Gameday 34: Road Outside Columbus

PITTSBURGH (21-7-5) VS COLUMBUS (21-5-4)

Nationwide Arena, Columbus, OH

7:00 EST ROOT Sports

The Penguins enter their second straight Metropolitan Division battle tonight as they take on the Blue Jackets in Columbus. The Pens also play the Devils tomorrow night making it three straight division games before the Christmas break. While looking for the lyrics to title this post I found a song that’s chorus is “Christopher Columbus is a damned blasted liar” and one that says “I dream of Columbus,” and here I thought it would be tough finding a title! The Blue Jackets are currently enjoying a 10 game winning streak, which is a franchise record, which isn’t surprising since they usually only win 10 games a year. It is fitting for the Blue Jackets to be on this winning streak this time of year, much like children believing in Santa the BJ’s fans will believe in their team only to find out it isn’t real in a few months. The most annoying part about the Blue Jacket’s current run is that all of these “Cleveland” “sports” “fans” have come out from under their shit stained rocks to cheer for them, saying the Jackets are “riding the Cleveland wave.” You won a championship in basketball and lost one in baseball to a team that hasn’t won since the Titanic sank, it’s hardly a wave. So how good is this hockey team? They lead the league in PDO suggesting that they get lucky more than they should, which is always a fun stat to wave around. They rank 22^nd in 5v5 play and 25^th in 5v4 (powerplay) play, which further helps prove what we all expected, the Jackets are getting lucky more often than not. The question for Columbus is can they sustain this luck throughout the year in such a tough division like the Florida Panthers did a year ago and the Colorado Avalanche did a few years ago? Unlike the Atlantic division last season, the Metro doesn’t look like it is going to ease up anytime soon, so when the luck runs out of Columbus they will be grasping at anything to stay in the wildcard chase.

PROJECTED STARTING LINEUPS:

The Penguins went with Chad Ruhwedel in the previous matchup and he was extremely serviceable, so expect to see either him or Olesky filling in for the injured Trevor Daley. Sullivan once again put HBK back together against the Rangers in an attempt to get Carl Hagelin to do something, spoiler alert it didn’t work. I side with Jesse Marshall on this issue and think the HBK should be permanently remembered for what the line did in the playoffs and forgotten for this season. Though Bonino and Kessel both had big nights against the Rangers, their offensive output actually came when playing on other lines (powerplays, line changes, etc) and none of the points came while being in the full HBK situation. Should be Matt Murray tonight with Fleury against the Devils tomorrow, but who knows. The Penguins pay Justin Schultz and Trevor Daley less than the Jackets pay Scott Hartnell… let that sink in. I am sure Brandon Douchebinsky will attempt to make his presence known on the back of Crosby’s neck again.

WHO TO WATCH:

FOR COLUMBUS:          Cam Atkinson

Atkinson is currently leading the Jackets in both goals and points with a 14 goal, 19 assist campaign. He has notched 5 goals and 3 assists in his last 5 games including a 2 goal performance against the Kings on Tuesday night. Atkinson is on the 2^nd line for the Jackets so it seems to be up to the Maatta and Olesky/Ruhwedel/Warsofsky/Gonchar pairing to handle the task.

FOR PITTSBURGH:          Jacques Martin

Last game I said it was up to Sullivan to make the necessary changes after a lackluster offensive weekend, and they responded with 7 goals against the Rangers. The team also played a defensively sound game against New York, with Brian Dumoulin putting forth possibly his best game of the season. With a back to back division situation and a depleted defense, tonight the emphasis is on defensive coach Jacques Martin and his deployment/usage of his troops. For the record, if the Penguins don’t bring Martin out of the press box and on to the bench they don’t win the cup last season.

FINAL WORDS:

The Jackets are flying right now, and there is nothing better than snapping a winning streak on the road. Columbus plays an intermediate style with some speed but they also like to grind, because Tortarellol. If the Penguins play like they did against the Rangers there isn’t a team that can touch them, the question as always for the Penguins is how quickly can they get their feet under them, and can the defense stand strong until that happens. I am really not looking forward to Dubinsky because he is trash, but I am looking forward to Malkin having a big night against his fellow Russian Bobrovsky. The Metro is the best division in hockey right now, so I think we should be able to hold a fan vote to rename it because it is terrible.

LET’S GO PENS