged 21 points with 13 goals and 8 assists, while Adam Fantilli earned 23 points with 11 goals and 12 assists. With 3.20 GAA and .907 save percentage, Merzlikins is still showing an unimpressive record of 7-8-6 in the crease. Tarasov, in the last game, saved 18 out of 20 shots helping the team earn a point in their 2:3 loss to Buffalo. Among the Russian players in the NHL, while the results are modest, they do show promising strides: Voronkov with 7 goals and 13 assists, and Chinakhov with 10 goals and 7 assists, while defence player Provorov played 38 games scoring 2 goals and 18 assists.

Boston Bruins

Heading the Atlantic Division, Boston Bruins are closing up the year on a high, winning the last three regular-time games. They convincingly beat Buffalo 4:1, New Jersey 5:2, and Detroit 5:3, even though they had previously lost 5 out of 7 matches, with victories just over New York Islanders and Arizona. Thanks to stellar goaltending from Swayman and Ullmark, Boston preserves one of the best goal ratios in the Eastern Conference. Coach Montgomery expressed concern about the team's defensive play, however, after the 1:5 loss to Winnipeg, Bruins let in just 8 goals over 4 matches.

The Bruins are effective on the offensive, averaging 3.27 goals per game. Pastrnak and Marchand lead the attack, with Pastrnak having 50 points this season (22 goals and 28 assists) and Marchand accumulating 33 (13 goals and 20 assists). Bruins' defence is even more formidable, conceding an average of 2.54 goals per game. Goalie Swayman delivers an impressive .933 save percentage and an average of 2.22 goals against per game. Boston's lineup also saw the debut of young Russian Georgy Merkulov, who played 15 and 8 minutes on the third attack line in two of the last three matches.

Head-to-head

Boston Bruins demonstrated impressive form, winning 8 out of their last 9 matches. In the last four games against Columbus Blue Jackets, Boston played a strong game. During their last encounter on 4th December 2023, Boston prevailed 3:1. In the previous game on 28th November 2023, they lost 2:5, which was their only loss in this streak of matches. On 31st March 2023, Boston also dominated with a 2:1 win. Back in the game of 17th December 2022, Boston confidently won with a score of 4:2.

Match prediction: Columbus Blue Jackets - Boston Bruins

With Boston enjoying a winning streak of 3 games and given the current shaky goalie situation and not too stable defence of Columbus, Boston stands a good deal of chance to outclass Columbus on their turf. I anticipate a fourth consecutive victory from the Bruins.