Game #52 preview re-do, Blue Jackets need to keep the Flyers in a freefall

After a surprise day off thanks to winter storm Fern, the Blue Jackets will get back into action tonight. They will play their divisional rival, the Philadelphia Flyers, at Nationwide Arena.

The Jackets enter tonight having won 6 of their last 7 games. Most recently, they downed the Tampa Bay Lightning in an 8-5 game on Saturday night.

The Flyers have been heading in the other direction. They have won just two of their last 10 games. Most recently, they lost 4-0 at home to the New York Islanders on Tuesday night.

The Opponent

The Flyers seem to be a bit of an enigma this season. They sit at 24-18-9 (57 points), just two points ahead of the Blue Jackets in the Eastern Conference standings.

To say that it's been an odd year in Philly might be an understatement. They have a new head coach, Rick Tocchet, who is trying to drag this team into contention. They also have some exciting offensive weapons, including Trevor Zegras and young (supposed future superstar) Matvei Michkov.

On some nights, it has worked quite well for them. Look no further than the two games they have won most recently. They beat the Vegas Golden Knights and the Colorado Avalanche-both on the road.

But, on other nights, it has not worked for them. They have lost to teams well below them in the standings. I'm interested to see how the Jackets match up against them tonight, in their first meeting of the season.

Up front, Zegras leads the way in scoring with 19 goals and 46 points in 51 games. Travis Konecny has played one fewer game and is just one off of his pace (17-28-45). Then, it's a pretty sizeable drop off to Owen Tippett, who has 33 points on the year.

Overall, as you would expect from a coach like Tocchet; this team wants to check and win low event hockey games. They have given up the 12th-fewest goals in the league (159). But, on the other side, they have a hard time scoring (149GF, 22nd).

They have been without starting goaltender Dan Vladar for a couple of weeks, but he could be close to a return. The Jackets will hope to avoid him and get a chance to face Samuel Ersson, who has struggled in his absence. That's a big part of the reason for their current skid.

Update: Vladar will indeed return tonight. He's 16-7-4, with a .905% save percentage and 2.46 goals against average this season. He is 3-0-0 against the Jackets in his career, with a .918%, 1.64GAA, and 1 shutout.

The Good Guys

The Blue Jackets will get some reinforcements tonight, with both Denton Mateychuk and Miles Wood set to return to the lineup. This should give them a massive boost, especially in the skating department.

As a result of their activation from IR, the team placed Zach Aston-Reese and Brendan Gaunce on waivers yesterday. Should they clear, they will be reassigned to the Cleveland Monsters.

The return of Mateychuk and Wood leaves just one player remaining out of the lineup with injury, and that's Dante Fabbro. Should he return without anyone else suffering an injury, the Jackets would be fully healthy for the first time since October.

We will have to wait and see who starts in goal, but all indications point to Elvis Merzlikins; who was slated to play on Tuesday before the game was postponed.

Update: Merzlikins will start, while Danton Heinen and Jake Christiansen come out of the lineup for Mateychuk and Wood.

Three Keys to Success

1. Score first. The Flyers will want to get ahead and grind this game into a traffic jam. It's important for the Jackets to score first, because that will open up the road team's game and maybe give them a chance to take advantage.

2. Beat them at their own game. Under Rick Bowness, the Jackets have done a much better job of being hard on the puck for a full 60 minutes. They should be able to do what the Flyers want to do: get ahead and grind them into the ground.

3. Full team effort. With the lineup nearly fully healthy, there are no excuses. Everyone has to contribute, or they will be risking losing their spot to someone else. I expect to see all 18 skaters going hard tonight.

Tonight's game is a national broadcast (TNT), so it's a different start time. Puck drop is scheduled for just after 7:30 Eastern time from Nationwide Arena. If you're heading down, be sure to drive safely. Let's go Jackets!