Blue Jackets Game of the Week: Ottawa Senators

Sep 21, 2014; Columbus, OH, USA; Columbus Blue Jackets left wing

(52) skates on the ice against the St. Louis Blues at Nationwide Arena. The Blue Jackets won 4-3 in overtime. Mandatory Credit: Greg Bartram-USA TODAY Sports

Tonight our Columbus Blue Jackets will take on the Ottawa Senators at home.

This game holds major significance for two main reasons. First as a chance to extend the current winning streak up to 4 games, and second as an opportunity to enact a healthy dose of revenge upon their opponents.

On the issue of the winning streak there may be a bit of controversy. Four games in a row does not necessarily mean anything, it’s a very small sample size and could easily be the result of statistical variance and good luck as opposed to skill and better play. However due to that ugly losing streak that started off the season and placed the Jacks in a deep dark hole, they need to put together streaks in order to regain that ground.

Secondly, and more specifically related to the Senators, is the chance at revenge for an earlier defeat. The October 14th loss at home is still fresh in my mind, it is likely still fresh in yours as well. The season was young and the Jacks were only 0-3, with two of those coming against the elite New York Rangers, the situation honestly didn’t look that bad. And then came the 7-3 smack down against Ottawa, a team we really should have been at least able to compete with. Hopefully with the Jacks performing much better recently we’ll see a very different result.

My player to watch tonight will be Kerby Rychel. The young Rychel will be making his 4th start of the season and 9th of his career. The scoring of a first career goal is always cause for massive excitement, and since Kerby has yet to net his, it’s a good idea to keep your eyes on him when hes on the ice.

For the Senators the player to watch to night is Bobby Ryan. With 7 points in the last 6 games Ryan is on fire and will be taking over the first line right wing job. He’s likely to be very noticeable when on the ice, so you won’t have to try too hard to watch him out there.

BLUE JACKETS

Boone Jenner – Ryan Johansen – Brandon Saad

Matt Calvert – Nick Foligno – Cam Atkinson

Scott Hartnell – William Karlsson – Rene Bourque

Kerby Rychel – Gregory Campbell – Josh Anderson

Jack Johnson – David Savard

Ryan Murray – Cody Goloubef

Kevin Connauton – Fedor Tyutin

Curtis McElhinney

Sergei Bobrovsky

Injured: Brandon Dubinsky (elbow), David Clarkson (back), Jared Boll (foot), Alexander Wennberg (lower body).

Scratched: Michael Chaput, Dalton Prout.