Game Preview #69 - The Calm Before the Storm

Carolina Hurricanes at Columbus Blue Jackets

March 18, 2014 - 7:00 pm EDT
Nationwide Arena - Columbus, Ohio
Radio - WBNS 97.1 - TV - Fox Sports Ohio
Opponent's Blog: Canes Country
SBN's Blue Jackets vs Hurricanes coverage

The Jackets' schedule was pretty tough over the past couple of weeks. Before the Olympic break ended, I highlighted this past stretch as one of the most important:

The Jackets' toughest stretch, in my opinion, happens very quickly: between March 6 and March 15, they play six games, four of which are on the road. They go to Chicago, Nashville (their own house of horrors), and Dallas, are home for a big game against Detroit, face San Jose at home, and then go to Minnesota.

How'd they do? Well, they went 3-1-1 over that stretch, with one incomplete against Dallas (though they'll start with the lead when they make the game up in April). All in all, very good.

So, now we get into the schedule of quantity, if not quality. The Jackets have 15 games remaining, and included in those 15 games are FIVE (5!!) sets of back-to-back games, including a brutal stretch of five games in seven days to close out the season thanks to the reschedule of the Dallas game. (Still think they made the right call in canceling the rest of that game, but really, NHL? Really?)

But, while the Jackets have a ton of games in a very small amount of time, they get a break in terms of their strength of schedule. The Jackets' remaining opponents collectively have a sub-.500 winning percentage (note: this does not factor in OT points), including two games against Carolina, the Isles, and a game against Florida. They also get cracks at the Rags and Flyers to help make their case for a Metro playoff spot.

It won't be easy. That said, tonight's opponent has been trending in the wrong direction since the calendar moved to February. The Canes have a 4-10-0 record since the beginning of February, and are basically playing out the string at this point mathematically.

I know you probably get tired of it, but I like to cite random quotes from my brother, who I talk to almost daily about hockey and who happens to live in Raleigh and follow the Canes. He attended Sunday's game against Edmonton, and this was his report:

They have pretty much folded in the tent. Shying away from physical play, over-passing instead of crashing the net... just sad to see. I thought they had a legitimate chance going into the Olympic break. I think they will roll over for any team that shows up and plays with a little edge at this point.

Cue the Jackets!

Given some big games in the standings on Thursday and Friday against Montreal and New York, this is a game the Jackets simply HAVE to win. They've shown that their style--when they play it--is tough for the Canes to match up against, and given the way Carolina has gone off the rails over the past six weeks, it should be ripe for the picking for the Jackets. Columbus has had two days off to rest after their recent stretch of games, and so there's no excuse for not coming out and dominating the Canes from the drop of the puck.

Columbus is 10-2-1 in their last 13 at home; the Canes are falling apart like the Bluesmobile, and are 1-7-0 in their last eight on the road (and the one win was in OT, though against San Jose, amazingly).

In short, the Jackets simply HAVE to win this game. No excuses.

Please note: it's early and I have a full day, so these are VERY projected lineups.

Projected Lineups

Columbus Blue Jackets
(35-26-6, 76 Points; 3rd division, 7th conference)

Nick Foligno	Ryan Johansen	Boone Jenner
Matt Calvert	Brandon Dubinsky	Nathan Horton
R.J. Umberger	Artem Anisimov	Cam Atkinson
Derek MacKenzie	Mark Letestu	Corey Tropp

Jack Johnson	Dalton Prout
Fedor Tyutin	James Wisniewski
Nikita Nikitin	David Savard

Sergei Bobrovsky

Curtis McElhinney

Carolina Hurricanes
(29-30-9, 67 Points; 7th division, 13th conference)

Jeff Skinner	Eric Staal	Elias Lindholm
Nathan Gerbe	Jordan Staal	Alexander Semin
Drayson Bowman	Riley Nash	Patrick Dwyer
Andrei Loktionov	Manny Malhotra	Radek Dvorak

Andrej Sekera	Justin Faulk
Ron Hainsey	Brett Bellemore
Jay Harrison	Ryan Murphy

Anton Khudobin

Cam Ward

Season Series

12/23/13 - Columbus 4 at Carolina 3
01/10/14 - Carolina 0 at Columbus 3
01/27/14 - Columbus 2 at Carolina 3
03/18/14 - Carolina at Columbus
03/29/14 - Columbus at Carolina

Head to Head Stats

Carolina		Columbus
2.47 (20)	GPG	2.84 (8)
2.81 (20)	GAPG	2.72 (16)
12.6% (29)	PP%	18.3% (14)
81.3% (18)	PK%	82.0% (16)
Jeff Skinner, 26	G leader	Ryan Johansen, 26
Eric Staal, 36	A leader	James Wisniewski, 33
Eric Staal, 52	Pts leader	Ryan Johansen, 50
Eric Staal, 66	PIM leader	Brandon Dubinsky, 92
12-16-4	Road/Home	19-11-3
3/16 vs. Edmonton, L 2-1	Last Game	3/15 @ Minnesota, W 2-1 (SO)
3-7-0	Last 10	6-3-1