Morning Skate: Red Wings at Blue Jackets Preview
Game 65
7:00p ET, Nationwide Arena
Columbus, OH
TV: FSD+
Radio: 97.1 The Ticket
Blue Jackets Blog: The Cannon
Oh hey look, another game the Wings really need to win, against an opponent who currently occupies the final wild card spot right ahead of the Wings. The Jackets are tied in points with the Wings, but hold the regulation and overtime wins tie breaker. This is a game that very well could have drastic playoff implications, and instead of getting healthy after the Olympic break, the players are still dropping like a lead anvil off a 10 story building. Joakim Andersson is the latest casualty as re was rewarded for his PK work with a broken foot; Cory Emmerton will take his place in the lineup.
The Jackets had a game scheduled last night against the Stars, but when Rich Peverely collapsed on the bench shortly into the first period, he was treated for a "cardiac event" and the game was postponed. That's some scary stuff and I hope Peverely is ok. This means the Jackest have essentially been off since Saturday night when they shut out the Nashville Predators.
I hope the whole team shows up tonight, because Jimmy Howard can't do it on his own, and Franzen can't do it on his own, this has to be a team effort and more than a couple people have to play their balls off. The only expected lineup change is Emmerton in for the injured Andersson, maybe we should call Emmerton a winger, just in case. We're quickly running out of centers to get injured.
The Expected Lineup
Forwards
| Johan Franzen | David Legwand | Gustav Nyquist |
| Justin Abdelkader | Luke Glendening | Daniel Alfredsson |
| Tomas Tatar | Riley Sheahan | Tomas Jurco |
| Drew Miller | Cory Emmerton | Todd Bertuzzi |
Defensemen
| Niklas Kronwall | Jonathan Ericsson |
| Kyle Quincey | Danny DeKeyser |
| Jakub Kindl | Brendan Smith |
Goaltenders
| Jimmy Howard (starting) |
| Petr Mrazek |
Scratches: Brian Lashoff
Injuries: Daniel Cleary (knee), Darren Helm (concussion), Pavel Datsyuk (knee), Henrik Zetterberg (back), Mikael Samuelsson (something), Jonas Gustavsson (groin) & Stephen Weiss (groin), Joakim Andersson (broken foot)
| BLUE JACKETS | THE MATCH-UP | RED WINGS |
| 33-26-5 (71 pts; 4th in Metro) | Record | 29-22-13 (71 pts; 5th in Atlantic) |
| 2.84 (9th in NHL) | Goals Per Game | 2.61 (18th in NHL) |
| 2.77 (17th) | Goals Against Per Game | 2.67 (15th) |
| 18.8% (15th) | Power Play % | 17.9% (17th) |
| 81.8% (16th) | Penalty Kill % | 84.0% (7th) |
| Ryan Johansen (25 goals) | Goal Leader | Zetterberg & Nyquist (16 goals) |
| Ryan Johansen (49 points) | Points Leader | Henrik Zetterberg (48 points) |
Opponent Outlook
Player to Fear: Ryan Johansen
X-Factor: Sergei Bobrovsky
Familiar Faces: Nope.
Thumbs up (One Thing to Like About Columbus): Their name is a tribute to the civil war, and I dig their 3rd jersey logo.
Thumbs down (One Thing to Dislike About Columbus): It's still in Ohio
Bullets of Knowledge
- The Red Wings are 51-16-1-7 (W-L-T-OTL) all-time against the Blue Jackets.
- Last 10 games: Columbus 6-3-1. Detroit 5-3-2./
- Howard is 10-3-2 with a 2.00 GAA, .926 SV% in 17 career games against Columbus../
Prediction: Diamonds.