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Game 69 Preview: Right Back At It Again

St. Louis Blues at Columbus Blue Jackets

March 11, 2012 – 6:00pm EDT
Nationwide Arena – Columbus, Ohio
Radio – WWCD 102.5 FM – TV – Fox Sports Ohio
Opponents Blog: St. Louis Game Time
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Well, no rest for the weary-from-fighting-a-lot. The Blue and Jackets get right back at it less than 24 hours (especially with that whole “spring forward” stuff) after their game last night. A physical 4-1 Blues win should have the Jackets a little honked off. Whether they can do anything about it remains to be seen.

Adding to the intrigue is the return of Jackets’ forward Jared Boll (broken foot). Anyone taking bets on whether he’s itching to get in someone’s face tonight? Maksim Mayorov goes back to Springfield to make room for Boller.

It will be important for Columbus not to fall behind early tonight, as the Blues are deadly with a lead.

Projected Lineups

Columbus Blue Jackets
(22-39-7, 51 Points; 5th division, 15th conference)

R.J. Umberger Derick Brassard Rick Nash
Vinny Prospal Mark Letestu Cam Atkinson
Ryan Russell Darryl Boyce Colton Gillies
Dane Byers Ryan Johansen Jared Boll

Jack Johnson James Wisniewski
John Moore Nikita Nikitin
Aaron Johnson Brett Lebda

Curtis Sanford
Allen York

St. Louis Blues
(44-18-7, 95 Points; 1st Division, 1st Conference)

Vladimir Sobotka David Backes T.J. Oshie
Andy McDonald Patrik Berglund David Perron
Chris Porter Jason Arnott Chris Stewart
B.J. Crombeen Scott Nichol Ryan Reaves

Carlo Colaiacovo Alex Pietrangelo
Barret Jackman Kevin Shattenkirk
Ian Cole Roman Polak

Jaroslav Halak
Brian Elliott

Season Series

11/27/11 – St. Louis 2 at Columbus 1 – RECAP
12/18/11 – Columbus 4 at St. Louis 6RECAP
02/14/12 – St. Louis 1 at Columbus 2RECAP
03/10/12 – Columbus 1 at St. Louis 4RECAP
03/11/12 – St. Louis at Columbus
03/31/12 – Columbus at St. Louis

Head to Head

St. Louis Columbus
2.56 (19) GPG 2.31 (27)
1.86 (1) GAPG 3.18 (29)
17.5% (14) PP% 16.0% (22)
84.0% (8) PK% 76.3% (30)
David Backes, 21 G leader Rick Nash, 24
Alex Pietrangelo, 31 A leader Vinny Prospal, 33
David Backes, 48 Pts leader Rick Nash, 47
Ryan Reaves, 104 PIM leader Derek Dorsett, 192
15-14-3 Road/Home 13-18-3
3/10 vs. Columbus, W 4-1 Last Game 3/10 @ St. Louis, L 4-1
8-2-0 Last 10 5-4-1

The Jackets are now eight points behind Edmonton for the overall top spot going into the lottery, with the Oil’s OTL last night. With 14 games to go for each squad, it will be interesting to see if it tightens up at all.