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.
Merzlikins was moved to IR yesterday to open up a roster spot for a call-up but was activated on Friday and will serve as J-F Berube's backup in Carolina. Merzlikins' playing time could be a little bit limited moving forward, as long as Berube is playing as well as he has been lately.
Werenski is day-to-day with an upper-body injury and did not travel with the club on their two-game road trip in Florida/Carolina. Gabriel Carlsson is expected to replace Werenski in the lineup on Thursday.
Merzlikins was at practice on Wednesday and travelled with the team to Florida and was expected to start on this road trip. It's unclear if he suffered a setback or if this is just a move to create a spot to call up Jake Christiansen. The move is retroactive, so he's eligible to be activated for tomorrow's game if he's ready to start.
Merzlikins left Saturday's practice with a lower-body injury and will not be available for Sunday's game vs. the Sabres. With Joonas Korpisalo also hurt, J-F Berube will get the start for Columbus.
