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Blue Jackets @ Blues Game Day Preview

March 10, 2012, 4:04 PM ET [3 Comments]
Jeff Quirin
St Louis Blues Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Another late season home and home back to back set kicks off tonight between the Columbus Blue Jackets and St. Louis Blues at Scottrade Center.

This will be the fourth of six meetings between the Central Division rivals this season. The Blues won the first two and Columbus was victorious on February 14th.

The Blue Jackets may sit 30th overall in the standings, but they’re not playing as if they should be lately. In their last four games Columbus is a perfect 4-0-0 and have outscored their opponents 13-5. Nealy an increase of one goal scored/game over their season average (+0.92) and a nearly a two goal reduction in goals against/game (-1.91). An impressive run for a team that’s struggled at both ends.

Their new top defenseman likely has much to do with the change in trends. Jack Johnson seems to be settling in to his new home. After less than stellar performances in his first two games he’s come on in the last four, but more specifically the last three. Averaging well over 25 minutes played per game and registering two goals and two assists with a Plus-6 rating in two contests against Phoenix and one against his old club from LA.

But neither of those teams have been as effective in the offensive zone as the Blues have been. In their last five wins St. Louis has scored at least three goals in all five and netted five against Calgary and Chicago.

A difficult task awaits Columbus to extend their winning streak to five games and prevent the Blues from snatching their fourth straight victory.

By the Numbers

Standings
Talk about polar opposites... The Blues own the best home record in the league at 28-4-4 as well as the highest point total at 93 points. Columbus is dead last in road record at 9-20-4 and in points with 51 points.

Versus St. Louis
Fedor Tyutin leads the Blue Jackets with 4 points, all assists. Derek Dorsett is second with 3 points, all goals. Rick Nash has been held pointless and has a Minus-2 rating.

Versus Columbus
David Backes has two goals and four points in the three previous games.TJ Oshie has one goal and three points in the same split. Kevin Shattenkirk has a goal and assist along with a Plus-6 rating. Chris Stewart has played in all three games and is pointless with a Minus-1 rating.

Special Teams
The Blues have now killed 35 consecutive power plays and is now ranked 9th at 83.7%. Their power play is 8 for 20 in the last six games and is now ranked 15th at 17.1%. Eclipsing the magic 100% mark Ken Hitchcock refers to (100.8% combined). On the road Columbus’s kill rate ranks 30th, 72.8%. The Blues convert power plays at a 20.7% rate on home ice which puts them 7th overall in that split.

Storylines

Stewart vs. Himself: After a promising run of productive games where Stewart scored three goals in six games he has regressed once again. A group of blueliners that as a whole rate below average in comparison to the rest of the league and a rowdy crowd could help me get back to where he should be. Then again, that scenario has occurred more than once and hasn’t produced the desired outcome.

Who will throwdown with BJ Crombeen and Ryan Reaves?: With Dorsett and Jared Boll not making the trip to St. Louis, who will be the counter punch to the two Blues bruisers?

Scoreboard Watching: Detroit is at Nashville and Montreal is in Vancouver. The Rangers are idle. A Nashville regulation win and Vancouver loss would allow the Blues to widen their lead to 3 points over the Canucks (NHL lead in points) and 4 points over the Red Wings (Central Division lead).

Welcome back N64: Yes, former Blue Nikita Nikitin already played one game against his old team back in December. However, he’s come a long way this season and this will be his first game back as a more complete and effective player. There is little doubt he’d love to be a big part of playing the spoiler.

What does RJ Umberger do?: Since Umberger joined the Blue Jackets he’s been a thorn in the side of the Blues. Not so much from a offensive success standpoint, but in all those little things hockey players do to get under the skin of the other team. It all started with creating the nonsense surrounding Soccergate last season and has continued to grow. His tweets following their win in February seem like good fuel for the Blues fire.

Injury Update

Defensemen Kent Huskins (hand), Kris Russell (concussion symptoms), and forward Jamie Langenbrunner (foot) are all progressing from their various maladies. According to Hitchcock all three may be back next week, but as he always clarifies, they won’t play till they knock on his door and say they’re ready to go.

Matt D’Agostini has started skating again and was in the building for the game Thursday night. No news on Alex Steen’s progress.

Lineup

No changes are expected in the forward lines and defensive pairings.

Sobotka - Backes - Oshie
McDonald - Berglund - Perron
Porter - Arnott - Stewart
Crombeen - Nichol - Reaves

Colaiacovo - Pietrangelo
Jackman - Shattenkirk
Cole - Polak


Brian Elliott gets the start in net. In 4 career appearances against the Blue Jackets he is 3-0-1 with a 2.45 GAA and .912 save percentage.

At the other end of the rink will be a former Blue, Curtis Sanford. In one career appearance against his old team Sanford allowed two goals on 29 shots in a losing effort.

Keys to the Game

- Keep up the pressure: At least on paper Columbus has more than a capable few puck movers. Establishing the forecheck and maintaining the pressure will be important to not get beat off the rush.

- Shutdown the top line: After Umberger, Derrick Brassard and Nash, the Columbus lineup doesn’t boast much firepower. Lockdown their top producers and the Blues second wave should be able to take care of the rest.


Thanks for reading. Enjoy the game and Let's Go Blues!

As always, you're welcome to follow me on Twitter: @JTQ_1
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