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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
RALEIGH, NC – OCTOBER 10: Columbus Blue Jackets Goalie Sergei Bobrovsky (72) sprays water into the air in a game between the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Carolina Hurricanes at the PNC Arena in Raleigh, NC on October 10, 2017. Columbus defeated Carolina 2 – 1 in overtime. (Photo by Greg Thompson/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

Keys to Victory

Don’t Be Overconfident

The Columbus Blue Jackets are in a much better position to start the season than the Wild. Less injuries, better record and much better goaltending to this point just to name a few. However, the Blue Jackets can’t let this get to their head. The Wild are a deep team, so if the Jackets get even slightly overconfident then it will backfire in a big way.

Shut Down the Forwards

The Wild don’t have a majority of their star forwards in the lineup tonight, so the Blue Jackets will need to make sure they can shut down their depth forwards. If they can frustrate the Wild forwards enough, the lack of NHL experience for many of the call-ups can lead to mistakes that will help the Blue Jackets tremendously.

Get the Power Play Going

The Columbus Blue Jackets currently have the 25th power play percentage in the league. Luckily for them, they’ll be playing the 27th ranked penalty kill tonight. If the Wild take any penalties tonight, the Jackets have to make them regret it. If the power play doesn’t get going soon, it will make the season much more difficult to sustain.

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