The Red Wings hosted the Washington Capitals last night in Detroit and walked away with a 3-2 win, thanks to a pair of goals from Henrik Zetterberg and 3 assists from Brian Rafalski.
Columbus lost 3-2 in a shootout to Boston on Tuesday night and beat the Hurricanes 3-2 on Saturday. Prior to the win against the Hurricanes, the Blue Jackets lost 7 in a row–2 in the shootout, one in overtime. In those 7 games, the Blue Jackets allowed 4 goals on 5 separate occasions. Columbus allows an average of 2.94 goals per game, but are in the top 15 in shots on goal against per game at 29.9.
Columbus is 7 points out of the playoffs so it is definitely still possible for them to make the playoffs, but they need to do a heck of a job down the stretch to get in the playoffs. In their last 10, the Blue Jackets have gone 2-4-4, with only 3 of those combined (regulation and OT/SO) losses coming to teams currently in playoff position. But the Wings must be careful in the approach to tonight’s game and any sort of momentum from the win over the Capitals could be wiped out in a second.
Not 100% sure how accurate these injuries are, but you get the idea.
The Cannon is your SB Nation Blue Jackets’ site.
- I’d imagine that Joey MacDonald is getting the start tonight. This was probably the game that Chris Osgood was scheduled to start coming back from injury, but the problem flared up and he’s back out of the line-up. Joey Mac beat the Blue Jackets earlier in the year in a shootout.
- Rick Nash, of course, leads the Blue Jackets in scoring with 61 points. This should just be a thing I autotype everytime I talk about the Blue Jackets.
- Steve Mason’s GAA has ballooned from 2.29 his rookie year to 3.05 last year and 2.98 this year. You wonder if Mason will ever get that GAA back below 2.50
- Matt Calvert is going to be a beast…a 5’9″ beast but a beast nonetheless.
- Score Prediction: 4-2 Detroit. I think the Wings have trouble at times tonight with the back-to-back and traveling, but are able to get the win.
- Player of the Game Prediction: Todd Bertuzzi. Because why not?
- For Discussion: Dany Heatley got two games for the elbow to Steve Ott. Adequate?
- Around the League: The Leafs beat the Hurricanes to move within 4 of the Sabres for the last playoff spot in the East, the Ducks beat the Blues 2-1 which currently puts them in the final spot in the West, and the Canucks downed the Avalanche and are the first team to secure a playoff spot.
