Game Preview #74 - What To Expect?

Blue Jackets vs. Hurricanes - 7:00 PM
Game Faceoff

These are two teams running on fumes. The Jackets are just 4-6-0 in their last 10, including 2-4-0 in their last six. The Canes, after going 3-0-1 after a purge at the deadline, have lost five in a row (0-2-3), including a mirror image of what the Jackets did on Tuesday by blowing a lead to Buffalo with four minutes to go and losing in regulation.

The Canes are trying to do what Columbus is trying to do. They, however, were able to shed some contracts at the deadline, sending Eric Staal, John-Michael Liles, and Kris Versteeg packing. They've got quite a bit of youth on their blue line with Liles gone and Justin Faulk (the good one, not the one we have) out with injury. They may have played their way out of the lottery discussion for most of the season, but even though they were close their GM made the smart move to shed contracts and move on (it should be noted, however, that all three are expiring contracts).

So, both of these teams are drifting toward the finish line. What should we expect? Who wants it slightly less more than the other?

Projected Lineups

Columbus Blue Jackets
(30-35-8, 68 Points; 8th division, 15th conference)

Scott Hartnell	Brandon Dubinsky	Nick Foligno
Brandon Saad	Boone Jenner	Cam Atkinson
Matt Calvert	Alexander Wennberg	BJORKSTRAND
William Karlsson	Michael Chaput	Gregory Campbell

Ryan Murray	Seth Jones
Fedor Tyutin	Dalton Prout
Cody Goloubef	David Savard

Sergei Bobrovsky

Joonas Korpisalo

Carolina Hurricanes
(31-28-14, 76 Points; 7th Division, 11th Conference)

Joakim Nordstrom	Jordan Staal	Elias Lindholm
Jeff Skinner	Victor Rask	Phil Di Giuseppe
Chris Terry	Derek Ryan	Riley Nash
Nathan Gerbe	Jay McClement	Brad Malone

Jaccob Slavin	Ron Hainsey
Noah Hanifin	Brett Pesce
Michal Jordan	Ryan Murphy

Eddie Lack

Cam Ward