Game Day Edition: Carolina Hurricanes @ Columbus Blue Jackets

Carolina Hurricanes @ Columbus Blue Jackets

Friday, January 10th, 2014, 7:00PM

Nationwide Arena, Columbus, Ohio

Sep 26, 2013; Columbus, OH, USA; Mandatory Credit: Greg Bartram-USA TODAY Sports

After the grueling four game road trip that saw the Jackets get four out of a possible eight points, a three day break from NHL action was a welcome sight. The Jackets are back in action tonight at Nationwide Arena, where they will welcome the Carolina Hurricanes for the second of five match ups this season. Columbus had the upper hand in the last meeting, a 4-3 win in Raleigh, the final Jackets game before the Christmas break.

Columbus is coming off a big 4-3 shootout win over the New York Rangers on Monday night. While the two points in the standings was helpful to the Jackets, they cannot afford to give points away to fellow Metropolitan Division teams if they hope to make up ground in the standings. Columbus currently has 42 points (7th place), which puts them just three points behind 5th place Carolina  and just five points behind the 3rd place New York Rangers. With the exception of the Pittsburgh Penguins, who have all but locked up the Metropolitan Division, everything is still up for grabs. Now is the time for the Jackets to start making their playoff push and regain some ground in the division race.

Carolina is coming into tonight’s game following a 6-1 demolishing of the Toronto Maple Leafs last night. The win was the Hurricans fifth in a row, a streak that dates back to New Years Eve. The Jackets will look to end that streak tonight.

Stats

• As was pointed out on the Marek vs Wyshynski podcast on Wednesday, only two teams in the Metropolitan Division have a sub-500 record against fellow Metropolitan Division teams. Thankfully, the Blue Jackets are not one of those teams; they are the New York Islanders (3-10-3) and the New York Rangers (5-8-3). Columbus has done well in division match ups and currently have a 9-7-1 record. Four of those seven losses have come to the Pittsburgh Penguins. [ NHL.com ]
• We’ve used Sporting Charts Heat Maps in the stats section before. However, in addition to the heat map, there is also an option to show results on the maps as well. Shots are represented by a blue dot and goals are red dots. When examining the heat maps for the Blue Jackets and Hurricanes, you can see some similarities. However, Carolina has seen more success (and more attempts) close to the net on the right side. Whereas the Jackets success has come closer to the center of the crease. [ Sporting Charts.com ]

Image Courtesy of SportingCharts.com

Noteable Noteables:

• Matt Calvert is expected to return to the lineup for the Blue Jackets tonight. He was activated off of IR yesterday and tonight will mark his first game since he was injured against the Flyers on December 21st.
• Unfortunately, one player comes back and one immediately goes back out. Blake Comeau injured his knee in practice yesterday. As of now it is not clear how much time he will miss.

Union and Blue Song For the Game:

Radical Face – “Welcome Home”

HBO’s 24/7 utilized this song for the final moments of the last episode, and man was it great!