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Game Preview #30 – A Tough Road Test For #7

Columbus Blue Jackets at Detroit Red Wings

December 16, 2014 – 7:30 pm EST
Joe Louis Arena – Columbus, Ohio
Radio – WBNS 97.1 – TV – Fox Sports Ohio
Opponent’s Blog: Winging It In Motown

Ugh. These guys again. Last time we saw the Wings, it was a colossal shit fest the likes of which we really haven’t seen this season. It sent the Jackets into another tailspin of 0-5-1, which has only now been fixed with a six game winning streak. So, there’s that.

The Red Wings have been very, very good at home, though they’ve struggled a bit of late having lost three straight (0-1-2). That said, they simply dominated the Jackets last time out.

For the Jackets, Fedor Tyutin looks like he’ll be back, skating with Dalton Prout. By bringing Tyutin off of IR, Kerby Rychel has been sent down to Springfield to make room. With the addition of Jeremy Morin as well, this is not surprising. To that end, it looks like Morin will be making his CBJ debut tonight, as well. The guess seems to be that Tyutin draws in with Dalton Prout, and Kevin Connauton sits in favor or Jordan Leopold.

All of this shuffling aside, the Jackets have shown that they can play with the big boys of the East over this six game stretch, and that will need to continue tonight. They need to stay out of the penalty box, even with the marked improvement of late on the penalty kill. They need to keep Sergei Bobrovsky as clean as possible. They need to continue to win at even strength, as while their Power Play has been good, the Wings’ PK has been out of this world this season. The Jackets will have to win this game at even strength.

Projected Lineups

Columbus Blue Jackets
(12-15-2, 26 Points; 7th division, 15th conference)

Boone Jenner Ryan Johansen Jack Skille
Jeremy Morin Nick Foligno Brian Gibbons
Matt Calvert Brandon Dubinsky Cam Atkinson
Corey Tropp Michael Chaput Jared Boll

Fedor Tyutin Dalton Prout
Jack Johnson David Savard
Jordan Leopold James Wisniewski

Sergei Bobrovsky
Curtis McElhinney

Detroit Red Wings
(17-7-7, 41 Points; 1st Division, 3rd Conference)

Gustav Nyquist Henrik Zetterberg Justin Abdelkader
Tomas Tatar Pavel Datsyuk Darren Helm
Johan Franzen Riley Sheahan Tomas Jurco
Drew Miller Luke Glendening Joakim Andersson

Niklas Kronwall Jonathan Ericsson
Kyle Quincey Brendan Smith
Jakub Kindl Xavier Ouellet

Jimmy Howard
Petr Mrazek

Season Series

11/18/14 – Detroit 5 at Columbus 0
12/16/14 – Columbus at Detroit
03/12/15 – Columbus at Detroit

Head to Head Stats

Detroit Columbus
2.94 (7) GPG 2.38 (23)
2.39 (7) GAPG 3.24 (28)
22.5% (8) PP% 23.2% (6)
87.8% (2) PK% 77.6% (24)
Gustav Nyquist, 14 G leader Nick Foligno, 14
Henrik Zetterberg, 21 A leader Ryan Johansen, 18
Henrik Zetterberg, 26 Pts leader Nick Foligno / Ryan Johansen, 27
Kyle Quincey, 33 PIM leader Jared Boll, 44
11-3-4 Home/Road 6-7-1
6-2-2 Last 10 6-4-0
12/13 @ Toronto, L 4-1 Last Game 12/13 vs. Pittsburgh, W 4-3 (SO)