Game Preview #61 – Show Up For The Bright Lights

Blue Jackets at Red Wings
7:30 PM – Game Faceoff
NBCSN Online Stream

This seems weird.

60 games played, and nary a game versus the octopus throwin’ winged wheel. How is that even possible?

At any rate, the Jackets finish what I believe is their 432nd back-to-back on the season with a nationally televised game against Detroit in Motown. I thoroughly enjoyed the final score last night against Boston, but wonder how much of that is sustainable for this crew. The two Power Play goals were a nice breath of fresh air, but they also came off of pretty fortunate redirection/bounces. One went off Jenner’s skate.

I don’t know what to make of Detroit, having not seen them. As usual, they plug along toward the playoffs. The names are largely the same. But the stats, from our Faceoff piece, don’t show a team demonstrably better than Columbus, especially on offense. (Defense remains the Jackets’ biggest stumbling block toward being compared to other teams.)

The Jackets have a weird history of being bad and then showing up on national TV against the likes of Detroit and Pittsburgh and playing well. I hope that trend continues. It’s hard enough getting people to respect us as a city and franchise without getting embarrassed by our so-called regional rivals on the biggest stage. With some tired legs, hopefully that doesn’t happen early tonight.

Lineup is my assumption that not much will change. Will be interested to see if Cody Goloubef can get a game in with the back-to-back, and I would guess that after two straight games with four goals against not to mention the back-to-back Curtis McElhinney finally gives Joonas Korpisalo his well-deserved night off.

Projected Lineups

Columbus Blue Jackets
(24-29-7, 55 Points; 8th division, 15th conference)

Detroit Red Wings
(29-20-11, 69 Points; 4th Division, 7th Conference)