Game Preview #13: Second Verse, Same As The First?

Pittsburgh Penguins at Columbus Blue Jackets

November 2, 2013 - 7:00 pm EDT
Nationwide Arena - Columbus, OH
Radio - WBNS 97.1 - TV - Fox Sports Ohio
Opponent's Blog: PensBurgh
SBN's Penguins vs Blue Jackets coverage
Tickets

Well, aside from four minutes of the second period, I thought it was actually a pretty even game. Sorta. Kinda. Maybe. Ah, hell, I don't know. At least we didn't have a line brawl and have to watch our backup goalie be a total punk.

Speaking of backup goalies, though, here's what we do know: Curtis McElhinney gets the start in goal, Nikita Nikitin is in on defense, though no word yet on who is sitting. No word yet on who gets the start in goal for the Penguins. It would be hard to sit Marc-Andre Fleury after the way he played last night, but just the same, the Penguins don't like to give him back-to-backs. The Pensburgh guys expect Jeff Zatkoff. We shall see.

Really, only a couple of things need to be said:

1) Stay out of the penalty box. Do I need to say more? Granted, I still think the penalty on David Savard for "hooking" that led to the Pens' first goal was about as phantom as they come, it doesn't matter. The Pens are dangerous EVERY time you go down a man.

2) Whatever is happening in the beginnings of the second period, I want it fixed. Not tomorrow, not after breakfast, NOW. It's ridiculous that the Jackets drove most of the play in the first period, and then came out looking like a hapless bunch in the first half of the second. Credit goes to Pittsburgh for making adjustments, but they didn't make *that* many adjustments that you give up three goals in five minutes.

CMac fought the puck a bit, but managed to make the saves (that Malkin dual-post-ringer notwithstanding) that allowed the Jackets to try to get back into the game (and, at the rate they were going, if the game had been, like, seven more periods I think they had a shot!). Hopefully he can bring some of that calm again tonight. He looked good against Vancouver in his only other start, and they guys played calm solid defense in front of him. More, please!

One also has to hope that whomever starts for Pittsburgh in net isn't playing as well as Fleury did last night. If it's Zatkoff, I don't think he *can* play that well. If it's Fleury, the Jackets need to test him early and often again and get some doubt into his head.

Most of all, can we PLEASE have some actual Columbus fans at this game? The Buckeyes game was a noon kick, and was basically over before it started. I don't want to see 8,000 Penguins fans in the barn again.

Projected Lineups

Columbus Blue Jackets
(5-7-0, 10 Points; 5th division, 12th conference)

Nick Foligno	Artem Anisimov	Marian Gaborik
Mark Letestu	Brandon Dubinsky	Cam Atkinson
Blake Comeau	Ryan Johansen	R.J. Umberger
Michael Chaput	Derek MacKenzie	Jared Boll

Fedor Tyutin	Dalton Prout
Jack Johnson	David Savard
Ryan Murray	James Wisniewski

Curtis McElhinney

Sergei Bobrovsky

Pittsburgh Penguins
(10-4-0, 20 Points; 1st division, 2nd conference)

Chris Kunitz	Sidney Crosby	Pascal Dupuis
Jussi Jokinen	Evgeni Malkin	Matt D`Agostini
Tanner Glass	Brandon Sutter	Chuck Kobasew
Dustin Jeffrey	Joe Vitale	Craig Adams

Brooks Orpik	Paul Martin
Matt Niskanen	Kris Letang
Olli Maatta	Robert Bortuzzo

Jeff Zatkoff

Marc-Andre Fleury

Season Series

11/01/13 - Columbus 2 at Pittsburgh 4
11/02/13 - Pittsburgh at Columbus
12/09/13 - Columbus at Pittsburgh
12/29/13 - Pittsburgh at Columbus
03/28/14 - Pittsburgh at Columbus

Head to Head Stats

Pittsburgh		Columbus
3.14 (8)	GPG	2.67 (17)
2.36 (8)	GAPG	2.75 (15)
22.4% (8)	PP%	18.2% (18)
80.0% (21)	PK%	75.6% (27)
Sidney Crosby, 8	G leader	Marian Gaborik, 5
Sidney Crosby, 14	A leader	James Wisniewski, 9
Sidney Crosby, 22	Pts leader	Marian Gaborik / James Wisniewski, 10
Matt Niskanen, 13	PIM leader	Brandon Dubinsky, 32
3-2-0	Road/Home	3-3-0
11/01 vs. Columbus, W 4-2	Last Game	11/01 @ Pittsburgh, L 4-2
7-3-0	Last 10	4-6-0