Columbus Blue Jackets News

Aston-Reese missed Tuesday's game with an illness and will remain sidelined in St. Louis. Dominik Simon will stick on the Penguins' fourth line with Aston-Reese out.

Lundestrom missed the last two games with a lower-body injury but travelled to New Jersey and is expected to play Saturday. Lundestrom will likely replace Danny O'Regan in the lineup.

Lundestrom suffered a lower-body injury early in Sunday's game vs. the Sharks and will not play Tuesday in Chicago. The fact that he did not travel to start the road trip, suggests that Lundestrom will miss at least the next five games. The Ducks will likely go with 11 forwards and seven defensemen with Lundestrom out.

Gaunce has missed the last two games with an upper-body injury that the suffered vs. the Devils last Tuesday. Gaunce, who has five points (3G / 2A) in 11 games since joining the Blue Jackets, will replace Emil Bemstrom in the lineup.

Merzlikins gave up four goals on 32 shots in the Blue Jackets shootout loss to the Bruins one Saturday. Merzlikins started both games of the Blue Jackets' back-to-back last week and will be starting his third game in four nights on Monday. He's 1-1-2 with a .905 SV% in four games since returning from injury.

Gaunce is a little banged up, so he'll come out of the lineup on Friday with Yegor Chinakhov drawing back in to replan him.

Chinakhov has been a healthy scratch for the last two games but will replace Brendan Gaunce (day-to-day) in the lineup on Friday. Chinakhov has scored six goals with five assists (11 points) in 43 games this season.

Christiansen scored his first career goal while playing 10:43 TOI on Tuesday but will come out of the lineup to make room for Zach Werenski on Friday. Christiansen will likely head back to the AHL soon, where he has 26 points (6G / 20A) in 39 games with Cleveland.

Werenski missed the last four games with an upper-body injury but will replace Jake Christiansen in the lineup on Friday. Werenski was red-hot before getting hurt, scoring two goals with six assists (eight points) in his last six games.

Christiansen has appeared in three games with the Blue Jackets this season and will replace Adam Boqvist (upper-body) in the lineup on Tuesday. The 22-year-old defenseman has spent most of the season in Cleveland (AHL), where he has six goals and 20 assists (26 points) in 39 games.