Gameday #57: Back to Work

Thursday, February 26, 2026 – 7:00 PM ET
TD Garden – Boston, Massachusetts
TV: FDSNOH; Radio: 97.1 FM

Columbus Blue Jackets (29-20-7, 65 points, 5th Metro, 10th East)

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Boston Bruins (32-20-5, 69 points, 5th Atlantic, 8th East)

Notes

What a break! The Olympics saw Team USA take two golds in ice hockey for the first time. The women bulldozed their way to the final, where Canada responded to a 5-0 drubbing in the prelims to get two minutes away from a 1-0 upset. Hillary Knight got the equalizer at 6-on-5 (assisted by Cleveland’s own Laila Edwards), while Megan Keller scored the winner in OT with an ankle-breaking deke of Claire Thompson.

The men also required OT to beat Canada, with Connor Hellebuyck standing on his head in net and then Jack Hughes scoring the golden goal, fed by our own Zach Werenski with hustle (chasing the puck down), grit (bodying Nathan MacKinnon off the puck), and skill (perfect pass to an open Hughes).

Werenski capped off the celebration by bringing two of Johnny Gaudreau’s children on the ice for a team picture, as Meredith, Guy, and Jane Gaudreau cheered from the stands in Milan.

Then everyone came directly home without any controversy. Moving on.

The rest of the Blue Jackets (expect Elvis Merzlikins, who played admirably for an outmatched Latvia team) got some much-deserved rest and many went to warmer climes. Kent Johnson got married!

Now they’ve had a week of hard practices with Rick Bowness, and now the hottest team in the NHL (winners of 10 of the last 11) gets back to work, against a Boston Bruins team that is a surprise playoff contender and is riding a six game point streak of their own.

Here’s the situation, and who we’re currently chasing:

Metro 2: Pittsburgh is up 5 points, with the same number of games played. Sure wish we hadn’t given them 6 standings points thanks to blown regulation leads! Bad news (for them): Sidney Crosby will miss four weeks with a lower body injury he suffered at the Olympics.

Metro 3: The Nye Islanders are up 4 points, but the Jackets have two games in hand. Fortunately, they play the Isles twice more, starting on Saturday in Columbus.

Wild Card 2: Boston is up 4 points, but the Jackets have a game in hand. They have all 3 games against the Bruins left to go, starting tonight. The other two are in Columbus.

Washington is also ahead of Columbus for now, but only by 2 points, and the Jackets somehow have FOUR games in hand. But the Caps also are 3-0 against us this season, with a 12-2 goal differential. The teams play in the last game of the regular season.

Stats

Projected Lineups

Columbus Blue Jackets

Boston Bruins