After almost experiencing an epic collapse, the Columbus Blue Jackets will strive for his or her second win in as many days after they host the Nashville Predators on Tuesday.
The Blue Jackets received seven in a row and 11 of 12 earlier than dropping 4-2 at Boston on Thursday and falling 4-3 in additional time in opposition to the visiting New York Islanders on Saturday.
Columbus led 4-0 via two durations in opposition to the host New York Rangers Monday earlier than squandering the lead. Kirill Marchenko’s additional time objective gave the Blue Jackets a 5-4 victory, rescuing them from an embarrassing defeat.
The Blue Jackets, who moved inside three factors of the Bruins for the Jap Convention’s remaining wild-card spot, missed a chance to select up a regulation victory. They’ve simply 20 on the season, fifth fewest within the convention.
Wins in regulation are the primary tiebreaker for the Stanley Cup playoffs. Boston has 25.
Columbus coach Rick Bowness mentioned his group made it a lot tougher than it wanted be as a result of some “self-inflicted” errors, resembling defensemen pinching up ice on the incorrect occasions or an absence of desperation in chasing down pucks.
“We’ll tackle that and take the 2 factors and prepare for tomorrow,” he mentioned postgame.
Delicate third durations have been a problem for Columbus all season. In line with Champs or Chumps, the Blue Jackets have misplaced 16 video games through which they held a lead. That is tied for fourth most. 9 occasions, they led within the third and nonetheless managed to lose. Solely the Pittsburgh Penguins have endured extra late collapses, 10.
The problem may come up once more Tuesday because the Blue Jackets host a Predators squad that ranks second with 18 comeback victories. Nashville can be certainly one of 5 groups with eight or extra rallies from third-period deficits. Vegas leads the NHL with 9.
Sadly for the Predators, they allowed the Pink Wings to return again from a 2-1 deficit halfway via their Monday afternoon sport, and Detroit registered a 4-2 victory in Nashville.
Two of Detroit’s first three objectives got here off rushes, together with a short-handed tally by Albert Johansson that put the Pink Wings up for good with lower than 4 minutes left within the second.
Predators defenseman Roman Josi mentioned afterward that the Blue Jackets play rather a lot just like the Pink Wings.
“These are some issues we are able to appropriate,” mentioned Nashville’s captain, who notched his thirtieth help of the season within the loss. “I believed within the zone, we performed nicely defensively, however if you play these quick groups which are good off the push, you bought to be sure you come again and do not hand over too many odd-man rushes.”
Nashville, too, is on the surface of the playoff image. The Predators, 1-2-2 of their previous 5 video games, are 4 factors behind each the Utah Mammoth and the Edmonton Oilers, who maintain the 2 Western Convention wild-card spots.
Columbus defenseman Zach Werenski, a key member of the gold-medal-winning U.S. Olympic group, missed the Monday sport as a result of an sickness. He owns a nine-game level streak (two objectives, 11 assists) and leads the group with 45 assists and 65 factors.
Steven Stamkos, who leads Nashville with 30 objectives, didn’t rating on Monday, however he has 5 in his previous six video games.
–Area Stage Media
