Nashville Predators at Columbus Blue Jackets
April 27, 2013 – 7:00pm EDT
Nationwide Arena – Columbus, Ohio
Radio – WBNS 97.1 – TV – Fox Sports Ohio
Opponents Blog: On the Forecheck
SBNation Game Page
Tickets (yes, there are some available here)
Well, folks, here it is. This is for the most of the whole magilla. The Jackets got a pretty huge gift from Edmonton last night, and saw the cracked-open playoff door get pushed open just a bit wider. But, no scoreboard watching just yet; there’s still one last bit of business to take care of.
The Jackets finish off the regular season at home tonight against a skidding Nashville squad, battling injuries and general not-giving-a-shit-ness since the trade deadline. In fact, the Jackets’ first post-deadline game was against Nashville, and since that time–including that game–the Preds have gone just 1-8-1.
In short, there’s a good chance that our opponents may be looking forward to getting home and moving on to their summer vacations. Also, they’ve decided to start Chris Mason tonight, so that should be a big boost for us.
That said, much like Jason Vorhees, you never count on these Predators being dead. Better to be safe than sorry. And, if the Jackets saw the standings this morning and aren’t completely jacked and ready for this game, I don’t know what it would take.
So, here it is. There’s a legit chance, here, people. A win tonight combined with either a loss (of any kind) for Minnesota and/or a regulation loss for Detroit, and WE’RE PRINTING PLAYOFF TICKETS.
No matter what happens, if you’re fortunate enough to be in The Nat tonight, let these guys know what you think. Let them hear how awesome the last two months have been. Let them know the LUMBUS IS A F**KING HOCKEY TOWN!
Projected Lineups
Columbus Blue Jackets
(23-17-7, 53 Points; 4th division, 9th conference)
| Vinny Prospal | Mark Letestu | Marian Gaborik |
| R.J. Umberger | Ryan Johansen | Nick Foligno |
| Blake Comeau | Brandon Dubinsky | Cam Atkinson |
| Colton Gillies | Derek MacKenzie | Jared Boll |
| Fedor Tyutin | James Wisniewski |
| Dalton Prout | Jack Johnson |
| Tim Erixon | Adrian Aucoin |
| Sergei Bobrovsky |
| Michael Leighton |
Nashville Predators
(16-22-9, 41 Points; 5th Division, 14th Conference)
| Daniel Bang | David Legwand | Mike Fisher |
| Sergei Kostitsyn | Nick Spaling | Filip Forsberg |
| Rich Clune | Craig Smith | Kevin Henderson |
| Bobby Butler | Chris Mueller | Joonas Rask |
| Roman Josi | Shea Weber |
| Hal Gill | Kevin Klein |
| Victor Bartley | Jonathon Blum |
| Chris Mason |
| Pekka Rinne |
Season Series
01/19/13 – Columbus 3 at Nashville 2 – SO
03/19/13 – Nashville 3 at Columbus 4
03/23/13 – Columbus 2 at Nashville 5
04/04/13 – Columbus 3 at Nashville 1
04/27/13 – Nashville at Columbus
Head to Head
Nashville Columbus 2.30 (29) GPG 2.38 (26) 2.77 (20) GAPG 2.43 (11) 17.1% (18) PP% 13.7% (30) 75.9% (29) PK% 82.6% (11) David Legwand, 12 G leader Mark Letestu, 13 Shea Weber, 19 A leader Fedor Tyutin, 18 Shea Weber, 27 Pts leader Vinny Prospal, 29 Richard Clune, 111 PIM leader Jared Boll, 100 5-13-5 Road/Home 13-5-5 4/25 @ Detroit, L 5-2 Last Game 4/25 @ Dallas, W 3-1 1-8-1 Last 10 7-3-0
Game Notes
- Chris Mason has played in 10 games this year. He has a 3.97 gaa. He has a .852 sv%.
- Detroit at Dallas starts at 7:00 as well, and Minnesota at Colorado starts at 7:30. We’ll be linking up to game pages and game threads willy-nilly in our game thread, so you can do all of your scoreboard watching in one place.
- How nice is it that we’re at home, and the other teams we need to lose are on the road? Every little bit helps./
This is it folks. Win or lose, make sure you let the boys know how you feel at the arena tonight!