Blue Jackets at Wild
The Columbus Blue Jackets are stuck in a pack of three teams with 43 points - two behind the No. 8 spot in the Western Conference. The Minnesota Wild, who host the Blue Jackets on Saturday, are only slightly more secure in their playoff destiny. The Wild are sitting in seventh place in the West, three points ahead of Columbus and company. While the Blue Jackets are surging, Minnesota is faltering with losses in five of its last six games.
That lone win this month for the Wild - a 3-0 triumph - happened to come at Columbus last Sunday. Minnesota has scored a total of three goals in its other five games this month and has been shut out in back-to-back home contests by the Chicago Blackhawks and St. Louis Blues. As poor as the scoring has been for the Wild, it is actually the Blue Jackets that rank lower in the NHL in scoring average, although that number has picked up with back-to-back wins.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, FSN Ohio (Columbus), FSN North, FSN Wisconsin (Minnesota)
ABOUT THE BLUE JACKETS (18-16-7): Columbus had this marked as a rebuilding year after dealing away Rick Nash in the offseason, but a strong run through March convinced the team to shoot for the playoffs. The Blue Jackets brought in Marian Gaborik at the trade deadline and have gotten three points in the last two games from the veteran right wing to keep pace with the teams vying for playoff berths. Sergei Bobrovsky has been another big reason for the optimism surrounding the club. The 24-year-old Russian did not record a shutout in two seasons with the Philadelphia Flyers but has four so far in 2013 and has stopped 61 of 62 shots in the last two contests. “Hope and belief are two powerful things,” coach Todd Richards told reporters after Friday’s 4-1 win over St. Louis. “Right now, those guys in that room feel that.”
ABOUT THE WILD (22-16-2): Hope and belief might be disappearing in Minnesota. Injuries to Dany Heatley and Matt Cullen have slowed the offense, while an injury to defenseman Ryan Suter threatens to not only weaken the blue line but also a struggling power play. Suter scored a power-play goal in the win over Columbus on Sunday but left Thursday’s loss to the Blues and reportedly did not practice on Friday. The Wild got a goal from Jason Pominville in that win over the Blue Jackets, but the veteran right wing has been held to two points in four games since joining the team. “We obviously can’t sit here and feel sorry for ourselves,” Pominville said after Thursday’s loss. “We’ve got to pull up our sleeves and dig deep and find a way.”
OVERTIME
1. Bobrovsky stopped 15 of 16 shots to earn a win in his only other career appearance in Minnesota, a 6-1 victory while with the Flyers on Nov. 24, 2010.
2. Cullen (lower body) has missed five straight games and could be out another week.
3. The Wild have taken both of the meetings this season, including a 3-2 home win on Jan. 29, with Steve Mason in net for Columbus.