"Now... in the morning, you'll be good as new! Or dead! The important thing is: we'll know."
--Dr. Nick Riviera
Columbus Blue Jackets at Boston Bruins
January 17, 2015 - 7:00 pm EST
TD Garden - Boston, Massachusetts
Radio - WBNS 97.1 - TV - Fox Sports Ohio
Opponent's Blog: Stanley Cup of Chowder
Regarding my intro quote, for the longest time as the roller coaster of this season went up and down, I kept to my mantra that we'd know one way or the other by the All Star Break whether this team could be a playoff contender or not. They'd either be good as new, or dead. The important thing is: we'd know.
Welp.
We pretty much know, eh?
The Jackets finally shook off the shackles of being hemmed in their own zone for an entire game, but it wasn't enough as two quick goals by the Rangers in the second period proved to be too much last night. It doesn't get easier, as they travel to Boston where the resurgent Bruins are no doubt looking for payback for the thrashing in Columbus back in December right after the Christmas break. That game seems so, so long ago, no?
I guess we have a scrap between Dalton Prout and Milan Lucic to look forward to, right?
Re: lineups, no morning skate for Columbus after playing last night and traveling, so I'm not going to venture a guess. This is last night's projected lineup. My gut says CMac gets the crease, but we shall see.
Projected Lineups
Columbus Blue Jackets
(18-21-3, 39 Points; 7th division, 14th conference)
| Scott Hartnell | Ryan Johansen | Nick Foligno |
| Jeremy Morin | Alexander Wennberg | Cam Atkinson |
| Sean Collins | Mark Letestu | Josh Anderson |
| Corey Tropp | Brandon Dubinsky | Jared Boll |
| Jack Johnson | David Savard |
| Kevin Connauton | James Wisniewski |
| Fedor Tyutin | Dalton Prout |
| Sergei Bobrovsky |
| Curtis McElhinney |
Boston Bruins
(24-15-6, 54 Points; 4th Division, 8th Conference)
| Milan Lucic | David Krejci | David Pastrnak |
| Daniel Paille | Patrice Bergeron | Reilly Smith |
| Chris Kelly | Carl Soderberg | Loui Eriksson |
| Jordan Caron | Gregory Campbell | Craig Cunningham |
| Zdeno Chara | Dougie Hamilton |
| Dennis Seidenberg | Adam McQuaid |
| Torey Krug | Kevan Miller |
| Tuukka Rask |
| Niklas Svedberg |
Season Series
11/21/14 - Boston 4 at Columbus 3 (SO)
12/27/14 - Boston 2 at Columbus 6
01/17/15 - Columbus at Boston
Head to Head Stats
| Boston | Columbus | |
| 2.62 (20) | GPG | 2.45 (24) |
| 2.44 (9) | GAPG | 3.21 (26) |
| 17.8% (18) | PP% | 24.5% (3) |
| 81.8% (13) | PK% | 79.0% (23) |
| Brad Marchand, 12 | G leader | Nick Foligno, 18 |
| Patrice Bergeron, 21 | A leader | Ryan Johansen, 25 |
| Patrice Bergeron, 32 | Pts leader | Nick Foligno / Ryan Johansen, 41 |
| Milan Lucic, 69 | PIM leader | Jared Boll, 63 |
| 15-6-4 | Home/Road | 9-9-1 |
| 6-1-3 | Last 10 | 4-6-0 |
| 1/15 vs. NY Rangers, W 3-0 | Last Game | 1/16 vs. NY Rangers, L 2-1 |