The Columbus Blue Jackets were steamrolled by the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday and will look to get back on track tonight.
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| PHILADELPHIA FLYERS |
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33–20–7 (73 points) ROSTER / SCHEDULE |
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7 P.M. – THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 20 NATIONWIDE ARENA COLUMBUS, OH |
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FOX SPORTS OHIO FOX SPORTS GO |
The wheels have fallen off and the Jackets seem to be in a free-fall after the Seth Jones injury. The injury is not the sole cause but may have been the straw, which has broken the camel's back.
If the Jackets are going to get back on track, they will need to make things as simple as possible, which is exactly what they did during their impressive run but have gotten away from it recently. In order to make up for their losses, the Jackets seem to be trying to do more than they can, which is opening holes for other teams to take advantage of.
The Flyers on the other hand, have plenty of star power in their line-up and gave the Blue Jackets a tough go on Tuesday and will make things just as difficult tonight.
Here's a look at tonight's projected lines for the Blue Jackets:
Forwards
Foligno–Stenlund–Bjorkstrand
Nyquist–Jenner–Gerbe
Lilja–Nash–Robinson
Milano–Dubois–Bemstrom
Defenseman
Werenski–Nutivaara
Gavrikov–Savard
Harrington–Peeke
Goaltender: Merzlikins
Storylines
- ENERGY. The Jackets came out flat against the Flyers on Tuesday and that led to two quick goals that set the tone for the game so much so that a goal called back in the Jackets favor and a powerplay goal were not able to change the momentum. Tonight, they need to be the ones setting the tone.
- SHOTS. This may not seem like a storyline because the Jackets ended the game with 29 shots, but they had 3 in the first, 12 in the second and 14 in the third, but those shots came too little too late. The Jackets will need to follow Michael Scott and Wayne Gretzky's advice to shoot more.
- CREATE LUCK. The Flyers created luck by putting the Jackets on their heels, which led to them putting themselves in poor positions, watching the play and chasing the puck and the Flyers took advantage of that. Additionally, they threw the puck on net and allowed chances to happen.
