Columbus Blue Jackets Host Washington Capitals at Nationwide
The Columbus Blue Jackets are set to host the Stanley Cup champion Washington Capitals tonight.
The Columbus Blue Jackets will battle the Washington Capitals tonight in a match-up that’ll decide who leads the Metropolitan division. The Capitals are hot right now, with a record of 8-2-0, meaning that the Blue Jackets will be in for a fight.
The Blue Jackets are in a rough situation, they should have a much better record than they do however they’ve blown two of the last three games which they should’ve won. The same almost happened in Philadelphia, but thanks to Seth Jones the Jackets were able to walk out with a win.
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The Capitals are going to score, especially against this Blue Jackets defense. They have four players over a point per game, Alexander Ovechkin, Nick Backstrom, Evgeny Kuznetsov and John Carlson. Tom Wilson is also over a point per game, however his is less impressive due to a decreased sample size due to his early season suspension.
The Blue Jackets only have two players over a point per game in Cam Atkinson and Artemi Panarin, however they’ve also had quite a bit of depth scoring as of late.
Both teams have elite goaltenders who seem off of their game to this point of the season, Braden Holtby and Sergei Bobrovsky are two of the best in the NHL yet they’re struggling so far. Holtby had a similar start last season, even losing the starting job to Philipp Grubauer at one point, but was able to turn it around to a Stanley Cup.
The Blue Jackets are going to have a tough game on their hands tonight at Nationwide Arena. While it’ll be a tough game, it should certainly be an entertaining one. Escaping a visit from Tom Wilson without an injury is also a top priority.