Yes indeed, this is it. My shining moment. I’ve gotten the call. No longer just your humble AHL correspondent, but actually at the helm for tonight’s Jackets-Predators game! Expect no changes. Well other than the clear, thoughtful reporting that Matt Wagner usually adds to these reports. OK, enough about me. Even though I have been called up!
Trying to add some insightful info for tonight’s game, I’ve been scouring all the hockey news from Columbus to Nashville and everywhere in between. Not much has changed in the past four hours. Presumably, this is good news. On the other hand, you may consider joining me after the jump, in case I’m holding back on you.
No really I’m not holding anything back. But thanks for coming along for the Game Thread.
I look for tonight’s game against Nashville to be a fairly equal contest. Maybe not an end to end, kitty bar the door affair, but I expect a fairly well played, tight checking game. The Predators are 5-5-0 in their last ten games. A streaky club, they defeated Minnesota by a 4-1 count on Friday night to end a five game skid. Pekka Rinne turned in a 22 save effort to stymie the Wild.
The Jackets wrapped up 2010 with a modest little three game winning streak. Tonight’s game kicks off 2011 for the Jackets as they embark on a four game road trip. Later this week, they’ll be visiting Phoenix on Tuesday night and Anaheim on Friday before closing out the roadie on Saturday in Los Angeles. The Jackets will be returning to Nationwide on Tuesday the 11th when the Coyotes pay a visit. Add in a home and home against Detroit on the 14th and 15th and you can see that the first two weeks of 2011 are not going to be easy ones for Columbus.
Columbus needs to let the forwards go on the attack. Nash and Umberger played the last couple of games with confidence. They need to continue to lead the offense. Voracek also needs to break out as an offensive threat. The defense has been adequate of late. They really have to step it up, support the forwards and offer a higher level of protection in front of the goal.
What say you?