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7:00p EST, Nationwide Arena
Columbus, OH
TV: FS-D, FS-O
Radio: 97.1 FM The Ticket // 1270 AM CBS Sports Radio
Blue Jackets Blog: The Cannon
Great time for a winning streak from our Detroit Red Wings, yeah?
Oh I know... we finally get to the point where pretty much everybody is pulling for the continuation of the kind of garbage we got used to during the four straight weeks starting at the end of February where the team couldn’t win a game and now that folks are spending more time simulating draft lotteries and rooting for things like Montreal wins, we’re sucked right back into promising, fun-to-watch hockey featuring heavy contributions by the kids. Boy this fandom thing is harder than it looks.
On the other side of the ledger is the Columbus Blue Jackets. They’re currently holding onto the three seed in the Metropolitan Division, but also haven’t technically clinched a playoff spot.
The Jackets are making the postseason though and they’re 8-1-1 in their last 10, outscoring their opposition 43-24 in the span since they last saw the Red Wings (and beat them 3-2 at the LCA). Offensively not a juggernaut, the Jackets make their hay by preventing goals at even strength. This is good for them because they don’t spend a lot of time on the PP or on the PK and when they do, their special teams are actually worse than Detroit’s, in terms of PP%, PK% AND by overall special teams goal differential (CBJ is -14 to DET’s -12).
We’ll get to see Red Wings legend Thomas Vanek tonight; he’s got 14 points (7G) in 16 games so far since being traded there by Vancouver at the deadline and living up to the late-season promise he couldn’t live up to when Detroit traded him to Florida last year.
This would be a good night for one of those moral victories where you get unlucky though. Let’s go Red Wings.
Predicted Lineups
DETROIT RED WINGS
Tyler Bertuzzi - Henrik Zetterberg – Gustav Nyquist
Anthony Mantha – Dylan Larkin – Darren Helm
Andreas Athanasiou – Frans Nielsen – Justin Abdelkader
Evgeny Svechnikov – Luke Glendening – Martin Frk
Jonathan Ericsson – Trevor Daley
Danny DeKeyser – Nick Jensen
Niklas Kronwall Joe Hicketts
Jimmy Howard
Jared Coreau
Columbus Blue Jackets
Artemi Panarin - Pierre-Luc Dubois - Cam Atkinson
Boone Jenner - Alexander Wennberg - Thomas Vanek
Sonny Milano - Brandon Dubinsky - Oliver Bjorkstrand
Markus Hannikainen - Mark Letestu - Matt Calvert
Zach Werenski - Seth Jones
Ian Cole - David Savard
Ryan Murray - Markus Nutivaara
Sergei Bobrovsky
Joonas Korpisalo
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Game Day Prediction Contest
Would you like to predict the outcome of the game and potentially become internet famous? Well you're in luck, because here's your opportunity. Here's how it works.
First off, if you don't have an SBN Username, make one! We'd love to have you, plus it's much easier to track your predictions season-long. Then make your guess on the winning team, final score, and who the Red Wings player of the game will be. Enter the required information into the form below using the formats indicated. If you don't use those formats, your answers will be disregarded. All submissions are timestamped and will be accepted only until the official game start time. Only one submission per person, please. The Red Wings POTG will be determined by the collective of WiiM writers.
Each correct winning team prediction is worth 1 point. Each correct player of the game prediction is worth 3 points. Each correct final score prediction is worth 5 points. If you get all three correct, you'll receive 15 points.
Good luck!