The Buffalo Sabres are back in town for their final meeting of the season with the Columbus Blue Jackets. The season series is tied with each club 1-1-0 against the other.
After two days off, the Columbus Blue Jackets will hit the ice once again. They face off against the Buffalo Sabres at Nationwide Arena in the last installment of the 2016-2017 season series Tuesday night.
In the previous two meetings this season, the teams have won a game each. The first was a 4-3 win for the Blue Jackets. Two of the goals came off of power play opportunities.
The second meeting was just a night after the first. Columbus jumped out to a 3-0 first period lead and looked on the verge of a blowout. It didn’t turn out quite like that as the Jackets blew the lead and racked up 28 penalty minutes to lose 5-3. Buffalo had two goals on the power play as well.
The final meeting tonight is a little different in circumstances. First of all, the Sabres are basically out of the playoff race. Sitting at 14th in the conference with 76 points through 76 games, Buffalo is eight points behind the Boston Bruins who hold the second wild card position. Although the Sabres may technically still be in the running, their chances are as slim as me not making a 6-2 Penguins joke on the Union and Blue Twitter account during the game. There’s no chance.
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Additionally, the Columbus Blue Jackets are officially playoff-bound and coming off a few days of rest. Ohio’s pride and joy sits at second in the Metro Division and are only three points behind the first-place Washington Capitals. The Blue Jackets also have some of the worst power play in all of hockey history going on right now. OK, not really. It’s pretty awful though. After once being the top power play team in all of the land, the Jackets’ PP unit has been hit by an 18-wheeler and is failing to even register shots.
The Blue Jackets picked up a 1-0 win over the Philadelphia Flyers this past Saturday after losing back-to-back to the Toronto Maple Leafs and the aforementioned Capitals. Alexander Wennberg was the sole scorer in the win while Sergei Bobrovsky stood on his head again to record his seventh shutout and 40th win of the season.
The Sabres are on the second half of a back-to-back after defeating the Florida Panthers Monday. In a 4-2 win, four different Sabres put the puck in the opposing net. One of those included Marcus Foligno, brother of CBJ captain Nick Foligno and stomper of CBJ star Cam Atkinson.
If you don’t know what I’m referring to, Marcus accidentally cut Atkinson’s shoulder with his skate when Marcus quickly got to his feet to participate in a scrum while Atkinson was nearby in the corner. Fortunately for everyone involved, the skate hit the shoulder and not the neck, head, or throat. Now we can just poke fun of Marcus for it. Even Cam is having fun according to Aaron Portzline of The Columbus Dispatch.
How was apology delivered by Foligno? Atkinson: "He phoned me. He texted me. He sent me flowers ... an edible arrangement." #CBJ #Sabres
— Aaron Portzline (@Aportzline) March 28, 2017
Truthfully and completely full of bias, I think the Blue Jackets win this one. Despite the power play disaster that the Jackets are experiencing, the Sabres are one of the worst teams in the league when playing on the road while the CBJ are third in home record percentage. This game is also pretty big for Columbus with Washington playing on the road against the Minnesota Wild Tuesday and the Penguins facing off against the Chicago Blackhawks Wednesday.
Just remember that we’re not only Blue Jackets fans now, we are also Wild and Blackhawks fans for at least those games. Go Jackets!