The Columbus Blue Jackets November should be a prime point month. A hot start to the year is necessary for the CBJ.
13 games mark the Columbus Blue Jackets schedule in the month of November. College football will completely engulf Central Ohio’s attention this month but it will be when the Jackets rip off some points under the radar.
Seven of the 13 games will be away from the friendly confines of Nationwide Arena. Three of them are right off the bat when the Jackets knock out their Florida trip and visit the Rangers. The game at Tampa will be an interesting view to see how the young Jackets can keep up with a really good team that will make the 2018 playoffs.
The Ranger game on November 6th in Madison Square Garden is the front end of one of the three back-to-backs the Jackets have in November. Following that metro matchup, the Jackets will fly back to Columbus to face the Nashville Predators.
Columbus Blue Jackets
Warning, don’t buy a ticket to this game. It’s going to be a dud.
Nashville will be coming off their California swing and finish by coming to Columbus for their fourth game in seven days. Columbus will be playing their fourth game in six days. Long road trips and back-to-backs wear teams out. Both Columbus and Nashville will be on fumes.
The Rest of November
The remaining nine games offer the CBJ prime point opportunities. They play every game in the eastern time zone and the toughest game is a road matchup against Montreal.
The games we should keep an eye out for are the two home bouts against Carolina. Keep an eye on the Hurricanes this season. They were an above average scoring team and finally have goaltending. They are going to be the most improved Eastern Conference team.
Two home wins against a Metro Division opponent will go a long way to ensuring a playoff spot and preventing the Hurricanes from getting on a roll. Those two games are on Friday the 10th and Tuesday the 28th.
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Wednesday the 22nd will be a date to circle as well. A really fun, young team in Calgary will come to Columbus for a great weekday game. Calgary and Columbus have a ton in common and I see both teams making a good run in the playoffs this season.
After a solid test month in October, November is a light month relatively and must be taken advantage of. If the Jackets don’t, making the playoffs becomes very difficult.