The Blue Jackets need to dig deep and beat the Lightning tonight at Nationwide

The Blue Jackets will finish off what we predicted to be their toughest 10-game stretch of the season tonight, as they host the Tampa Bay Lightning at Nationwide Arena. Through the first 9-games of this gauntlet, they are 4-5-0.

As bad as they have looked at times, they can still salvage a .500 record through what might be their hardest run of the year. They need two points desperately tonight, especially after disappointing the home crowd against Florida on Tuesday.

It won't be easy, as usual. The Lightning won big in Buffalo last night, 8-3 over the Sabres. They have won four of their last five games, and come into this one red hot. They are another team with Stanley Cup aspirations, which should give the Jackets all they can handle tonight.

Perhaps most important for the Blue Jackets tonight would be a regulation win. They're taking on a team that has been on the road for a week, having played and traveled into town last night. They should see the backup goaltender for the Lightning, who may also be without defenseman Erik Cernak.

In short, no matter how good their opponent is, there is no excuse. It's time for this CBJ group to stand up and say enough is enough. Twist the dagger and win this game. Lets look at three keys to success.

Get to the middle of the ice.

The analytics loved their game on Tuesday night, but the final score reflected what the eye test showed: the Panthers dominated the middle of the ice. A good majority of those Blue Jackets shots were taken from the outside, with very little traffic.

No traffic means an easy save for the other team's goaltender, and that was definitely the case on Tuesday night. Lots of pucks into the chest with no rebounds. They have to win the middle of the ice, and get to the net.

Shoot. The. Puck.

In the third period alone, I probably yelled at my TV screen a half dozen times on Tuesday night because the Jackets would get the puck in a high danger area, then pass away from it. On the rare occasions where they did find themselves in a prime scoring area, they simply deferred.

That's a complete lack of confidence, especially coming from the forwards who should be counted on to score goals. Obviously, if there is a body there, you can't put the puck through them. But on at least a few of the chances I'm talking about, there was a clear and obvious lane to the net.

Whatever is holding this team's offense up, needs to unlock itself ASAP. That may start with firing everything at the net, no matter how ugly the shots are.

It's time for Jet to own the net.

Jet Greaves looks to get the start in goal tonight, and it's time for him to step it up. On the season, he's 2-6-0 with a .880 save percentage and 3.36 goals against average.

Obviously, it hasn't all been his fault. But he has not looked like himself. He has looked sluggish and somewhat uncomfortable in the goal. They need him to find the game that earned him a $15 million dollar contract over the summer.

Jake Christiansen looks to be returning to the lineup in place of Erik Gudbranson (thank God). Meanwhile, the top three forward lines are resetting to the way they began the season. This will be the first of three meetings between these teams this year. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00 Eastern time. Let's go Jackets!

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