Game #34 Preview: Remember when the Red Wings pushed the Blue Jackets around?

Tuesday, December 17, 2019 – 7:30 EST

Little Caesars Arena, Detroit, MI

TV: FSOH; Radio: 97.1 FM

Opponent’s Blog: Winging It In Motown

Columbus Blue Jackets (13-14-6, 32 pts, 7^th Metro, 13^th East)

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Detroit Red Wings (9-23-3, 21 pts, 8^th Atlantic, 16^th East)

The Detroit Red Wings. One-time bullies when the battles were out West. Now turned into crash test dummies driving into a Union Blue wall since we’ve met in the East. The Red Wings are a bad team. The only team that can distract you from the New Jersey Devils. The Wings managed to take a pair of wins against Winnipeg and Montreal, but reverted to type by losing to the Los Angeles Kings on Sunday.  There is really no way that a Blue Jackets team that can beat the Capitals twice in a week should lose in Detroit. Of course, Caps fans would probably say there’s no way a team like the Caps should lose to a team like Columbus. Still, the Jackets have had plenty of success against the Wings in recent memory.  There’s basically nothing about the Red Wings that I can type here that might give you pause.  So I won’t.

The problem for the Blue Jackets is that, aside from the Capitals, they aren’t beating many other teams. They still aren’t scoring very many goals. They may be down ANOTHER defenseman (no news on Vladislav Gavrikov as of this writing). But… the defense still works. Joonas Korpisalo hasn’t had a great season, but most of his bad play is well into the rearview mirror. Average play should be enough here. This is a beat-up and injured team. I think they have another win in them, though.

Player to Watch

Cam At….hahaha! No, I promised! Oliver Bjorkstrand

The Maestro scored two goals last night against the Washington Capitals. As one particularly astute commenter noted, neither was exactly a snipe. Both, however, were intelligent goals. The Red Wings should allow for more opportunities for Bjorkstrand to work his magic. I think the team will need the goals, given the game last month.

Jackets Notes

Gavrikov took a late, high, and unnecessary hit from Tom Wilson, he left the game to get himself checked out… Zach Werenski and Kole Sherwood continue to skate, no timeline on a return…Joonas Korpisalo earned his 2^nd shutout of the season against Washington…Andrew Peeke is having an interesting start to his career, lost his first tooth and scored his first point…

The Other Bench

The Red Wings have played 4 goalies this season…Tyler Bertuzzi is a 100% FO guy…Their GM used to be pretty good at hockey…Detroit has scored 5% of their goals this season on Korpisalo…

Season Series

11/21/19 – DET @ CBJ – CBJ VICTORY (5-4)

12/17/19 – CBJ @ DET – This is now

2/7/20 – DET @ CBJ – This is the future

Stats

Possible Lineup