5:00p ET, Joe Louis Arena
Detroit, MI
TV: Fox Sports Detroit
Radio: 97.1 The Ticket
Blue Jackets Blog: The Cannon
What happened yesterday cannot happen again. It probably will though at some point this season. The Red Wings are still that up-and-down roller coaster of a team we saw earlier in the season. There has been a little more stability lately, but they’re still in a team in progress. With that said, there is no way Columbus should own them. Right now the Wings are the Blue Jackets’ b*tch. In four games this season, the BJs have three wins and a shootout loss to the Wings. That’s unacceptable. I get that Columbus brings their “A” game every time they play their biggest rival, but at some point Detroit needs to stop, look in the mirror, and stop laying a steaming, pile of crap on the ice when they play the Central Division doormat. If anyone thought this team had a officially turned the corner, well, yesterday was a reality check. There is a still a long way to go to get back to being the best. Being the best means taking care of business against teams you should beat. I hope the Wings bring their best this evening. Another loss and they could drop out of the top eight and the Blue Jackets will only be 4 points back.
The Expected Lineup
Damien Brunner – Henrik Zetterberg – Johan Franzen
Daniel Cleary – Pavel Datsyuk – Justin Abdelkader
Drew Miller – Cory Emmerton – Jordin Tootoo
Tomas Tatar – Joakim Andersson – Patrick Eaves
*
Niklas Kronwall – Jonathan Ericsson
*
Jimmy Howard (starting)
Scratches: Kent Huskins and Ian White
Injuries: Valtteri Filppula (shoulder), Mikael Samuelsson (finger), Todd Bertuzzi (back), Darren Helm (back) and Carlo Colaiacovo (shoulder)
| BLUE JACKETS | THE MATCH-UP | RED WINGS |
| 9-12-4 (21 pts; 14th in West) | Record | 12-9-4 (28 pts; 6th in West) |
| 2.24 (26th in NHL) | Goals Per Game | 2.56 (18th in NHL) |
| 2.76 (14th) | Goals Against Per Game | 2.48 (9th) |
| 13.9% (28th) | Power Play % | 14.3% (26th) |
| 85.9% (5th) | Penalty Kill % | 77.9% (24th) |
| Vinny Prospal (9 goals) | Goal Leader | Damien Brunner (10 goals) |
| Vinny Prospal (14 points) | Points Leader | Henrik Zetterberg (25 points) |
- The Red Wings are 50-16-1-6 (W-L-T-OTL) all-time against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
- Columbus has won 4 straight games and is on a 6 game point streak.
- The Wings are 2-2-1 on Sundays this season. They’ve earned point in every home game on a Sunday this season. The lone home Sunday loss came last weekend in a shootout to the Blackhawks.
- Detroit is 3-2-0 in the second game of a back-to-back.
- The Blue Jackets own the Wings. They’re 3-0-1 against Detroit this season.
- The last time these two teams met was yesterday. I don’t want to remember what happened.
- Detroit is 5-3-2 in their last 10 games. Columbus is 5-3-2.
- Howard is 10-3-1 with a 2.01 GAA, .927 SV% and 1 shutout in 16 career starts against the Blue Jackets.
Prediction: Detroit wins 3-1. Zetterberg is your player of the game.
Let’s Go Red Wings.
