Columbus Blue Jackets (49-19-8) at Chicago Blackhawks (49-21-7) 8:30PM Eastern/7:30PM Central CSN-Chicago/Fox Sports OH
STARTING GOALIES:
Columbus: Sergei Bobrovsky Chicago: Corey Crawford
STATS:
GF/GA CBJ: 3.08/2.26 Chi: 2.99/2.56
SF/SA CBJ: 30.8/30.5 Chi: 30.5/31.3
POWER PLAY CBJ: 20.5% Chi: 18.3%
PENALTY KILL: CBJ: 82.9% Chi: 77.7%
NOTES:
Take a look through all the stats above (including records).
If the Columbus Blue Jackets aren't "for real," then there's a strong argument that the Blackhawks aren't either. The Blue Jackets beat the Hawks in their one meeting earlier the year at Nationwide Arena. And after a midseason swoon that followed a historically strong start, the Jackets have been playing better of late.
This, also, is a good test for Chicago, as the Blue Jackets, while unproven in the playoffs to this point, still look to be a team that could quite conceivably come out of the East, especially if Sergei Bobrovsky gets hot in April and May.
I'll have the recap tomorrow.
JJ