Nashville Predators at Columbus Blue Jackets: Pre-Game Primer

TV-Radio...

6:00 p.m. CST   TV: Fox Sports Tennessee.  Preds Radio Network (102.5-FM The Game)

Stage Setter...

Anytime the Nashville Predators and Columbus Blue Jackets hook up, expect to see fireworks. Tonight's game will be no different in spite of the lop-sided look on paper. The Predators should not feel potential effect of a "trap" game as they are coming off a loss to the Rangers on Tuesday and Columbus is a special rivalry for them. On the flip side, the Blue Jackets do not dislike any team as much as the Predators. It should be an exciting game to say the least.

Make the jump for everything else...

Western Conference Standings...

        Team        GP Pts
1. * Chicago       47 62
2. * Vancouver 47 60
3. * San Jose  43 57
4. Detroit            46 61
5. St Louis 45 60
6. Nashville 46 56
7. Los Angeles    47 55
8. Colorado        48 52
9. Minnesota       46 51
10. Dallas            45 50
11. Phoenix         47 49
12. Calgary         47 48

Prior Meetings...

The Preds and Jackets have met four times this season and Nashville is 3-0-1. This is the last meeting in Columbus for the season. The Predators have dominated the series 47-14-(4)-2 and are 29-5-3 since the 2006-7 season. 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

Last Time Out...

Nashville played as well as they could but without Ryan Suter, Jered Smithson, and Pekka Rinne in the line-up, they produced zero offense in a 3-0 loss to the Rangers on Tuesday night.

Columbus played one of their better games in an otherwise dismal season on Tuesday night when they scored four unanswered goals to cap a 4-2 win against Edmonton in Columbus.

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

Nashville - S. Weber (9-23-32), M. Erat (10-20-30), D. Legwand (13-15-28), C.Smith (9-17-26),  R. Suter (5-20-25) C. Wilson (8-16-24) S. Kostitsyn (11-12-23) and M. Fisher (8-15-23)

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

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

Nashville - P. Rinne (Probable starter) (24-11-4, 2.50, .922) and A. Lindback (2-5-0, 2.50, .898)

Columbus - C. Sanford (8-10-2, 2.54, .912) and S. Mason -Starter - (5-16-2, 3.46, .882)

Other Comparisons...

Teams	Predators	Jackets
Record	26-16-4 (54)	13-27-5 (31)
Last 10	8-2-0	4-5-1
Home Record	14-7-3	8-12-3
Road Record	12-9-1	5-15-2
Power Play (rank)	21.0 (3)	14.9 (23)
Penalty Kill (rank)	82.7 (13)	77.2 (29)
Goals For (rank)	2.65 (13)	2.38 (26)
Goals Allowed (rank)	2.65 (12)	3.22 (29)
Shots For (rank)	27.6 (25)	30.7 (12)
Shots Allowed (rank)	31.3 (23)	29.4 (11)
Penalty Mins (rank)	9.9 (5)	12.5 (22)
Faceoff % (rank)	49.6 (19)	51.7 (7)

Injuries...

Nashville - Jerred Smithson (lower body) activated off IR and Ryan Suter (upper body).

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

Notes...

• Rinne is 12-4-1, 2.67, .907 vs Columbus. Mason is 5-5-4, 2.34, .913 vs the Preds.
• Nashville is 7-2-2 against the Central Division this season, including a 4-1-1 mark on the road. 
• Ryan Ellis has five points (2g-3a) with a +4 rating in his last six games.
• The Preds have 56 points,the same number as last season theough 46 games. 11-12 (26-16-4), 10-11 (25-15-6).
• The Predators are 17-2-3 when scoring first, sixth in the NHL
• The Predators are 21-2-2 when scoring more than two goals.
• The Predators are 13-0-1 when Nick Spaling scores. He set a career high for points in a season (7g-8a-15pts) on Saturday with his game winner.
• Colin Wilson and Nick Spaling lead the team in GWG with three each.
• The Preds have comeback from a 2 or 3 goal deficits 6 times this season
• The Preds are 0-24 during the Goo-Goo minute and will have their nest chance on Saturday against the Blackhawks.

Other Predator Previews...

Predators.com
The Tennessean
PredsOnTheGlass
Ryan Porth
Amanda DiPaolo
Paul McCann
Fang Finger
Predatorial

Columbus Media...

Jackets.com

Columbus Dispatch
The Dark Blue Jacket
The Cannon


Game Notes from NHL Media Services

A Look Ahead for the Preds...

Tonight                     @Columbus 6 p.m.
Friday                      Practice @ Centennial 11 a.m.
Saturday                  Chicago Blackhawks 7 p.m.
Monday (1-23)        Columbus Blue Jackets 7 p.m.
Tuesday (1-24)        @ Chicago Blackhawks 7:30 p.m.
1-25 to 1-30            All-Star Break

More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass