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 6 - RECAP
02/14/12 - St. Louis 1 at Columbus 2 - RECAP
03/10/12 - Columbus 1 at St. Louis 4 - RECAP
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.