Game Preview: Blue Jackets vs. Islanders (Game #20) – Trap Game Edition

Columbus Blue Jackets (13-6-0, 26pts) vs.
New York Islanders (4-12-4, 12pts)
Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum,
Uniondale, NY
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
7:00 PM EST
TV: FSNOH-HD / Radio: WBNS 97.1 FM

(SportsDirect Preview)

If you look up “trap game” in the sports dictionary (hmm, is there such a thing?), it would be tonight’s game. Let’s see… hot Jackets team? Check. Struggling Isles team that has lost 13 straight? Check. Quick road trip between big divisional home games for Columbus? Check. #1 Detroit coming into two on Friday, and another game at Detroit on Sunday? Check. All of the symptoms are there for a classic look-ahead for Columbus. Hopefully they don’t think they’re that good, yet, because these are the kinds of games they’ve traditionally struggled with: games they should win in which they end up playing down to their competition (see: Edmonton game earlier this year). One good thing? It’s on the road, where the Jackets are 7-1 so far on the season.

Projected Lineups

Columbus Blue Jackets:

New York Islanders:

Team Rankings
Scoring:
CBJ – 2.84 gpg (t17th NHL) 
NYI – 2.05 gpg (29th NHL)

Defense:
CBJ – 2.32 gapg (3rd NHL) 
NYI – 3.30 gapg (t28th NHL)

Power Play:
CBJ – 10.7% (28th NHL) 
NYI – 17.0% (15th NHL)

Penalty Kill:
CBJ – 84.6% (8th NHL)
NYI – 82.4% (17th NHL)

Season Matchups
This is the only matchup on the season. The CBJ went 0-0-2 vs. the Islanders last season.

11/24/10 – Columbus @ New York Islanders – 7:00 PM EST 

Game Notes
First, a caveat: Scott Arniel has done a great job of keeping his cards close to the vest with respect to who his starting goalie will be. Both Jackets’ net-minders are coming off shutouts in their last start, so who knows? I predict tonight’s goalie with be Steve Garon. No, wait; Mathieu Mason. Let’s go with Garon for giggles. Why not?

The Islanders are struggling. They’ve lost 13 straight, fired their coach, and lost a slew of players to injury. Nobody wants to be the team that lets them break the streak. That said, the Jackets are hopefully not looking ahead with two matchups with Detroit this weekend looming. It would be easy to look past the Islanders. When you do that, you get burned.

Scott Arniel has been good at keeping his team focused on the game at hand, neither too high nor too low. A letdown on Monday could have been expected against Nashville given the travel schedule and the opponent. But it didn’t happen. So, not to over-simplify, but that same approach has to happen again tonight. Don’t overlook this opponent. Forecheck. Play solid defense. And get your points and get out.

Rick Nash is as hot as anyone in the league, with nine goals in his last six games, and a nine-game point streak on the line tonight. The top line of Nash, Derick Brassard, and Jakub Voracek has been a force as well, with 19 goals, 21 assists, and a +13 rating since being put together 13 games ago. The Isles’ defense is banged up and has struggled, giving up 48 goals during the 13-game streak (3.69 gapg), during which they’ve lost 11 of those games in regulation. Boy, there are a lot of “13”s in that paragraph. Spooky.

The Jackets have been smothering people on defense throughout this recent 10-of-13 wins stretch, including four shutouts. The recipe for success tonight is to score early, keep the Islanders frustrated like they did the Predators on Monday by forechecking and playing their good defense, and then capitalize on mistakes, of which there are sure to be a few from New York. The defense is without Marc Methot tonight. who left Monday’s win early in the second period with an upper-body injury. The injury was apparently bothering him on the west coast trip, and was reaggravated on Monday. The good news is that the Jackets didn’t miss much of a beat on Monday without him for most of the game. Kris Russell will be back in the lineup tonight for Columbus.

So, in summary: to win this game, don’t overlook the Isles. Don’t get cute. Play defense, capitalize on mistakes. Stay out of the box (you didn’t think I’d make it through a game preview without that, did you?) and don’t let the one relative strength of the Isles—an alright PP unit—onto the ice. Take care of business and get home.

Let us not forget to mention also that the CBJ are unveiling their new third jersey tonight. At a Columbus mall. During a road game. During which the team is NOT wearing said sweater. Weird. At any rate, the Jackets will unveil the sweater tonight, will be wearing the new pants that go with the sweater tonight, and will finally wear the new sweater for the first time Friday at home against Detroit.

From The Outside Looking In
Lighthouse Hockey
NY Islanders 7th Woman
Islanders Point Blank

Next Game For The Jackets
Friday, November 26, 2010
7:00 PM EST
Detroit Red Wings at Columbus Blue Jackets