Columbus Blue Jackets vs. New York Rangers: Preview and Expectations
The Columbus Blue Jackets host the New York Rangers tonight at Nationwide Arena. New York is off to an awful start at 1-3-0 while the Blue Jackets are 2-1-0.
This meeting marks the first for the two Metro Division opponents this season. Coming off a road overtime win against the Hurricanes, the Columbus Blue Jackets should be excited to come back to Nationwide Arena.
So far, the Rangers have lost to the Colorado Avalanche, Toronto Maple Leafs and the St. Louis Blues. They beat the Montreal Canadiens this past Sunday for their only win.
Each year in the past few years, the NHL world has been waiting for the Rangers to start declining, but it hasn’t happened yet. Their next few games might be huge in figuring out where the organization is headed.
Surely, the Blue Jackets would love to bury the New York Rangers if possible. They have the chance to leave the Rangers frustrated moving forward into the season.
CBJ head coach John Tortorella coached the New York Rangers for over four seasons. On the opposite side, Rick Nash of the Rangers played over a decade in Columbus before being traded in 2012. A matchup including former players and coaches always makes for a more intriguing game.
With all the factors heading into this game, the Jackets’ third divisional game of the year should be a fun one to watch.
Players To Watch
For the Columbus Blue Jackets, the players to keep an eye on start with Sonny Milano and Sergei Bobrovsky.
Sonny Milano has been on fire lately. His four goals leads the team and he has elevated the play of those around him.
He’s really more of a playmaker than a goal-scorer by trade, though. It’ll be interesting to watch Sonny play these next few games to see if he starts trying to shoot more, or if he sticks to what he knows best.
Bobrovsky has been all-world to start the season. It’s been great to see a sharp and on-point Bob for his first two games played.
His post-game interview on Tuesday was noteworthy because he seemed so confident.
This is exactly how the Blue Jackets need Bobrovsky to be. Other players to watch in this game will be Cam Atkinson and Oliver Bjorkstrand.
Atkinson seems to love playing against the team he rooted for growing up, or at least he loves scoring goals against them. Cam had success against the Rangers last year and I suspect he builds on that this year.
For Bjorkstrand, it hasn’t been the hottest of starts, but he has played with Sonny Milano a bit. He’s going to start scoring goals sooner rather than later.
Keys To Victory
The keys for the Blue Jackets are to, first, play a strong two-way game, as of course Torts always wants them to do.
Hopefully, a strong defensive performance will allow the offense to open up and be creative. Having skill isn’t an issue for Blue Jackets forwards, but knowing when to use it and when to make smart plays will be critical.
A strong defensive game will also allow Sergei Bobrovsky to play at his highest level, which is necessary for victory.
Some have addressed concerns about scoring as the CBJ only have three goals in the past two games combined, but I’m not listening. Going to Chicago and then playing a solid defensive team in Carolina isn’t going to be easy.
Forwards for the Jackets can and will get going. When you have Artemi Panarin, Cam Atkinson, Alexander Wennberg, the goals will come.
As long as the Jackets play their game, and pay attention to detail, there shouldn’t be any major concerns.
Prediction
The New York Rangers could definitely steal this game, but I’d bet on the Jackets taking this one.
A score of 4-2 seems attainable with maybe an empty netter coming at the end. I wouldn’t expect this game to have the slow start that Tuesday’s game did.
This Blue Jackets team is establishing a legit home ice advantage at Nationwide Arena. From the cannon, to the C-B-J chants and finishing with the hug, opposing teams are taking notice.
Winning their first home game 5-0 doesn’t hurt either. The fans should bring some leftover energy to help support the team tonight.
Not everything will go as planned for this game, but the Blue Jackets should find a way to win. The Rangers are the complete opposite of hot right now, which helps a lot too.
Good is the Enemy of Great
Last year, it was, “Safe is death.” This year, “Good is the enemy of great.”
Surely, Torts will tell the team this before the game, as it is the new message. This is only the Blue Jackets fourth game this year, so there will probably be a little bit of sloppy play even with the reminders to be great.
Unless they make a few early mistakes they can’t recover from, the Blue Jackets have a good chance in this one. Like previously mentioned, the opportunity to derail the Rangers a little bit should have the Blue Jackets fired up.
The season is still early, so the Rangers will have time to recover if they lose. However, adding to another team’s agony would be a plus.
Next: CBJ Third in Metro After First Week of Play
Tonight’s game should be entertaining, regardless, because it’s always interesting when the Rangers come to town.