Game Preview #33 - Gotta Climb Back Into That Saddle...

Columbus Blue Jackets at Vancouver Canucks

March 26, 2013 - 10:00pm EDT
Rogers Arena - Vancouver, British Columbia
Radio - WBNS 97.1 - TV - Fox Sports Ohio
Opponents Blog: Nucks Misconduct
SBNation Game Page

Saturday was gross. That's all I'm going to say.

The only other thing I'll say is that my man Mark Erickson noted last night after our rec league game that, in 2011, the Jackets faint playoff hopes were dashed by a disastrous March road trip that went through Nashville, Vancouver, Edmonton, and Calgary.

[checks schedule]

[mutters explitive]

So, anyway, the season series with Vancouver is tied at 1-0-1 for both teams, with the rubber match coming tonight. Vancouver has been getting slightly healthier, and their play has matched that. Since last we saw them, they've pushed their way back up to fourth in the conference, right behind division-mates Minnesota. We all know what the Jackets have been doing.

So, climb back up into that saddle. Pretend you're at home. Whatever it takes.

Projected Lineups

Columbus Blue Jackets
(13-13-6, 32 Points; 5th division, 11th conference)

R.J. Umberger	Ryan Johansen	Nick Foligno
Matt Calvert	Artem Anisimov	Cam Atkinson
Vinny Prospal	Derick Brassard	Mark Letestu
Colton Gillies	Derek MacKenzie	Jared Boll

Fedor Tyutin	Jack Johnson
Tim Erixon	Adrian Aucoin
Nikita Nikitin	Dalton Prout

Sergei Bobrovsky

Steve Mason

Vancouver Canucks
(17-9-6, 40 Points; 2nd Division, 4th Conference)

Daniel Sedin	Henrik Sedin	Alexandre Burrows
Mason Raymond	Jordan Schroeder	Jannik Hansen
Chris Higgins	Andrew Ebbett	Keith Ballard
Andrew Gordon	Maxim Lapierre	Tom Sestito

Dan Hamhuis	Jason Garrison
Kevin Bieksa	Alexander Edler
Chris Tanev	Andrew Alberts

Roberto Luongo

Cory Schneider

Season Series

03/07/13 - Vancouver 1 at Columbus 2 (OT)
03/12/13 - Vancouver 2 at Columbus 1 (SO)
03/26/13 - Columbus at Vancouver

Head to Head

Vancouver		Columbus
2.62 (17)	GPG	2.22 (30)
2.50 (9)	GAPG	2.56 (15)
13.4% (29)	PP%	13.9% (27)
81.2% (16)	PK%	85.2% (6)
Daniel Sedin / Mason Raymond, 9	G leader	Vinny Prospal, 9
Henrik Sedin, 21	A leader	Fedor Tyutin, 14
Henrik Sedin, 29	Pts leader	Vinny Prospal, 18
Dale Weise, 41	PIM leader	Jared Boll, 79
8-5-3	Home/Road	3-9-1
3/24 @ Colorado, W 3-2	Last Game	3/23 @ Nashville, L 5-2
6-3-1	Last 10	7-1-2

Game Notes

• Road Mentality - Whether you think this team is just a bad road team, or whether it was just a function of early-season struggles, you're probably right. The only road games they seem to have really played well in have been few and far between. These Western Canada trips in the past have been a death march. Let's see if they can change the culture.
• Special Teams - Look at that! A team with all around worse special teams than us! I don't even have additional comments here.

Here's hoping Saturday was an aberration.