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Pittsburgh Penguins (9-4-0) vs Columbus Blue Jackets (5-6-0) 7:00 PM at Consol Energy Center
The Columbus Blue Jackets pay their first of many visits to Pittsburgh tonight as a member of the Eastern Conference. The Blue Jackets now share the same division as the Penguins and that is a great thing.
The Flyers and Penguins rivalry will always be the headliner but I think that the Penguins and Blue Jackets can become one of the better rivalries in the east moving forward.
I feel this way for a few reasons. The first reason is the proximity of both cities. Both fan bases have the ability to travel to each others cities and when they do a home and home, it can make for a great weekend mini trip for fans.
I believe that the on ice product of the Blue Jackets is on the up and up. John Davidson and Jarmo Kekalainen are good sound hockey minds and will finally get the Jackets heading in the proper direction. It's much easier to start up a rivalry when the teams are competitive and the cities are close.
I think by developing a rivalry with a team like Pittsburgh will help the hockey interest grow in Columbus. Columbus has the ability to become a very strong hockey market moving forward. Moving to the Eastern Conference was huge. No longer will half of their games be played in a time zone that makes little sense.
Columbus will be the next hockey hotbed as long as the Jackets provide a quality product. They need to strongly attract this generation to the game of hockey. Once that is accomplished then things will continue to grow. I believe they will be successful in growing the game in Columbus now.
Columbus has a great city and a great facility, with great things to come.
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The Blue Jackets are currently 4th in the Metropolitan Division with 10 points. Being 4th in your division can potentially lead to a playoff birth. However since the Metropolitan Division is so bad the Blue Jackets would not be eligible to make the playoffs right now. Currently the 5th place Detroit Red Wings have 16 points and would take the wild card spot away from Columbus. Even though both teams are no longer in the Central Division the Red Wings are still a thorn in the side of the Blue Jackets.
Plenty of time left in the season and the order in the standings still has many changes left to go through.
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Death, taxes, Jack Johnson being a negative possession player.
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Leading the way for the Blue Jackets offensively to nobody's surprise is winger Marian Gaborik. He has 5 goals and 5 assists in 10 games. James Wisniewskileads the defense for Columbus with 1 goal and 8 assists in 11 games. Brandon Dubinsky has 8 points while Artem Anisimov and Ryan Johansen have 7 points in 11 games.
Sidney Crosby is still your NHL leader in scoring with 21 points. Leafs star Phil Kessel, Steven Stamkos, and Henrik Sedin are hot on his trail with 18 points each.
Chris Kunitz has 13 points in 13 games while Evgeni Malkin has 10 points in 13 games. Look for Malkin to find the scoresheet on a regular basis if he plays like he did against Boston on Wednesday night.
Leading the defense is Matt Niskanen who has 8 points in 13 games.
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Some of you may already be aware of this story but I felt it deserved to be passed along.
Sidney Crosby and the Penguins organization had a special guest for their game on Wednesday night as well as for practice on Thursday. Their guest was an 8 year old boy named Matthew Jacko, you may have heard his name mentioned on he game broadcast by Doc Emrick. Matthew has an inoperable brain tumor.
Here is a story from Sam Kasan on the Penguins Official website about Matthew's experience with the Penguins.
NHL.com also picked up the story with an article from Wes Crosby which you can find
Here.
While it's nice to watch the players on the ice entertain us with their incredible hockey skill sets, these are the kind of things that show their true value to the community.
Good job Penguins and keep fighting the good fight Matthew.
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Team Stats
Injuries
Columbus forward Derek MacKenzie (lower body) is day-to-day. Forward Boone Jenner (leg) is expected to miss about a week. Forwards Nathan Horton (shoulder), Cody Bass (hand) and Matt Calvert (abdomen) are on injured reserve.
Pittsburgh defenseman Rob Scuderi (ankle) is out indefinitely. Forward Chuck Kobasew (lower body) is out 3-4 weeks. Goalie Tomas Vokoun (blood clot) and forwards James Neal (upper body) and Beau Bennett (lower body) are on injured reserve
*information courtesy of Penguins official site*
Power Play
The Pittsburgh Penguins are ranked 14th overall in the NHL with 20.0%.
The Columbus Blue Jackets actually have an identeical power play of 20.0%
Penguins are ranked 15th in power play opportunities, they have 45.
The Blue Jackets are 23rd with 40 opportunities.
James Wisniewski has a team high 4 power play points for Columbus while Sidney Crosby leads the way for Pittsburgh with 7 power play points.
Penalty Kill
The Penguins penalty kill is ranked 25thoverall at 77.8%.
The Blue Jackets penalty kill is ranked 22rd overall at 78.4%
Fenclose%
The Penguins have jumped into the top 3 in the league and currently are at 57.4%.
The fact that they were able to jump into the top 3 based on their play against Boston is impressive to me.
The Blue Jackets are 21st in the league and are at 47.7%.
Even Strength Save %
The Penguins sit 18th overall with a .921%. Marc Andre Fleury continues to play well and is at .936%.
The Blue Jackets have an even strength save percentage of .931% that is good for 10th overall in the league. Reigning Vezina Trophy winner Sergei Bobrovsky has an even strength save percentage of .928%.
Trends
Blue Jackets are 1-4 in the last 5 meetings in Pittsburgh.
Penguins are 4-1 in their last 5 vs. Metropolitan.
Line Combos
This section will be updated as the information becomes available.
The Penguins did not do line rushes today for the 2nd straight gameday morning skate. Line combos would only be speculation at this point.
PP 1: Letang, Martin, Crosby, Malkin & Kunitz
PP 2: Maatta, Niskanen, Jokinen, Megna & Sutter
Foligno - Anisimov - Gaborik
Letestu - Dubinsky - Atkinson
Comeau - Johansen - Umberger
Chaput - MacKenzie - Boll
Tyutin - Prout
Murray - Wisniewski
Johnson - Savard
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After looking at some goaltender data I gathered since the 2004-2005 lockout I have concerns about the merit of handing out long term high priced goalie contracts.
Here is my case why you don't have to give goaltenders long term high priced contracts and also why you probably shouldn't.
Thanks for reading!
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