Nash to Make Final Appearance in Columbus

Columbus is soaring through the sky after defeating the reigning Stanley Cup champions last night.

In a vicious battle for points, the Blue Jackets took on the Washington Capitals and were able to pull off their second win.

Cam Atkinson scored one minute into the first period assisted by Markus Nutivaara and Pierre-Luc Dubois. A beautiful backhand from the veteran sent the puck straight to the back of the net.

Though there were no goals scored in the second period, it was still an eventful 20 minutes.

Atkinson was parked in front of Washington goaltender Braden Holtby when there was a bit of a mishap. The blade of Atkinson’s stick was snuck between the slats of Holtby’s mask and caught the goaltender in the eye. Holtby immediately threw off his mask and the refs came over to check on him. Holtby decided to head down the runway to get checked out, so Washington put in backup goalie Pheonix Copley. Holtby did not return to the game.

With the injury, Atkinson got a penalty for hi-sticking and went off to the box. An excellent opportunity for Washington to score until Ovechkin got an interference penalty on Nick Foligno. With the penalties nullified, the remainder of the second period went goalless.

Columbus was all set to win the game as the finally seconds began ticking off in the third. But the game would not end if Evgeny Kuznetsov had anything to say about it.

With a 1-2-3 pass from Carlson and Ovechkin, Kuznetsov got a slap shot off past Joonas Korpisalo to tie the game. There was 1 minute left in the period.

The battle spilled into overtime where it was a vicious battle to score first. Nicklas Backstrom acquired a penalty over halfway through OT for slashing against Boone Jenner so Columbus got a man advantage. Less than 15 seconds later, Artemi Panarin got the game winning goal.

"Everybody showed up," Foligno said. "You could see it. Everybody played the right way tonight, and you have to. Especially down the stretch here with going into break, you need to find a way to get those points - put them in the bank as he always says. Guys are really staying true to that and understanding how crucial that is for our club. We found a way to get two big ones and are now looking for another big one tomorrow."

Tonight, the boys in blue will battle the New York Rangers.

New York is by no means an easy team, but their also no longer the powerhouse they once were. This season, they trail Columbus by 12 points and are currently outside of the playoff window. They’re 17-20-7 while CBJ is at 26-15-3.

In their series so far, the two teams are tied. The Rangers won the first matchup of the season back on November 10 in the shootout 5-4. Over a month later, the teams fought again in which Columbus took home the victory in OT 4-3.

Tonight will be a special night for Blue Jacket and Rangers fans alike. Former Blue Jacket captain Rick Nash will drop the ceremonial puck after announcing his retirement. Nash played nine seasons with Columbus and went on to play six more with New York.

Nash has suffered from concussions of late and after being plagued by symptoms for some time, the former Jacket announced his retirement from the game. It’s only fitting his top two teams would face-off each other two days later.

In other news, Bobrovsky is expected to start and will stand against Henrik Lundqvist. Bobrovsky was benched suspended for a game for unknown reasons. General Manager Jarmo Kekalainen refused to comment further than the veteran goalie was not upholding the values and standards of the team.

CBJ Projected Lineup

Artemi Panarin - Pierre-Luc Dubois - Cam Atkinson

Nick Foligno - Boone Jenner - Josh Anderson

Anthony Duclair - Alexander Wennberg - Kevin Stenlund

Oliver Bjorkstrand - Lukas Sedlak - Riley Nash

Seth Jones - Markus Nutivaara

Zach Werenski - David Savard

Scott Harrington - Dean Kukan

Sergei Bobrovsky

New York Rangers Projected Lineup

Chris Kreider - Mika Zibanejad - Mats Zuccarello

Filip Chytil - Ryan Strome - Jesper Fast

Jimmy Vesey - Brett Howden - Vladislav Namestnikov

Cody McLeod - Boo Nieves - Pavel Buchnevich

Marc Staal - Tony DeAngelo

Brady Skjei - Adam McQuaid

Brendan Smith - Kevin Shattenkirk

Henrik Lundqvist