Game #46 preview, Blue Jackets hope to start the Bones era with a win

The Blue Jackets will begin a new era tonight, with Rick Bowness taking over as head coach. They'll try to find two points against a hungry Calgary Flames team that is trying to find their way.

GM Don Waddell made big changes after the Jackets lost four of their last five games. It was their fourth losing streak of at least 4 games so far this season, and this time, the team looked broken.

The first instance of a 4-game losing streak this season actually included the team's trip out West, with one of the losses coming to these Flames. Go figure.

The Opponent

The Flames are one of just five teams that are actually behind the Blue Jackets in the NHL standings. All five of those teams are in the Western Conference. Calgary is 19-22-4 (42 points), six points behind the last wild card spot in the west.

They recently lost 4 straight of their own, but won their last game in Pittsburgh on Saturday, by a 2-1 final. That's right on brand for the game they want to play.

The Flames are one of the league's lowest scoring teams, with just 114 goals in 45 games (2.53 per game). Leading the Flames in scoring is veteran center Nazem Kadri, with 8 goals and 32 points.

He is the only player on the team with more than 30 points, though they do have six guys with more than 20. On the other side of the coin, this team actually defends pretty well. They've given up the 13th-fewest goals in the league (133).

Calgary has a smattering of injuries throughout their lineup, including former Blue Jackets defenseman Jake Bean.

Still, they are a veteran group with a young coach that is squeezing wins out of them, and with two quality goaltenders. Dustin Wolf is their primary starter, but Devin Cooley has put up better numbers on the season. Whoever starts in goal tonight, the Jackets are going to have a difficult time scoring.

This is the second and final meeting between these two teams this season. In the first matchup on November 5th, the Flames won 5-1 in Calgary. Wolf made 42 saves in that game, so don't be surprised if he get the nod tonight.

The Good Guys

We demanded change, and we got it. Tonight, the Blue Jackets will have a new bench boss. Rick Bowness has not had much time with the team, so don't expect them to look entirely different.

But, they should be far better motivated to play hockey than they were last week. They should get the "new coach" boost, and now would be a great time for it, with 7 of their next 8 games coming at Nationwide.

There will be one change to the lineup, with Denton Mateychuk set to miss tonight's game due to an upper-body injury that happened at the beginning of Sunday night's game in Utah. In his place, Jake Christiansen makes his return.

Jet Greaves is slated to start in goal, his 9th start in 10 games. Look for the Jackets to come out flying early, because it was just made clear to them that failure this season will not be taken lightly.

Three Keys to Success

1. Win the first 10. The Jackets need to take advantage of the emotion that comes with firing their head coach. The best thing for them to do is channel that energy into physical, fast hockey in the first 10 minutes.

2. Solve the goaltending riddle quickly. Calgary is one of the lowest event teams in the NHL. If they score first, they are going to pack it in and try to win this game 1-0, or 2-1. The Jackets will do themselves a favor by getting on the board early.

3. Win the third period. Even with a new coach, this is an issue until they prove it is not.

Puck drop is scheduled for just after 7:00PM Eastern, tonight from Nationwide. Let's go Jackets.