Hopefully Columbus Won’t Be Singing the “Blues” After Tonight’s Matchup With St. Louis

For the second and final time this season, the Columbus Blue Jackets will face the St. Louis Blues. They haven’t played each other since October 28th in which St. Louis took home a 4-1 victory.

Columbus is coming off a fantastic win over the Florida Panthers. Bob collected his 5th shutout of the season and 24th career shutout. The Jackets dominated Florida 4-0.

Seth Jones was a welcome addition to the team after he had missed the previous three games with an upper body injury sustained in their game against the Colorado Avalanche after Jones scored the game-winning goal and was cross-checked to the lower back. He scored his 15th goal of the season against Florida last night and ended Florida's streak of not allowing any power play goals. Before Jones, the Panther's had gone 10 games without allowing a single power play goal, and were even doing incredibly well with scoring short-handed goals. They were close to breaking their previous record, but Seth shut that down.

It was a rather uneventful first period, but the second is when the ball really started rolling. Cam Atkinson scored a mere 59 seconds into the period and then Sonny Milano got his 13th goal not long after Cam's. Two minutes after Sonny, Seth netted his own goal on the power play.

Things were going great for Columbus, but no one dared utter the word "shutout." Hockey fans are a superstitious bunch after all. But once Vanek was able to score on Florida's open net, the fans were shouting it from the rooftops. The number one cop on the force got his 5th shutout, and the fans let him know their gratitude.

Shots on goal were even between the two teams, 33-33, and the Panthers won the majority of the face-offs and hits. Florida was fighting for their lives in that game, but it wasn't enough. They trail New Jersey by three points (84-81) and sit just outside of a playoff spot. With the win, Columbus holds their third place position with 89 points, a mere one point behind the Penguins. As it stands, the Jackets will be playing Pittsburgh in the post-season.

Another team sitting outside of the playoffs is the Blues. They're right behind the Colorado Avalanche by one point, and only have eight games to overcome the deficit. They did pretty well in garnering two points in their last game in which they beat the Boston Bruins 2-1 in overtime.

Ryan Donato scored first for the Bruins in the first period, but Jaden Schwartz tied it up for the Blues in the third. St. Louis didn't have to sweat too much in overtime as Schwartz was able to get the game winner just 30 seconds in. The goal was his 22nd of the season.

Columbus has won 75 games so far, and St. Louis has won 74. So while the Blues are no easy foe, Columbus is riding a 10 game win streak and if they win tonight, it will mark their ninth straight home victory. It would also set a franchise record for the young team for wins at home.

However, like Nick stated last game, the players don't care much about the streak at all.

"Last year, when we were on that winning streak, we talked a lot about the winning streak," said veteran center Brandon Dubinsky, who will draw back into the lineup after being scratched the past two games. "This year, we haven't really talked about it much. It just hasn't been a topic of conversation in this locker room. It's just been about points [and], 'Let's focus on this next game.' I know [people] hate that answer, but it's just been our mentality."

The boys aren't focusing on the streak and are, rightfully, keeping their eyes on playing post-season hockey. While the game tonight may not have the same stakes as their stint with the Panthers, Columbus still can't lose sight of what's important: if they win, they'll overcome the Penguins for second place in the Metro.

Jones will be a game time decision. He's been having issues with his injury and hasn't been able to fully recover. If he's not in the lineup, Jack Johnson will take his place with Zach Werenski. Another day-to-day player is Lukas Sedlak. Sedlak was injured in the Florida game after he was thrown to the ice and Jones accidentally nailed him in the face with the puck on a slap-shot. Taking his place will be veteran forward, Brandon Dubinsky, who's missed the last two games as a healthy scratch.

The veteran's scratch was the first time in six seasons with the Blue Jackets, and he's no longer worried about individual stats. Dubinsky wants to help the team succeed and work on his own overall gameplay. He'll most likely split face-offs with Mark Letestu, an area Brandon has excelled in. He will also join Matt Calvert on the fourth line.

Projected CBJ Lineup

Artemi Panarin - Nick Foligno - Cam Atkinson

Sonny Milano - Pierre-Luc Dubois - Oliver Bjorkstrand

Boone Jenner - Alexander Wennberg - Thomas Vanek

Matt Calvert - Brandon Dubinsky - Mark Letestu

Zach Werenski - Seth Jones*

Ian Cole - David Savard

Ryan Murray - Markus Nutivaara

Sergei Bobrovsky

*If Jones does not play, Johnson will take his place.

Projected St. Louis Blues Lineup

Jaden Schwartz - Brayden Schenn - Vladimir Tarasenko

Patrik Berglund - Kyle Brodziak - Alex Steen

Dmitrij Jaskin - Vladimir Sobotka - Tage Thompson

Oskar Sundqvist - Ivan Barbashev - Chris Thorburn

Carl Gunnarsson - Alex Pietrangelo

Vince Dunn - Colton Parayko

Joel Edmundson - Robert Bortuzzo

Jake Allen