The Columbus Blue Jackets will make their shortest road trip of the season tonight, as they will retrace the steps that they took to Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh en route to a thrilling six-game matchup in the 2014 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals.
It won’t be a fondly reminisced journey for the Blue Jackets, as they lost two of the three games played in Pittsburgh last spring and have lost eight of the ten regular-season road matchups with the Penguins since coming into the league in 2000.
“We have same good memories and we have some bad memories in this building,” said Columbus forward Matt Calvert. “We had our first playoff series here last year and it’s a fun building for us to play in. We’ve got quite the rivalry with these guys, so we’re just going to out there, work hard, and have fun.”
“I think the team on the losing end wants to win that much more the next season,” he added.
TONIGHT’S OPPONENT: The 2014-15 Columbus Blue Jackets are not the same the same team that took the Penguins to six games in the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Blue Jackets have suffered from an enormous amount of injuries, leading the NHL with 345 man-games lost through February 15. Taking into account the salaries of the players lost, this chart courtesy of @LW3H shows how dramatically the Jackets’ season has been affected by injuries.
With 12 points separating the Blue Jackets from Boston for the final wild card spot in the Eastern Conference and only 27 games remaining, time is running out for Columbus to get healthy and make a stretch run.
All-star forward Nick Foligno may be making his return to the Blue Jackets lineup this evening. He has missed the last two games with a lower-body injury and will be a game-time decision but is expected to play, according to the Columbus Post-Dispatch’s Aaron Portzline.
Official decision regarding Foligno will be made following warm-ups, #CBJ coach Todd Richards said. But expectation is he’ll dress vs. #pens
— Aaron Portzline (@Aportzline) February 19, 2015
MEN IN MASKS: Marc-Andre Fleury will start his third consecutive game in goal for the Penguins. Fleury has given up just four goals in his last five games, with a .969 save percentage. In his career against Columbus he’s 6-1-1- with a .931 save percentage and a 2.01 goals-against average.
For Columbus, fellow 2015 all-star selection Sergei Bobrovsky is expected to miss tonight’s contest. Bobrovsky has been out of the Blue Jackets lineup since January 21 with a groin injury. Backup Curtis McElhinney is expected to start in his staid. McElhinney is 9-9-1 with a .916 save percentage and a 2.80 goals-against average on the season. The journeyman netminder is 0-4 in his career against Pittsburgh with a .908 save percentage and a 2.66 goals-against average.
THE 4077: Defenseman Christian Ehrhoff (concussion) took part in the team’s morning skate today and did receive some contact, but is still not quite ready to rejoin the lineup.
“It seemed to go fine,” he said. “Hopefully, tomorrow it can be a full practice.”
It has been a long road back for the German defenseman, who will miss his tenth consecutive game this evening.
“For a player, it’s always a little frustrating, because you don’t really know what’s coming up next, what’s going to be thrown at you, but you have to stay positive and just stick with the process,” he said. “We have a good protocol in place here and we’ve just got to stick to that.”
SCOREBOARD WATCHING: Each of the top four Metro Division teams will be in action tonight. The New York Islanders host the Nashville Predators, the New York Rangers host the Vancouver Canucks and the Washington Capitals host the Winnipeg Jets. The puck will drop for all three games at 7:00 p.m.
MINOR MATTERS The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (28-18-6, 2nd in AHL East) are on a role, with an 8-1-2 record over their last 11 games, but they remain 5 points behind the equally-hot Hershey Bears in the East Division. The Penguins will host the Providence Bruins at 7:05 p.m. on Friday before traveling to Hartford on Saturday.
The Wheeling Nailers (23-24, 5th in ECHL North) are on the road this weekend. They have a great opportunity to make up some ground in the North Division, as they will play second-place Toledo on Friday at 7:15 and fourth-place Kalamazoo on Saturday. The Nailers will be without defenseman Morgan Ellis, who was called up to Hamilton of the AHL today.
#CAWLIDGEHAWKEY: Robert Morris (20-5-5, 1st in AHC) can clinch the program’s first regular-season conference title this weekend as they face R.I.T. in Rochester, New York. The Tigers will certainly put up a fight, as they are currently seeded fifth; the last place that gets a bye in the conference tournament. RIT is lead by senior forward Matt Garbowsky, who has 40 points in 30 games. On defense, they feature Pittsburgh native Alexander Kuqali, who is the brother of Wheeling Nailers defenseman Nick Kuqali.
The Colonials will clinch at least a share of the Atlantic Hockey Conference regular-season title by earning one point in Rochester, and will win it outright with two points. Both Friday’s and Saturday’s games are 7:05 faceoffs from the Gene Polisseni Center in Rochester.
Penn State (15-9-4, 3rd in Big Ten) has a stern test this weekend as they host first-place Minnesota. The Golden Gophers have won four straight contests and are unbeaten in their last eight Big Ten Conference games. Both games will be televised, with Friday’s game on the Big Ten Network at 6:30 p.m. and Saturday’s on ESPNU at 5:00 p.m.
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