Columbus Blue Jackets an Nashville Predators: Pre-Game Primer

Tonight's game between the Predators and the Blue Jackets is "Service Industry Night" anyone can get half price tickets by going here and use the offer code "service". For additional information, go here.


TV-Radio...

7:00 p.m. CST   TV: Fox Sports Tennessee.  Preds Radio Network (102.5-FM The Game)

Stage Setter...

For the second time in a week, the Predators are playing the Columbus Blue Jackets, this time in Music City. Were it not for the intensity of of the Western Conference race, this could be considered somewhat of a "trap" game but I do believe that Barry Trotz has the attention of the entire team that there will not be any evenings off for the rest of the season. Expect the Blue Jackets to make a valiant effort but the Predators depth should prevail in the end.

Make the jump for everything else...

Western Conference Standings...

        Team        GP Pts
1. *  Detroit        48 65
2. * Vancouver 48 62
3. * San Jose  45 57
4. St Louis 47 64
5. Chicago          49 64
6. Nashville 48 60
7. Los Angeles    49 56
8. Colorado        50 54
9. Minnesota       48 53
10. Calgary         49 52
11. Dallas            47 50
12. Phoenix         49 50


Prior Meetings...

This is the season's final meeting between the Preds and Jackets and Nashville is 4-0-1. The Predators have dominated the series 48-14-(4)-2 and are 30-5-3 since the 2006-7 season. The Preds had a 17 game home win streak snapped in November and are hoping to have the second win in a new streak tonight. Here are the prior results:

Oct 7, 2011 in Columbus NSH, 3 - 2
Nov 19, 2011 in Nashville CBJ, 4 - 3
Dec 8, 2011 in Columbus NSH, 4 - 3
Dec 22, 2011 in Nashville  NSH, 6 - 5
Jan. 19, 2011 in Columbus NSH 3 - 0

Last Time Out...

Nashville played a solid game against the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday night and brought home a 5-2 victory at Bridgestone arena behind balanced scoring and another great effort by Pekka Rinne who is now 16-2-0 since December 8.

Columbus went into Detroit on Saturday night and made a valiant effort but came away with a 3-2 loss in a shoot out.

Top Scorers (G-A-Pts)...

Nashville - M. Erat (11-22-33), S. Weber (10-23-33),  D. Legwand (13-17-30), C.Smith (10-17-27), S. Kostitsyn (12-14-26),  C. Wilson (9-17-26), R. Suter (5-20-25) and M. Fisher (9-16-25)

Columbus - R. Nash (16-16-32) and V. Prospal (9-21-30)

In Goal (W-L-O, GAA, save %)...

Nashville - P. Rinne (Probable starter) (26-11-4, 2.43, .924) and A. Lindback (2-5-0, 2.50, .898)

Columbus - C. Sanford (8-10-4, 2.51, .914) and S. Mason (5-17-2, 3.40, .883)

Other Comparisons...

Teams	Predators	Jackets
Record	28-16-4 (60)	13-28-6 (32)
Last 10	8-2-0	3-6-1
Home Record	15-7-3	8-13-3
Road Record	13-9-1	5-15-3
Power Play (rank)	21.7 (2)	14.9 (21)
Penalty Kill (rank)	83.1 (12)	76.8 (29)
Goals For (rank)	2.71 (13)	2.32 (28)
Goals Allowed (rank)	2.58 (10)	3.19 (29)
Shots For (rank)	27.7 (26)	30.6 (12)
Shots Allowed (rank)	31.2 (22)	29.4 (11)
Penalty Mins (rank)	9.7 (5)	12.2 (19)
Faceoff % (rank)	49.5 (20)	51.9 (6)

Injuries...

Nashville - Ryan Suter (upper body) and Francis Bouillon (upper body).

Columbus - Radek Martinek (upper body), Kristian Huselius (lower body), James Wisniewski (ankle) Mark Letestu (hand), Jeff Carter (shoulder) Nikita Nikitin (knee), and R.J. Umberger (upper body).

Notes...

• Preds are 10-2 in their last 12 averaging 3.08 goals and allowing 1.83.
• The home team has won 20 of the last 26 meeting between the Jackets and Preds since 12-27-07.
• Shea Weber has 39 points (8g, 21a) in 34 games vs. the Jackets, his highest against any team.
• Jordin Tootoo has 100 PIMs against Columbus, the most of any player vs any sing team in franchise history
• Sergei Kostitsyn has 11 points (7g, 4a) in his last 10 games.
• Rinne is 16-2-0 starting with the win in Columbus on December 8.
• Nashville is 9-2-2 against the Central Division this season. 
• The Preds have 60 points,the same number as last season theough 46 games. 11-12 (28-16-4), 10-11 (27-15-6).
• The Predators reached 300 wins since the lockout to become the fifth team to do so. The others are Detroit (336), San Jose (321), Vancouver (307), and New Jersey (304).
• The Predators are 22-2-2 when scoring more than two goals and 21-1-1 when the opponent gets two or less goals.
• The Predators are 13-0-1 when Nick Spaling scores. 
• The Preds have comeback from a 2 or 3 goal deficits 6 times this season
• The Preds are 0-25 during the Goo-Goo minute. 

Other Predator Previews...

Predators.com
The Tennessean
Ryan Porth
Amanda DiPaolo
Robby Stanley
Dirk Hoag
Paul McCann
Fang Finger
Predatorial

Columbus Media...

Jackets.com
CBJ PressBox
Columbus Dispatch
The Dark Blue Jacket
The Cannon

Game Notes from NHL Media Services

A Look Ahead for the Preds...
Tonight                    Columbus Blue Jackets 7 p.m.
Tuesday (1-24)        @ Chicago Blackhawks 7:30 p.m.
1-25 to 1-30            All-Star Break
1-31                         @ Minnesota 7 p.m.
2-2                           @ Philadelphia 6 p.m.
2-4                           St. Louis 7 p.m.

More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass