Columbus Blue Jackets Face Must Win Tonight in Arizona
This is a must win game for the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Tonight the Columbus Blue Jackets play their last game before the All-Star break. They come off a game where they were outplayed by a better Vegas Golden Knights team.
But tonight they will play a team that on no night in the season should be better than them. The Arizona Coyotes are historically bad. They are in last place in the NHL this season. It took them 20 games to get their first regulation win. They have lost five games in a row four times already this season. Their five regulation wins puts them in last place by five behind the next worse team in the league.
It’s rare that in a long season like the NHL’s that any games before March are actual “must wins” for teams. But tonight, the Columbus Blue Jackets need to get two points on the road. They are reeling and gained no points or momentum in a January that was set up for them to rack up points. If it wasn’t for other Metro teams tanking in January, they would have been out of playoff position by now.
Looking Ahead or Focused?
With so few games in January, especially in the last two weeks, its hard to stay focused. The guys were on vacation, they took a long trip to Vegas before Tuesday’s game, and they are planning their All-Star break. It has been a challenge to stay focused clearly.
But I don’t think the team wasn’t focused against Dallas or Vegas in the last two match ups. They won the Dallas game in a shootout, playing solid hockey for 65 minutes. The Vegas lost was not due to a lack of focus. They were just plain and simply run out of the building by a better team.
I expect the team to be focused and come out and take it to the Coyotes. Sergei Bobrovsky will be in net and will be locked in like he always is.
This is a must win game for the Columbus Blue Jackets. If they lose tonight, the season might start coming off the rails.