Game Preview #73 - Return of the Wiz
James Wisniewski! <strike>Rene Bourque!</strike> Wild Bill Karlsson!!! IT'S ON!!
Anaheim Ducks at Columbus Blue Jackets
March 24, 2015 - 7:00 pm EDT
Nationwide Arena - Columbus, Ohio
Radio - WBNS 97.1 FM - TV - Fox Sports Ohio
Opponent's Blog: Anaheim Calling
It always seems to happen: a big move is made at the deadline, and before the season is out that player's new team comes to visit. Jeff Carter and LA in 2012 comes to mind for Columbus.
Tonight, the reception should be much better, as many fans were sad to see James Wisniewski go.
The Jackets have been playing well on the road, but can't seem to solve things at home. I can't even begin to guess as to why this is, but there's no denying that the Jackets have been able to win games of late despite being outshot and often falling behind. The Ducks are the class of the Western Conference right now, so the Jackets will have their work cut out for them if they want that trend to continue.
Saturday's hero Rene Bourque is out tonight with--wait for it--and upper-body injury. Because of course he is.
Projected Lineups
Columbus Blue Jackets
(33-35-4, 70 Points; 7th division, 13th conference)
| Boone Jenner | Ryan Johansen | Cam Atkinson |
| Nick Foligno | Artem Anisimov | Jeremy Morin |
| Scott Hartnell | William Karlsson | Marko Dano |
| Corey Tropp | Mark Letestu | Jared Boll |
| Jack Johnson | David Savard |
| Kevin Connauton | Cody Goloubef |
| Fedor Tyutin | Dalton Prout |
| Sergei Bobrovsky |
| Curtis McElhinney |
Anaheim Ducks
(46-21-7, 99 Points; 1st Division, 1st Conference)
| Patrick Maroon | Ryan Getzlaf | Corey Perry |
| Matt Beleskey | Ryan Kesler | Kyle Palmieri |
| Emerson Etem | Rickard Rakell | Tomas Fleischmann |
| Andrew Cogliano | Nate Thompson | Jakob Silfverberg |
| Hampus Lindholm | Francois Beauchemin |
| Simon Despres | James Wisniewski |
| Sami Vatanen | Clayton Stoner |
| John Gibson |
| Frederik Andersen |
Season Series
ANA - 1-0-0
CBJ - 0-1-010/24/14 - Columbus 1 at Anaheim 4
03/24/15 - Anaheim at Columbus
Head to Head Stats
| Anaheim | Columbus | |
| 2.81 (11) | GPG | 2.58 (20) |
| 2.72 (20) | GAPG | 3.10 (25) |
| 16.4% (25) | PP% | 21.8% (5) |
| 81.0% (18) | PK% | 79.0% (25) |
| Corey Perry, 31 | G leader | Nick Foligno, 25 |
| Ryan Getzlaf, 43 | A leader | Nick Foligno / Ryan Johansen, 38 |
| Ryan Getzlaf, 66 | Pts leader | Nick Foligno, 63 |
| Tim Jackman, 84 | PIM leader | Jared Boll, 104 |
| 21-11-4 | Home/Road | 13-20-2 |
| 6-4-0 | Last 10 | 7-3-0 |
| 3/22 @ NY Rangers, L 7-2 | Last Game | 3/21 @ Calgary, W 3-2 (OT) |