Pre-game thoughts: Chance to do some damage to the standings

The next two games for the Jackets are against the St. Louis Blues. This is a real opportunity for the Jackets to put some hurtin on St. Louis' 2nd place standings in the conference.

Coming into the game the Blues have played 39 games but sit just above the Jackets in Central with 45 points. The Jackets on the other hand have already played 42 games and have 44 points. So considering the Blues have three games at hand on the CBJ its pretty obvious how important these games can be in the big picture of things. Win them both and the Jackets extend their lead over St. Louis by 3 points... lose them both and not only do the Blues extend their lead over the Jackets by 5 points, they also will have played 3 games less.

Keys to lightin em up

Keep doin what your doin against this team. The Blues are just as challenged offensively as we are. They have 97 goals for while we have 105. Somehow though we are 2-1 through 3 games this year with both of our wins being shutouts. So the Jackets need to play their brand of hockey, capitalize on their chances and SCORE FIRST!

Shutdown Tkachuk - Boyes - Kariya. Each of these three guys has 30 or more points. They are the offense for this club. Keep them off the scoreboard and they stand a good chance at winning this game. Boyes is in a big slump so don't let him break out of it.

Wake up Nash and Z. I love that we are getting some secondary scoring but we need the big boys to start contributing again as well.

Continue St. Louis road success. St. Louis is one of the very few places the Jackets have actually experienced some road success. They are 5-2-2 there since the lockout. Need to keep that momentum going tonight.

Special teams. The Blues have a worse PP than ours. It currently sits in 30th spot overall. That Jackets can exploit this by being a little more agressive, especially around the net. Watch out there b/c the Blues PK sits right behind the Jackets in 4th - scoring PP goals won't be any easier tonight - not that its been easy period.

Norrena gets the start. Leclaire is hurt...as is pretty much every Blue Jacket goaltender at this point. Steve Mason has been recalled on an emergency basis to back him up. Norrena just needs to play they way he's been playing all year. No softies.

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These two teams are very similar. Both have had solid defensive play and goaltending. Both struggle on the PP and to score goals period. The game will be a competitive, probably low scoring, affair. With a win tonight the Jackets could finish up this road trip with a 2-2 record before they face the Blues again at home on Friday night.

Another big'un tonight. The Jackets have played pretty good thus far on this road trip. Lets see if they can get rewarded again tonight.

-LTL