WaitingForNextYear

Columbus Blue Jackets (40-29-10, 90pts)
vs. Chicago Blackhawks (44-24-11, 99pts)
United Center, Chicago, IL
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
8:30 PM EDT
FSOhio/WWCD(fm)/WBNS(am)

(Dispatch Preview / SportsDirect Preview)

This is it: the night for which Jacket fans have been waiting almost a decade. With one point, Columbus can clinch its first-ever berth in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Thanks to Chicago’s win over Nashville last night, the magic number is down to one. The Jackets aren’t the only team with something on the line, however: with a win, the Blackhawks would lock up the #4 seed, which would mean home-ice advantage in at least the first round of the playoffs. I say they can wait one more game to wrap that up, however. Tonight is all about the Jackets finally getting over the hump. At least, it darn well better be.

Projected Lineups
Columbus Blue Jackets:

LW:	Jakub Voracek	R.J. Umberger	Raffi Torres	Jason Chimera
C:	Manny Malhotra	Antoine Vermette	Michael Peca	Jiri Novotny
RW:	Rick Nash	Jason Williams	Jared Boll	Derek Dorsett
D:	Jan Hejda	Fedor Tyutin	Kris Russell
D:	Mike Commodore	Marc Methot	Christian Backman
G:	Steve Mason

Chicago Blackhawks:

LW:	Patrick Kane	Kris Versteeg	Dustin Byfuglien	Troy Brouwer
C:	Jonathan Toews	Dave Bolland	Samuel Pahlsson	Colin Fraser
RW:	Martin Havlat	Ben Eager	Andrew Ladd	Adam Burish
D:	Duncan Keith	Brent Seabrook	Niklas Hjalmarsson
D:	Brian Campbell	Cam Barker	Matt Walker
G:	Nikolai Khabibulin

Team Rankings
Scoring:
CBJ – 2.70 gpg (21st NHL)
CHI – 3.16 gpg (5th NHL)

Defense:
CBJ – 2.67 gapg (9th NHL)
CHI – 2.58 gapg (5th NHL)

Power Play:
CBJ – 12.9% (30th NHL)
CHI – 19.3% (14th NHL)

Penalty Kill:
CBJ – 82.5% (t12th NHL)
CHI – 80.4% (19th NHL)

Prior Matchups

1. Chicago 4 at Columbus 3 – SO (11/01/08)[box]
2. Columbus 1 at Chicago 3 (12/14/08)[box]
3. Columbus 5 at Chicago 3 (3/13/09)[recap]
4. Chicago 3 at Columbus 4 – OT (3/18/09)[recap]
5. Chicago 1 at Columbus 0 – OT (4/5/09)[box]

 

Game Notes
This game really needs no set up other than this for Columbus fans: GET A POINT AND THEY’RE IN. These two teams have seen a lot of each other over the past month: this will be the fourth meeting in less than four weeks. Columbus has played the Hawks tough in each of the previous three, going 2-0-1. Columbus is 2-1-2 on the season against Chicago, so a win tonight would even the season series at three wins apiece. These two teams played a classic defensive battle on Sunday in Columbus, with the Hawks prevailing 1-0 in overtime on a Kris Versteeg break-away goal midway through the extra session. But none of that is really important: GET A POINT, AND THEY’RE IN.

The Jackets have one major lineup change tonight: they’ve moved RJ Umberger back to the second scoring line, which makes sense. He, Antoine Vermette, and Jason Williams have been very, very good together (and Umberger wasn’t as strong with Rick Nash and Manny Malhotra; the line didn’t do much all night). Since Kristian Huselius is still out with concussion-like-symptoms (I know, it sounds like a less fear-inducing way to say “a concussion”), Jakub Voracek gets a promotion up to the #1 line with Nash and Malhotra.

This looks to be another defensive slugfest between two top-ten defensive teams. Since these teams began this four game “familiarity breeds contempt” stretch with each other in mid-March, one thing that has changed for Chicago is that their special teams have struggled a bit. Their Power Play unit was a top-five unit back in mid-March; it now sits 2% lower, just barely still in the top-15. Likewise, their Penalty Kill unit has slipped a bit, dropping 1% over the last month, barely still in the top-20 in the league. A lot of this can be attributed to Patrick Sharp being out of the lineup, but it is still definitely a trend that the Jackets can hopefully take advantage of. In addition, the Blackhawks did play in Nashville last night, as we’ve mentioned. Columbus should be the more rested team, though this time of year that doesn’t mean as much.

The dangerous line for the Hawks that Columbus must contain is the Kane/Toews/Havlat line. It’s the three most talented offensive players on the Chicago roster, and they are lethal together. When the Jackets have been playing well over the past three games, it was because they were forechecking well and keeping their opponents from setting up their offenses. Columbus has to hope that their jumbled top line can still manage to matchup in this way against the solid #1 line of the Hawks. If the defense and Steve Mason play like they did on Sunday, Columbus is capable of beating anyone, anywhere.

And, did I mention… ALL THEY NEED IS ONE POINT??

 

From The Outside Looking In

Icing (Chicago Tribune)
Second City Hockey

 

Next Game For The Jackets

Friday, April 10, 2009
8:30 PM EDT
Columbus Blue Jackets at St. Louis Blues