The Jacketsblog: An Unofficial Columbus Blue Jackets Blog

Again the Jackets are desperate to right the ship but at least it’s free food night for season ticket holders tonight…

7:00pm EST, Nationwide Arena

NO TELEVISION

Check some of the links found here.

There is some good news, this from Tom Reed of The Dispatch:

What’s more unacceptable than a game not being on local television? The NHL defending its own wrong calls… (h/t to The Dark Blue Jacket)

If Saturday’s game against Dallas doesn’t make your blood boil, just a little, then you probably aren’t a fan of the Blue Jackets or sports contests being won fair-and-square anyways.

The million dollar question is this: How will the team handle its current slide in conjunction with points practically being stolen right out from under them?

We can continue down this current path of a win here, a few losses there, an overtime loss there, heading for another draft lottery or the Jackets can turn it around when they desperately need to. Rob of “The Sentry” (one of the new CBJ blogs by my count) rams home the point that this really is a MASSIVE week for the Blue Jackets.

It will be very interesting to see how Mathieu Garon plays in his 2nd consecutive start tonight, and if he struggles, where do the Jackets go from here?

Aaron Portzline reports that Flames back-up goalie Henrik Karlsson will get the start tonight.

To me, this says: “Win or else” for the CBJ.

Go Jackets.

People who read this blog or follow the Jackets in general will think I’m crazy after this statement… This is ANOTHER must-win game. The Flames are a team that the Blue Jackets need to assert themselves on, especially at home, and that’s not even considering that the Flames have a goaltender making his NHL debut.

7:00pm EST, Nationwide Arena

Fox Sports Ohio (High Definition)

After Wednesday’s (mostly) solid performance the Blue Jackets look to bring back the fans to Nationwide Arena. As previously mentioned, the organization has resigned itself to the cold hard facts; Winning is all that matters. And that reasoning is only compounded on a weekend when people have LOTS of options other than a losing hockey team.

To reaffirm the “must-win-ness” of a CBJ win tonight, the Flamers are coming off of a 4-2 loss last night in Detroit. Making the most of the teams playing on a back-to-back is a vital benchmark to achieve for the Jackets to find themselves in the post season.

Check out the line-ups here (via The Dispatch)

The line-juggling will be interesting if the 3rd line takes a step back with Dorsett instead of Moreau, who the Jackets will be without for 4-6 weeks due to a broken hand.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see a change to the Voracek-Brassard-Filatov line if they continue to struggle through this weekends games.

Game previews:

The Dispatch – Keep an eye on Umberger as he goes toe-to-toe with Jarome Iginla tonight.

Yahoo! Sports – Jackets are looking for ways to improve

NHL.com – Which player (on either side) will step up and control this season series?

Finally, via Twitter and Puck Daddy, take a look at last night’s crowd in Phoenix:

If any media wants to come down on the CBJ for attendance issues, they have some other (much more) major issues in Phoenix to deal with before Columbus is their focus. To me this is far more unacceptable for the Coyotes (coming off a strong season and playoff berth) than the Blue Jackets. Where are the season ticket holders? Do they even have any season ticket holders? I really just can’t fathom this tiny of a crowd watching hockey… except for those OSU hockey games in the cavern they call the Schott.