Game Preview #63 - Oh, Yeah, There's a Game Tonight
The smoke clears on The Day After, and the new-look tank hits the ice.
Washington Capitals at Columbus Blue Jackets
March 3, 2015 - 7:00 pm EST
Nationwide Arena - Columbus, Ohio
Radio - WBNS 97.1 FM - TV - Fox Sports Ohio
Opponent's Blog: Japers' Rink
Oh, hey, there's a game tonight! I almost forgot. In some ways, I'd hoped the season would just be over, already. But, much like winter, it may never end.
So, here's a nice thing to play in the background while you read the rest of this. From the aptly-named album "Music For the Morning After," it's Pete Yorn's "For Nancy," a song about a girl who won't leave a bad relationship:
And when you said I could not stay with you / That's not the way you would have wanted to be / Convince yourself that everything is alright / 'Cos it already is
So, the dust settles. The tank fires up. Here we go.
In the most un-tank move of the day, Sergei Bobrovsky will get his first start since before the All Star Break. Remember back then when things were bad, but not THIS bad?
Otherwise, what is there to report? The Caps are rounding into playoff form, and added two players at the deadline. The Jackets are, well, this:
Tank Watch - 2015
| Team | GP | PTS | ROW |
| Buffalo | 63 | 43 | 12 |
| Edmonton | 63 | 46 | 13 |
| Arizona | 63 | 47 | 16 |
| Toronto | 63 | 55 | 22 |
| Carolina | 62 | 55 | 20 |
| Columbus | 62 | 56 | 22 |
Columbus has some work to do to get into the top three, obviously, but they are very close to jumping to the fourth spot. Tank on!
Projected Lineups
Columbus Blue Jackets
(26-32-4, 56 Points; 7th division, 13th conference)
| Nick Foligno | Ryan Johansen | Cam Atkinson |
| Scott Hartnell | Artem Anisimov | David Clarkson |
| Brian Gibbons | Alexander Wennberg | Marko Dano |
| Corey Tropp | Mark Letestu | Jared Boll |
| Jack Johnson | David Savard |
| Fedor Tyutin | Cody Goloubef |
| Justin Falk | Dalton Prout |
| Sergei Bobrovsky |
| Curtis McElhinney |
Washington Capitals
(34-20-10, 74 Points; 4th Division, 7th Conference)
| Alex Ovechkin | Nicklas Backstrom | Marcus Johansson |
| Curtis Glencross | Evgeny Kuznetsov | Troy Brouwer |
| Jason Chimera | Eric Fehr | Joel Ward |
| Brooks Laich | Jay Beagle | Tom Wilson |
| Brooks Orpik | John Carlson |
| Karl Alzner | Matt Niskanen |
| Tim Gleason | Mike Green |
| Braden Holtby |
| Justin Peters |
Season Series
WSH - 2-1-1
CBJ - 2-1-111/11/14 - Columbus 2 at Washington 4
12/11/14 - Columbus 3 at Washington 2 (OT)
12/18/14 - Washington 5 at Columbus 4 (OT)
01/27/15 - Washington 3 at Columbus 4
03/03/15 - Washington at Columbus
Head to Head Stats
| Washington | Columbus | |
| 2.89 (8) | GPG | 2.52 (24) |
| 2.42 (6) | GAPG | 3.13 (26) |
| 23.6% (2) | PP% | 20.4% (8) |
| 81.4% (16) | PK% | 80.4% (19) |
| Alex Ovechkin, 41 | G leader | Nick Foligno, 24 |
| Nicklas Backstrom, 47 | A leader | Ryan Johansen, 33 |
| Nicklas Backstrom / Alex Ovechkin, 65 | Pts leader | Nick Foligno, 56 |
| Tom Wilson, 128 | PIM leader | Jared Boll, 86 |
| 16-12-5 | Road/Home | 12-17-2 |
| 6-4-0 | Last 10 | 3-6-1 |
| 3/1 vs. Toronto, W 4-0 | Last Game | 3/1 @ Pittsburgh, L 5-3 |