With the Florida Panthers game over on Thursday, the Columbus Blue Jackets will be in the middle of the NHL accelerated season.
| FLORIDA PANTHERS |
|
16–5–4 (36 points) |
|
7:00 p.m. – THURSDAY, MARCH. 11 |
|
FOX SPORT OHIO FOX SPORT |
The way things are going now, it can’t end soon enough.
Columbus will try to win part of the two-game set against Florida when the two teams compete at Nationwide Arena, but even with a win they quickly get to the point where they’re playing for pride, not a seat in the playoffs.
The Blue Jackets, who have won just three of their last eleven games, are technically still only six points away from a potential playoff spot. But the Dallas Stars, four points behind Columbus in the standings, have played half a dozen fewer games and are expected to finish several games ahead of the Blue Jackets in the standings.
Scoring six points and trending up is one thing, but Columbus is going down – and several key players are in a cold patch. Perhaps none is more remarkable than Patrik Laine. The 22-year-old has no point in his last seven games – a span of over two hours and 10 minutes on the ice. He also has an average of less than three shots per game during this time.
Defensively, the Blue Jackets have allowed nine games in the last two games. However, that is despite two solid games between the pipes of Joonas Korpisalo. Elvis Merzlikins is back and available, but no matter who plays, Columbus’s blue line has to play better in front of their netminder.
Here’s a look at the lines projected (and subject to change) for Columbus tonight:
Columbus Blue Jackets Projected Lines
| LW | C. | RW | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
71 |
Nick Foligno |
38 |
Boone Jenner |
13th |
Cam Atkinson |
|
29 |
Patrik laine |
96 |
Jack Roslovic |
28 |
Oliver Bjorkstrand |
|
16 |
Max Domi |
20th |
Riley Nash |
52 |
Emil Bemstrom |
|
50 |
Eric Robinson |
42 |
Alexandre Texier |
11 |
Kevin Stenlund |
* Lines can change
| LD | RD | ||
|---|---|---|---|
|
8th |
Zach Werenski |
3 |
Seth Jones |
|
53 |
Gabriel Carlsson |
58 |
David Savard |
|
44 |
Vladislav Gavrikov |
15th |
Michael Del Zotto |
| goalie | Backup | ||
|---|---|---|---|
|
70 |
Joonas Korpisalo |
90 |
Elvis Merzlikins |
Storylines
-
THEY LOST TUESDAY BUT: It was one of their better games of the season. Sergei Bobrovsky put on a classic performance that the 5th Line saw so many times while wearing a jacket jersey. Columbus missed some key opportunities, but it was a one-goal game in the last few moments until the clean-sheet Panthers goal gave them the 4-2 win. If Columbus plays as well on Thursday night as it did on Tuesday night, they are in a good position to score two points.
- BLOCK THE NOISE: Columbus is in literal “no man’s land” when it comes to what they’ll be doing by the deadline. You’re not bad at Detroit level, but the playoffs are a long shot and the trade talks have begun. In particular, Nick’s name was Foligno mentioned this week as interesting for the Toronto Maple Leafs and maybe for other teams as well. For now, however, the Blue Jackets need to shut down all the outside chatter and get things done one game at a time.
- IT’S THURSDAY; THAT IS GOOD NEWS: The Columbus Blue Jackets love to play on Thursdays. They have won five of their last six competitions played on a Thursday and 11 of their 25 points in the season come from games played on a Thursday. They averaged 1.38 points per game on Thursday, compared to 0.73 points per game on any other day of the week.
