Think there's any chance that Colton Gillies and/or even Todd Richards himself put a little Money On The Board for tonight's game? While a game in February for a team so far out of even 14th place may not mean much overall, for these two it will hold some extra meaning for sure. Richards was, of course, fired by the Wild as head coach last summer, and Gillies was put on waivers by Minnesota earlier in January.

Both were mum, per The Dispatch's reporting, but you have to assume they're both going to be a little extra juiced for tonight's game.

As for the nuts and bolts, it will be Curtis Sanford vs. Niklas Backstrom in net, and Mikko Koivu is again sitting out for the Wild (his eighth straight game missed). On paper, this should be a low-scoring affair, with the 28th (Columbus) and 29th (Minnesota) ranked offenses in hockey taking the ice. If only games were ever played on paper...

Richards and Sanford both spoke today about playing hard and giving the fans their money's worth. Talk of playing for the #1 pick was squashed. What if, however, the fans would still like you to sew up that #1 pick?

At any rate, the Jackets should be able to compete tonight. They just have to back up all the talk of not mailing the rest of the season in and actually show it on the ice.

Well, for whatever it's worth, a couple of things about tonight's game:

1. Jeff Carter is back.

2. It's the last game in California the Blue Jackets have to play this season.

The Ducks have been a fairly hot team of late, with points in 10 of 12 games. Their top line is going again, and the Jackets will have their hands full with a depleted blue line. Marc Methot may be back tonight from the flu, but it's the flu, man. And it's Marc Methot.

At any rate, it's another 10 PM start for us, but at least it's Friday (you ain't got no job, you ain't got shit ta do!). Strap in and enjoy the ride!

Yawn. Still tired from staying up last night to watch the thrashing in San Jose? OK, I'm sure almost no one stayed up. The Blue Jackets are right back at it again tonight--same bat time, same bat channel--in the City of Angels to face the Kings.

This one should be a low-scoring affair (he said hopefully, looking in your direction turnover-prone Jackets' defense) with the two worst offenses in the league. Last time out in this same building? A 1-0 Blue Jackets win. But that was a long time ago both in injuries and level of play for Columbus.

The Kings are currently in a playoff spot, so this game is a little more important for them. In addition, it's their first game back from the AS break, and they will be a bit fresher than are the Jackets.

The Dispatch is reporting that Andrew Joudrey is making his debut tonight for Columbus, at the expense of Ryan Johansen. The report is that Johansen is moderately ill, but Todd Richards was apparently going to bench him anyway. Stand by whilst I bang my head on the desk for a few minutes.

...

All better. Marc Methot is out again with the flu, and is apparently already in Anaheim in advance of Friday's game. Look for the same pairings as last night on the blue line in front of Curtis Sanford. Finally, it looks like there will be some major lineup changes. Porty is reporting the following:

"Derick Brassard will open on a line with R.J. Umberger and Rick Nash, while Vinny Prospal will slide down to the No. 3 line with Sammy Pahlsson and Derek Dorsett. The guess here is that Colton Gillies, Antoine Vermette and Jared Boll form a line, leaving Joudry with Derek MacKenzie and Ryan Russell."

Well, allow me to be the first to say WHAT. THE. FUNK. The guess here is that this lineup will score negative amounts of goals. Buckle up!

It's time to strap on the skates, throw on the pads, and get back out on the ice! Tonight's a late one (ugh), starting at 10:30 here in The Bus. Getcha No Doz ready!

The Blue Jackets have played the Sharks tough twice previously, and in this third meeting in less than a month they will have to dig deep and rediscover that inner grit; they did not play well in their final four games before the break. Well, they've had the week off to rest and refocus, so hopefully we'll see that same intensity that twice played the Sharks to close 2-1 losses.

And yes, I'm aware of how gross it is that I even just typed that last sentence... as if losing twice by *just* one goal is somehow and accomplishment. Well, if you've been watching this team all season, you know that it is. Ugh. I need to go wash this paragraph off. I feel dirty.

Back to the game. The Jackets recalled Andrew Joudrey and David Savard over the break, but it's unclear if either will play tonight. The Sharks appear to be without Ryane Clowe, but otherwise the teams are roughly the same as they were the last time they met back in Columbus two weeks ago.

Let the countdown to the trading deadline begin!

