Columbus Blue Jackets December 2018 Schedule Analysis
December holds seven Metropolitan Division matchups for the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Looking ahead to the Columbus Blue Jackets face a Metro packed month but one that keeps them close to home. The farthest the team travels in the entire month is to the heart of Long Island where they will play the Islanders at the Nassau Coliseum.
December isn’t nearly as challenging as November will be for the Jackets but is no cakewalk like October is. The team will have some solid test against the Washington Capitals, Vegas Golden Knights, and Toronto Maple Leafs. All of those matchups come at the friendly confines of Nationwide Arena.
Once again the Columbus Blue Jackets get to host a game on New Years Eve for the second time in a row. This year it comes against the Ottawa Senators. Hopefully the fans get a little better of a result than last year’s performance against the Lightning.
Lets take a look, week by week, at the Jackets slate in December.
Week One: December 1st-9th
The CBJ open the month of December in an unfamiliar place for most of the young squad. The team will play the New York Islanders, on Long Island in the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum. The Islanders, who are transitioning away from Barclays Center in Brooklyn, will play 20 regular season games in their long time home on the island.
The game is the first of three Metropolitan Division games in nine days for the Jackets. Following a flight back to Columbus to host the Calgary Flames, the Jackets head back to the east coast to take on the Philadelphia Flyers for the first time this year. The Flyers and Jackets will be in a division dog fight all year. This will be a huge road game for the Jackets.
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To round out week one the Jackets host the defending Stanley Cup champs for the first time. They will look to do what they weren’t able to do during the first round playoff matchup – win at home over the Caps. The game starts a season long, six game home stand for the CBJ.
It’s a tough, but manageable first week with two games at home and two on the road. The Saturday night tilt agains the Caps is going to be a wild one, get your tickets now folks.
Week One Prediction: 1-1-2
Week Two: December 10th-16th
The six game home stand continues in week two with three matchups against Pacific Division squads. All three will have a hard time making the playoffs and are good point opportunities for the Jackets.
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On Tuesday, December 11th the Jackets host the Vancouver Canucks. A team that has found itself at the bottom of the division for years finally has some hope in the names of Brock Boeser, Bo Horvat, and a rookie that is the clear favorite to win the Calder Trophy, Elias Pettersson.
The 19-year-old Swede dominated the SHL last year and already has made several NHLers look foolish with his insane stick handling and finishing ability. Petterson is worth the price of admission. Go see this kid when the Canucks come through the Heartland.
The Jackets also host Pacific division squads on Thursday and Saturday. The Los Angeles Kings and Anaheim Ducks both come to Nationwide within a few nights of each other and the similarities between the two teams go far beyond both of them calling Southern California home.
Both are older, slower, teams that added, slower and older players in the offseason. It hasn’t hampered either as they both made the playoffs last year but this seems like the year where their style catches up to them.
Both of them are also backstopped by underrated goalies. Jonathan Quick and Josh Gibson are two of the best, if not the best, in the Western Conference.
Los Angeles added Ilya Kovalchuk in the offseason so you’ve got that to look forward to. The Anaheim Ducks will be without their star center Corey Perry as he suffered what seems to be a season ending injury.
Week Two Predictions: 1-1-1
Week Three: December 17th-23rd
December rolls on with the six game home stand wrapping up with games on Monday the 17th and Thursday the 20th.
The Pacific Division trend continues as the Vegas Golden Knights come to town on the 17t. The fourth opponent in a row from the same division is an odd scheduling quirk and it brings the defending Western Conference champs to town. If I were a statistician, I would go to this game to get a front row view of what regression looks like in real life.
The Jackets get two days off before they host the Devils at home. The game starts a run of four straight Metro games. All against teams not named Pittsburgh or Washington. This stretch which goes from week three to four is critical for the Jackets to put some distance on them and the middle pack of the division.
After hosting the Devils the Jackets travel to Philadelphia for a Saturday afternoon bout. It will be the second game in Philly in 16 days.
The team will then take the train over to Newark for the first back-to-back of the month. The Devils will host the Jackets in their second matinée in as many days. These games are huge. These three games between the Devils and Flyers could help separate the Jackets from the two surprise playoff teams from last season. They will be focused an I expect a big week from the Jackets heading into Christmas.
Week Three Prediction: 3-0-1
Week Four: December 24th-31st
The month wraps up with a Christmas break for the squad and three winnable games. The Team will have three full days off following the Devils game on the 23rd. They will return home until the 27th when they head to MSG to take on the Rangers.
There is no other way to put it. The Rangers will be bad this year. Outside of Henrik Lundqvist stealing them games, the Blueshirts are going to have a hard time winning games. At this point in the year, the Rangers will have probably shipped away another asset for futures as well. Coming out of a nice break, this has to be a win.
They will fly back immediately to Columbus as they host the Toronto Maple Leafs the next night. The second back-to-back in the month will be tough to finish up with a win. The Leafs are stacked and it will be the first game the Leafs play since the Christmas break. Five days off may be too much for the Leafs and they could come out rusty, but I doubt it.
To close out the month, and the 2018 calendar year, the Jackets host the Ottawa Senators. Not much to say on this front. Start your New Years Celebration with a Columbus Blue Jackets’ win.
Week Four Prediction: 2-1-0
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The month is very manageable schedule wise for the team. They will be favored in all but three or four of their games and the home stand and Christmas break are huge at this point in the year.
December should allow the team to regain some confidence and get prepared for a tough end of the year schedule. I see the Jackets finishing December with a record of 7-3-4, good for 18 points in 14 games.