CBJ vs. Blues Preview
The Columbus Blue Jackets are back at home after a short trip to Long Island. They look to shake off another disappointing loss and beat STL.
The St. Louis Blues come into Nationwide having lost their last game on Wednesday to the Vegas Golden Knights. The Blues are 5-5 in their last 10 games. The Blues don't take many penalties and are 1st in the league with the fewest amount of penalty minutes. But when they do take penalties, they're only 19th best at killing them, so chances could be had for the Jackets power play, which has recently risen to 26th in the NHL.
The Blues power play is somehow worse than the Jackets, at 31st in the NHL. Meanwhile, the Columbus PK currently sits 4th in the league. They have given up a few PP goals in the last few games, so they need to get that cleaned up.
The Blues currently sit 6th in the Central Division, 9th in the Western Conference, and 18th in the NHL.
Three Keys
- Give The Young Forwards More Ice Time. Adam Fantilli, Kent Johnson, and Emil Bemstrom played well together last night and had all of the scoring. That's no coincidence. Adam Fantilli is averaging 15:19 TOI this season, that's 25th among NHL rookies. Fantilli is also 2nd in SOG, only to Bedard. He's currently tied for second in rookie scoring with 15 points, and he leads all rookies in games played so far. Play him more. Let him and Kent Johnson go out there and play hockey. The season is almost lost, what do you have to lose if you're HC Pascal Vincent?
- Keep the Russian Three Together. The same rule applies as above. What do you have to lose at this point? Let them stay together, give them more ice time, and let them do their thing. They have 31 points combined this season, with 16 of those being goals.
- Figure It Out. Whatever is happening with this team, something needs to be figured out. If it's coaching, they need to get on the same page and hammer this thing out. Vincent isn't going anywhere, so something needs to be done. There's only so much line blending you can do, so keep everyone together for a few games and stop messing with it.
- Bonus 4th Key - Keep your heads up. Players, Coaches, and Fans alike.
Series History
- Columbus is 22-16-7 at home vs. the Blues all-time, and 33-42-16 total.
- The CBJ are 6-3-1 in their last 10 at NWA against the Blues.
- The Jackets are 7-of-22 on the PP against St. Louis in the last 8 games of the series.
Who to watch for St. Louis
- Robert Thomas has 8 goals and 25 points.
- Pavel Buchnevich has 9 goals and 19 points.
- Jordan Binnington is 8-7-1 with a GAA of 2.99, and a save % of .912. He played Wednesday against Vegas and has another game on Saturday against division rival Chicago, so it's assumed he will start the Saturday game.
- Goalie Joel Hofer is 5-4-0 with a GAA of 3.04 and a save % of .901
Player Notes
- Jake Bean has 2 points in 3 career games vs. the Blues.
- Johnny Gaudreau has 25 points in 23 games.
- Emil Bemstrom has 3 points in 4 games against the Blues.
How to Watch & Listen: Tonight's game will be on Bally Sports Ohio. As always, the legendary Jeff Rimer will be on the play-by-play. The radio broadcast will be on 97.1 The Fan with Bob McElligott behind the mic doing the play-by-play.
Join Jason Newland's Columbus Blue Jacket page on Bunches, a new app that connects sports fans. Also, you can watch a new YouTube game show about the Blue Jackets, Around the Fifth Line.