Penguins vs. Blue Jackets Game #1 Preview – The Second Season Begins

Columbus Blue Jackets at Pittsburgh Penguins

April 16, 2014 – 7:00 pm EDT
Consol Energy Center – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Radio – WBNS 97.1 – TV – Fox Sports Ohio
Opponent’s Blog: Pensburgh

We’ve spent the last several days laying out the ways that these teams match up, how they contrast, where they’re similar, and where each team will try to find an edge so that they can keep pushing forward towards Hockey’s ultimate goal.

The Penguins have confirmed that Malkin is back, so we’re going to be facing a fully armed and operational top six, while the Jackets still won’t have Nick Foligno or R. J. Umberger until at least Saturday. Columbus has their work cut out for them neutralizing those top two lines, but I think we’re up for the challenge – and as just about everyone has mentioned, Pittsburgh’s bottom six has some issues that I think we can exploit.

To this point, discussions of how the teams will match up have been theory and guesswork. Now, it’s time to see what happens when things are put into practice.

It’s a big day. Perhaps the biggest this team has had since John Davidson took the helm.

Go Jackets.

Projected Lineups

Columbus Blue Jackets
(regular season: 43-32-7, 93 Points; 4th division, 7th conference)

Pittsburgh Penguins
(regular season: 51-24-7, 109 Points; 1st Division, 2nd Conference)

Series Results

04/16/14 – Columbus at Pittsburgh
04/18/14 – Columbus at Pittsburgh
04/21/14 – Pittsburgh at Columbus
04/23/14 – Pittsburgh at Columbus
04/26/14 – Columbus at Pittsburgh*
04/28/14 – Pittsburgh at Columbus*
04/30/14 – Columbus at Pittsburgh*
*if necessary

Regular Season Head to Head Stats