I wish I had some witty stuff to say, but much like the Jackets I may have one foot out the door for the All Star Break already. Perhaps we can bill this is that "Hey Steve Mason! FFFFFFUUUUUU!!!!" game, as the two goaltenders most recently tasked with taking his job look to be squaring off tonight. Mathieu Garon goes for the Lightning, and Curtis Sanford goes for the Blue Jackets.

Beyond that, what's to say? Two struggling teams, two banged up teams, two teams nowhere close to their pre-season expectations. Two awful defenses. Two struggling special teams units. THE TWO WORST GOALTENDERS IN THE LEAGUE SITTING ON THE BENCHES!

In a lot of ways, these clubs are mirror images of each other, though the Jackets are lacking in the star-power quotient. Steven Stamkos is also leading the league in goals, but that's neither here nor there. No, these are two teams of which a lot what expected, and from which not much has been delivered. They're both battling injuries, and having trouble keeping the puck out of their net.

So, which team wants it more? Tune in to find out!

Steve Mason. Brett Lebda. Playing against a team that just shut us out last week and is hot as all get-out right now.

My advice to you... is to start drinking heavily.

In all seriousness, the All Star Break canNOT come soon enough for this Blue Jackets team. Give them credit; they played the Wings tough and gave them all they could handle en route to their 16th straight home win. Todd Richards is perhaps still enjoying the "new voice bump" in the room right now.

But, sooner or later, you gots to score goals... something this club couldn't do on Thursday against these same Predators. The Preds get Ryan Suter back tonight. The Jackets are without Nikita Nikitin, but do have R.J. Umberger off the IR list. Maybe I'm cynical, but in a season where every guy who can get injured in spectacular fashion seems to, why rush a guy back from a concussion--a guy who admittedly played a game "in a fog" right after getting the injury--when you're two games away from basically a week off? Am I the only one who thinks that's just asking for trouble?

At any rate, strap yourselves in. It should be a bumpy ride tonight.

I toyed with the idea of borrowing a page from Being John Malkovich and just typing four paragraphs of "Ledba" over and over again, but that's not the hard-hitting witty writing you've come to expect from me.

Suffice it to say, this game feels like a lamb being led to slaughter, and the Jackets' brass is convincing itself that Brett Lebda is an answer. Yes, let's not let promising rookie David Savard get more NHL experience when there's no real pressure; let's turn it over to a guy who was out of high-level pro hockey when the season started.

For every Mark Letestu move, their's a Brett Lebda move. It's like the universe balancing itself out.

Curtis Sanford should be back between the pipes for Columbus, but otherwise the lineup should be the same one that was iced (in more ways than one) against the Predators on Thursday.

Also, I hate the Red Wings, and think Todd Bertuzzi should be repeatedly groin-kicked at every opportunity.

Enjoy the game!

The Blue Jackets finish their four-game homestand before heading out on the road to head into the All Star Break. In their way tonight are the red-hot Nashville Predators, winners of eight of their last 10. Before I talk about the game, can I digress for a moment about the Preds' mascot? How in the hell does that thing get food into its mouth? Is its neck hinged? Can it pop those ridiculous teeth out? I mean, it can't really close its mouth to "chew" anything, so does it just swallow shit whole, like a python?

OK, and we're back.

At any rate, Steve Mason gets the start for Columbus tonight, his first since Scott Arniel's swan song almost two weeks ago (a 7-4 loss to Anaheim in which Mason was pulled after a God-awful first period). Todd Richards made some comments about Mason's work in practice, and him being the only guy relegate to the bench to watch during the "rebirth" post-Arniel. The veiled cursing in the background was no doubt Grant Clitsome, who looks to be relegated to the press-box AGAIN tonight for the fifth straight time. This is Richards' fifth game as interim head coach. Hmmm...

For the Preds, Ryan Suter is a no-go with an upper body injury, and without Suter in the lineup Richards has indicated he will try to catch Shea Weber at off-points to put out the top line. Not having Suter hurts Weber to a degree (those two are an all-world pairing, let's be honest), but it doesn't entirely mitigate him.

Pekka Rinne has been hot, but Columbus has oddly enough had pretty good luck against him, scoring 14 goals in the previous four games against Rinne. Normally, he wears the Jackets out. They'll have to get to him early and often tonight if they want to end the homestand with a winning record.