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Goalie nods: Bobrovsky rides again

Sergei Bobrovsky

Sergei Bobrovsky

AP

On Monday, Brough wrote about how Sergei Bobrovsky has been excellent -- and busy -- for the Blue Jackets this season.

Four days later, nothing has changed -- Bobrovsky is still excellent, and he’s still really busy.

The Jackets will play their ninth game tonight against the visiting Canadiens and, for the ninth time, they’ll give Bob the start. The nod is well deserved -- in his previous eight games, Bobrovsky’s posted a .941 save percentage, 2.02 GAA and a pair of shutouts, helping Columbus off to a respectable 4-3-1 start.

“Bob is in great shape,” Blue Jackets head coach John Tortorella said earlier this week. “He wants to play.”

Torts is certainly indulging him.

Sure, part of this stems from the club’s murky backup situation -- Curtis McElhinney struggled last year, and Joonas Korpisalo’s in the AHL after recovering from injury -- but part of this is classic Torts. His reputation for riding his best players is well known, and it’s hard to say that anyone aside from Bobrovsky is Columbus’ MVP.

Sadly, we won’t get a marquee goalie matchup. Carey Price will get the night off, paving the way for Al Montoya to start for Montreal.

Elsewhere...

-- Petr Mrazek goes for Detroit, while the visiting Jets have yet to name a starter. Paul Maurice has been alternating starts between Connor Hellebuyck and Michael Hutchinson lately, and Hutchinson played last night against Washington.

-- John Gibson was the first goalie off at Anaheim’s morning skate, so he looks likely. No word yet on a Coyotes starter, but Louis Domingue could go back-to-back after an impressive win against San Jose last night.