Game #78 Preview: Columbus Blue Jackets at Nashville Predators

Columbus Blue Jackets at Nashville Predators
Saturday, March 30, 2019 – 8:00 EST
Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, Tennessee
TV: Fox Sports Ohio – Radio: WBNS FM
Opponent’s Blog: On the Forecheck

Columbus Blue Jackets, 43-30-4, 90 points, 5th Metro, 8th East
@
Nashville Predators, 44-28-6, 94 points, 2nd Central, 4th West

Player to Watch

Ryan Johansen

Ryan Johansen, former Columbus Blue Jacket swapped for Seth Jones, leads the Nashville Predators in assists and points this season as he plays in the pivot on the Predators’ top line. Johansen has four points in his last five games and scored a shorthanded game winning goal against the Minnesota Wild earlier this week. Johansen plays in all situations for the Predators and will be all over the ice tonight.

Jackets Notes

Matt Duchene and Seth Jones made appearances on NHL Network today during NHL Network Ice Time’s “Blockbuster Trade” edition. Matt Duchene discussed smaller NHL players:

“You see all these young kids coming up now – and it sounds funny to say this because I still think of myself as a young guy, but I’m really not anymore and that’s scary too – but they can all fly. Their skill level is so high, so I think the minor league hockey systems all over the world are getting so much better and working on those fundamentals.”

Seth Jones discussed the importance of being able to skate backward for defensemen:

“It’s all about the C-cut, that’s how I was taught as a kid. …I was taught to not really swivel a whole lot. So you want to stay away from both feel swiveling and you want to be more independently pushing with this leg then pushing with this leg. It generates more power at the end of the day and then you can throw in crossovers.”

He also gave a demonstration:

Credit to the NHL Network and NHL Network Ice Time for these quotes and the above gif.

In other Blue Jackets news, Nick Foligno was nominated for the Bill Masterton Trophy.

The Columbus chapter of @ThePHWA has nominated #CBJ captain @NickFoligno for this season’s Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy. The award is given to the player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey.

https://t.co/n4vNXWDPKw

— CBJ Public Relations (@BlueJacketsPR) March 29, 2019

Foligno has had a trying season for many personal reasons, and his nomination is certainly deserved.

The Other Bench

The Nashville Predators nominated forward Rocco Grimaldi for the Bill Masterton Trophy … Nashville remains second from the bottom of the NHL in power play scoring this season … Wayne Simmonds has just one goal and one assist in twelve games since his trade from the Philadelphia Flyers

Season Series

01/10/2019 NSH 3 @ CBJ 4 (OT)
03/30/2019 CBJ @ NSH

Stats

Projected Lineups