It begins tonight. The Jackets are in 1st in the Central, and would like to stay there for more than just the opening month and a half of the NHL season.
7:00pm EST Fox Sports Ohio… and its a big game, so that means NO HD
The Red Wings come in reeling from a 5-1 loss in Toronto and under much criticism from various press outlets. Both teams have not played since Saturday night and should be well rested. As mentioned yesterday the Red Wings will start goaltender Jimmy Howard in lieu of Chris Osgood (cue Ozzie chant). The Jackets must take advantage of him early and often and use their speed to their advantage.
Of course there is the whole revenge aspect after getting swept last April at the hands of Detroit’s few people with jobs. The team and the coaches will downplay it, but the fans sure as hell won’t. I would not be surprised to see an attempted octopus launch tonight… makes me wish I had enough money to sit lower bowl every game. On top of it all Ken Hitchcock will coach his 1000th NHL game tonight. Congrats!
Statistical Comparison
Columbus Power Play 22.2% (9th) vs. 75.9% (26th)Detroit Penalty Kill
Detroit Power Play 20.0% (16th) vs. 79.4% (18th) Columbus Penalty Kill
Just like tonight is the first time the Jackets have been ahead in the standings when these two rivals met, this is probably also the first time the CBJ rank better than the Wings in each special team category. The question is, do the Red Wings start to “get right” tonight against a much younger Blue Jackets squad?
Columbus Goals/game 3.19 (7th) vs. 3.07 (24th) Detroit Goals Against/game
Detroit Goals/game 2.80 (15th) vs. 3.25 (27th) Columbus Goals Against/game
Both defensively weak teams in the early season, but the Jackets will ice their best defensive corps of the season for only the second time all year.
CARRY THE FLAG!!!
