The show must go on. Onward we march towards mathematical elimination from the playoffs, but that doesn’t mean these games should be ignored or thrown away.
7:00pm EST, Fox Sports Ohio, High Definition
A lot of good television tonight, but will the Jackets-Bruins game be something worth watching? The “Dad Trip” continues and the Blue Jackets need to win to salvage some level of respect from their parents, but also from the Eastern Conference. A season after laying the smack down against almost every Eastern team, the Blue Jackets are paying for it this year posting a record of 4-5-2 so far. I seem to remember many fans rekindling the call for the CBJ to be move to the East… where are those people now?
Tonight we see the return of Steve Mason to the net-minding duties in his first start since Saturday’s 6-5 loss to the Blackhawks. In the home loss to Chicago, Mason surrendered 6 goals on 31 shots for a woeful .806 save percentage. It’s interesting to note that in relief duty this season (2 gms 48:10) Mason has posted a 1.000 save percentage and faced 20 combined shots in those outings. If Mason is able to put together an average game tonight, and come up with a few big saves, the Blue Jackets could be in luck.
The Bruins don’t give up much defensively, this is especially due to their penalty kill where they rank 1st in the league (87.9%). Even strength is where the Bruins are more susceptible, but then again the CBJ are dead-last in 5-on-5 goals for/against ratio.
The projected line-up:
Umberger-Vermette-Nash
Torres-Brassard-Voracek
Huselius-Pahlsson-Clark
Dorsett-Modin-BollCommodore-Hejda
Russell-Roy
Tyutin-StralmanMason
Garon
It blows my mind that Hitch would rather have Tyutin or Stralman in this line-up over Milan Jurcina. Marc Methot will get the bench tonight, but won’t be considered a “healthy scratch” after not participating in morning skate with an “illness”… being a -3 must make you feel really sick to your stomach, especially after making excuses for the 3 goals you were on the ice for Marc.
Tonight would be the perfect opportunity for the 4th line to surprise everyone and do some damage. Dorsett is beyond due for a goal, but then again so is Jake Voracek. Overall, expect a very defensive game with a relatively low score.
GO JACKETS!!!
