Game Preview #58 - Keep Marching. (Or Not.)
We've been beating the dead horse of whether or not the team should keep winning. Either way, let's take a moment to enjoy the past few weeks.
Blue Jackets vs. Bruins
7:00 PM - Game Faceoff
It was the day after Thanksgiving. The Jackets dispatched the Pens in OT, and climbed to 10-14-0. That was the last time this team had a record as good as they could have if they win tonight. It would mean that, through all the ups and downs of December, January, and now a nice February, the Jackets would be 14-14-6 in their last 34 games, and 24-20-6 since 0-8-0 happened.
I don't know what all of that means, both for what's happened and for what's to come. I bring it up only to point out that, as bad as this season has felt at times, the large majority of it outside of those first three weeks just hasn't been that bad.
So, yeah, I'm not going to again have the "Should They or Shouldn't They?" discussion about trying to finish 30th. It's a moot point right now. I'm going to try to continue to enjoy the improved play we've seen, even though I know come June it could hurt more than it helps. This is one of the paradoxes of being a sports fan.
No lineup changes are in the works, other than Curtis McElhinney coming back from IR and Anton Forsberg heading back to the AHL. Joonas Korpisalo gets yet another (deserved) start tonight.
Projected Lineups
Columbus Blue Jackets
(23-28-6, 50 Points; 8th division, 15th conference)
| Boone Jenner | Brandon Dubinsky | Cam Atkinson |
| Scott Hartnell | Alexander Wennberg | Brandon Saad |
| Matt Calvert | William Karlsson | Nick Foligno |
| Rene Bourque | Gregory Campbell | Kerby Rychel |
| Ryan Murray | Seth Jones |
| Jack Johnson | David Savard |
| Fedor Tyutin | Dalton Prout |
| Joonas Korpisalo |
| Curtis McElhinney |
Boston Bruins
(30-20-6, 66 Points; 3rd Division, 6th Conference)
| Brad Marchand | Ryan Spooner | Brett Connolly |
| Loui Eriksson | David Krejci | Jimmy Hayes |
| Matt Beleskey | Joonas Kemppainen | Matt Pasternak |
| Zac Rinaldo | Max Talbot | Landon Ferraro |
| Zdeno Chara | Zach Trotman |
| Dennis Seidenberg | Colin Miller |
| Torey Krug | Kevan Miller |
| Tukka Rask |
| Jonas Gustavsson |