Game Preview #80 - Start A New Streak

Toronto Maple Leafs at Columbus Blue Jackets

April 8, 2015 - 7:30 pm EDT
Nationwide Arena - Columbus, Ohio
Radio - WBNS 97.1 FM - TV - Fox Sports Ohio
Opponent's Blog: Pension Plan Puppets

The Jackets have lost the first two to the Leafs--as I noted in my schedule/record breakdown--but it's fair to say that those were not THESE Leafs. Since the last time the two clubs have met, here are the respective records (not including that second game):

Columbus - 21-17-2
Toronto - 8-26-4

THAT is called "tanking" folks. Holy crap.

Suffice it to say, neither team is the same as they were back in January when they last played. The Jackets are finally healthy and resembling the team we all thought they could be. The Leafs are... participating in hockey games.

For Columbus, still no Fedor Tyutin in the lineup, though Ryan Murray is back. Kevin Connauton will sit in lieu of Murray, and Justin Falk remains with Dalton Prout on the bottom pairing.

For the Leafs, no internet site that I can find seems to know who will be playing center for them on their third line. That, in a way, is emblematic of the back half of their season.

Enjoy!

Projected Lineups

Columbus Blue Jackets
(39-35-5, 83 Points; 6th division, 12th conference)

Boone Jenner	Ryan Johansen	Cam Atkinson
Scott Hartnell	Alexander Wennberg	Marko Dano
Brandon Dubinsky	Artem Anisimov	Nick Foligno
Matt Calvert	Mark Letestu	Jeremy Morin

Jack Johnson	David Savard
Ryan Murray	Cody Goloubef
Justin Falk	Dalton Prout

Sergei Bobrovsky

Curtis McElhinney

Toronto Maple Leafs
(30-43-7, 67 Points; 7th Division, 15th Conference)

James van Riemsdyk	Tyler Bozak	Phil Kessel
Joakim Lindstrom	Nazem Kadri	Richard Panik
Leo Komarov		Joffrey Lupul
David Booth	Zach Sill	Casey Bailey

Eric Brewer	Dion Phaneuf
Jake Gardiner	Morgan Rielly
Tim Erixon	Andrew MacWilliam

James Reimer

Jonathan Bernier

Season Series

10/31/14 - Toronto 4 at Columbus 1
01/09/15 - Columbus 2 at Toronto 5
04/08/15 - Toronto at Columbus

Head to Head Stats

Toronto		Columbus
2.54 (24)	GPG	2.71 (17)
3.11 (26)	GAPG	3.06 (25)
16.4% (25)	PP%	21.4% (6)
80.5% (21)	PK%	79.9% (24)
James van Riemsdyk, 27	G leader	Nick Foligno, 30
Phil Kessel, 35	A leader	Ryan Johansen, 43
Phil Kessel, 59	Pts leader	Nick Foligno, 71
Dion Phaneuf, 106	PIM leader	Jared Boll, 109
8-26-6	Road/Home	17-20-2
3-6-1	Last 10	9-0-1
4/5 vs. Ottawa, W 3-2 (SO)	Last Game	4/6 @ NY Rangers, L 4-3 (OT)