Game Preview #15 - Any End In Sight?
Times are dark. Can the Jackets find any shred of light in the forest of injuries and general crappiness?
Columbus Blue Jackets at Washington Capitals
November 11, 2014 - 7:00 PM EST
Verizon Center - Washington, DC
Radio - WBNS 97.1 - TV - Fox Sports Ohio
Opponent's Blog: Japers' Rink
Things don't get any easier. The Capitals are a solid offensive club, and much like Tampa Bay the other night, are capable of pouncing on a wounded team early. Columbus has officially fallen to LAST in the league in terms of goals-allowed per game. Not good times.
Jack Skille participated in part of the morning skate, but did not complete it. Looks like he's a game-time decision. Fedor Tyutin, however, announced himself fit to play tonight. There was much rejoicing.
Special Teams will be huge tonight, as it's two clubs with solid Power Play units against two clubs with pretty lackluster PK units. Who takes the most penalties will be a big factor in this game.
Otherwise, there's not much reason to think the Jackets can win unless they come out and play 60 whole minutes without letting up and without taking stupid penalties.
Just please, oh please, let nobody get hurt. For once.
Projected Lineups
Columbus Blue Jackets
(4-9-1, 9 Points; 8th division, 15th conference)
| Brian Gibbons | Ryan Johansen | Nick Foligno |
| Scott Hartnell | Boone Jenner | Cam Atkinson |
| Dana Tyrell | Alexander Wennberg | Corey Tropp |
| Adam Cracknell | Michael Chaput | Jared Boll |
| Fedor Tyutin | David Savard |
| Tim Erixon | James Wisniewski |
| Frederic St. Denis | Dalton Prout |
| Curtis McElhinney |
| Anton Forsberg |
Washington Capitals
(6-5-3, 15 Points; 4th Division, 10th Conference)
| Alex Ovechkin | Nicklas Backstrom | Jay Beagle |
| Marcus Johansson | Andre Burakovsky | Troy Brouwer |
| Jason Chimera | Eric Fehr | Joel Ward |
| Liam O'Brien | Evgeny Kuznetsov | Michael Latta |
| Brooks Orpik | John Carlson |
| Karl Alzner | Matt Niskanen |
| Nate Schmidt | Mike Green |
| Braden Holtby |
| Justin Peters |
Season Series
11/11/14 - Columbus at Washington
12/11/14 - Columbus at Washington
12/18/14 - Washington at Columbus
01/27/15 - Washington at Columbus
03/03/15 - Washington at Columbus
Head to Head Stats
| Washington | Columbus | |
| 3.14 (4) | GPG | 2.57 (18) |
| 2.86 (19) | GAPG | 3.64 (30) |
| 28.9% (2) | PP% | 22.4% (8) |
| 77.1% (21) | PK% | 76.9% (23) |
| Joel Ward, 7 | G leader | Nick Foligno, 7 |
| Nicklas Backstrom, 10 | A leader | Ryan Johansen, 10 |
| Nicklas Backstrom / Alexander Ovechkin, 14 | Pts leader | Ryan Johansen, 16 |
| Liam O'Brien, 21 | PIM leader | Jared Boll, 28 |
| 3-2-3 | Home/Road | 2-4-1 |
| 4-5-1 | Last 10 | 1-8-1 |
| 11/08 vs. Carolina, W 4-3 (OT) | Last Game | 11/08 vs. Tampa Bay, L 7-4 |