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Columbus Blue Jackets at Minnesota Wild: Players to watch, keys to victory and prediction

By William Espy

ST. PAUL, MN - DECEMBER 31: Columbus Blue Jackets head coach John Tortorella on the bench during the regular season match up between the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Minnesota Wild on December 31, 2016 at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota. The Blue Jackets won 4-2. (Photo by David Berding/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
ST. PAUL, MN - DECEMBER 31: Columbus Blue Jackets head coach John Tortorella on the bench during the regular season match up between the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Minnesota Wild on December 31, 2016 at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota. The Blue Jackets won 4-2. (Photo by David Berding/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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Columbus Blue Jackets
ST. PAUL, MN – DECEMBER 31: Columbus Blue Jackets head coach John Tortorella on the bench during the regular season match up between the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Minnesota Wild on December 31, 2016 at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota. The Blue Jackets won 4-2. (Photo by David Berding/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

The Columbus Blue Jackets and Minnesota Wild aren’t rivals, but there certainly is some form of increased competition between the two 2000 expansion teams. Both undoubtedly want to be the best team to come from that expansion class, so the Blue Jackets will need to fight hard to earn a victory tonight.

The Columbus Blue Jackets have increased their record to 3-1-0 after a victory last night against the New York Rangers. The Minnesota Wild however, haven’t had the same amount of luck. After three games, the Wild are 1-1-1 and struggling to get off to a solid start.

This meeting would’ve marked another Foligno vs. Foligno affair, but Marcus Foligno will be out for a while with a facial injury following a hard hit to the face in a fight. Luckily Columbus Blue Jackets captain Nick Foligno is still ready to go for tonight’s game. Marcus isn’t the only player out for the Wild either, all of Charlie Coyle, Nino Niederreiter, Zach Parise and Mikael Granlund will also miss Saturday night’s game.

Nevertheless, the Wild will still be a difficult opponent for any team on any given night; they’ve become playoff regulars and that won’t be changing any time soon.

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