Nutivaara was hurt in Game 2 in Tampa Bay and will miss his third straight game with an upper-body injury. Adam Clendening will remain in the Blue Jackets lineup while Nutivaara and Ryan Murray are out.
Thornton was suspended for Game 4 but will replace Lukas Radil in the lineup for Game 5, and will skate with Marcus Sorensen and Kevin Labanc. Thornton has a point in each game, scoring one goal on eight shots with two assists through three games in the series.
Vlasic missed Games 3 and 4 but will be back in the Sharks lineup for Game 5. There is no word on who he is expected to play with but there’s a chance he skates on the top pair with Brent Burns. Vlasic, who had one goal and one assist in Game 1, will replace Tim Heed.
Thornton will miss Game 4 in Vegas after being suspended for one game and is expected to be replaced by Joonas Donskoi. Thornton is eligible to return to the lineup for Game 5 in San Jose.
Nutivaara absorbed a big hit from Nikita Kucherov towards the end of Game 2 (Kucherov was suspended one-game for the hit) and it will cost Nutivaara at least one game as well. Nutivaara was on the ice for warmups but was a late scratch, which suggests that he won't be out long term. Adam Clendening will replace him on the blueline.
Vlasic played just 7:02 TOI in Game 2 before leaving with an undislcosed injury. Tim Heed is expected to replace Vlasic on the blueline and skate next to Justin Braun.
Georgiev stopped all 29 shots that he faced in the rangers shutout win in Philadelphia on Sunday. Henrik Lundqvist has started the last two games but Georgiev will get a chance to play spoiler tonight vs. a Blue Jackets team that is still fighting for their playoff lives. The 23-year-old is 1-1-0 while allowing 11 goals on 78 shots (.859 SV%) in two games vs. Columbus this season.
