Columbus Blue Jackets at Calgary Flames
March 29, 2013 – 9:00pm EDT
Pengrowth Saddle Dome – Calgary, Alberta
Radio – WBNS 97.1 – TV – Fox Sports Ohio
Opponents Blog: Matchsticks and Gasoline
SBNation Game Page
After Friday’s game, this one has a completely different tone. With the week that’s past, wow… it couldn’t be much different. Last week, the Jackets were riding an incredible wave, finishing their home stand, and using a crazy 1:15 stretch to bury the Flames. An 0-2-1 start to the road trip has blunted the outcome of last Friday’s game.
Oh, and there’s also the fact that Jarome Iginla is gone from Calgary. And the return was, how you say, not well received in Calgary. I imagine Ray Shero getting up on his desk and toe-tapping like a grizzled 1840’s prospector who’s just found gold in dem dar hills.
At any rate, it remains to be seen how this move has affected the Flames. They’ve been 2-1-0 since last Friday amidst the speculation, but now that the move’s done and the team may be in full-on Mike Holmes gut-it-to-the-studs mode, how motivated are these guys? As they say, the first true cut is always the deepest.
Wait, that was Sheryl Crow. Disregard.
The Jackets need to shake off last night’s, uhh, crap-fest on defense and bounce right back. They need to rekindle their own flame if they entertain any hopes of hanging in this playoff race.
There was no morning skate today, so the lineup is boilerplate from previous games. Not sure what Todd Richards is going to do, and/or what the status of James Wisniewski, John Moore and Nick Foligno for tonight’s game might be.
Projected Lineups
Columbus Blue Jackets
(13-14-7, 33 Points; 5th division, 13th 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 |
| Nikita Nikitin | Dalton Prout |
| Tim Erixon | Adrian Aucoin |
| Sergei Bobrovsky |
| Steve Mason |
Calgary Flames
(13-15-4, 30 Points; 4th Division, 14th Conference)
| Curtis Glencross | Mike Cammalleri | Blake Comeau |
| Alex Tanguay | Matt Stajan | Lee Stempniak |
| Jiri Hudler | Mikael Backlund | Roman Cervenka |
| Tim Jackman | Steve Begin | Brian McGrattan |
| TJ Brodie | Jay Bouwmeester |
| Mark Giordano | Dennis Wideman |
| Chris Butler | Cory Sarich |
| Miikka Kiprusoff |
| Joey MacDonald |
Season Series
02/07/13 – Calgary 4 at Columbus 3 – OT
03/22/13 – Calgary 1 at Columbus 5
03/29/13 – Columbus at Calgary
Head to Head
Calgary Columbus 2.78 (13) GPG 2.21 (30) 3.28 (29) GAPG 2.59 (14) 21.4% (7) PP% 13.5% (28) 80.0% (20) PK% 85.8% (5) Curtis Glencross, 13 G leader Vinny Prospal / Artem Anisimov, 9 Lee Stempniak / Alex Tanguay, 16 A leader Fedor Tyutin, 14 Alex Tanguay, 25 Pts leader Vinny Prospal, 18 Brian McGrattan, 32 PIM leader Jared Boll, 84 10-5-2 Home/Road 3-10-2 3/27 vs Colorado, W 4-3 Last Game 3/28 @ Edmonton, L 6-4 4-6-0 Last 10 5-2-3
Can the Jackets finish off the road trip with a win to salvage some points? We shall see.