Columbus Blue Jackets eyeing first win of season against Colorado Avalanche -NHL Match Preview
After losing their first three matchups of the 2011-2012 National Hockey League (NHL) regular season, Columbus Blue Jackets will be looking for their inaugural win against Colorado Avalanche when the two teams face-off on Wednesday, October 12, 2011, at
the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio, United States.
Both teams faced the two 2011 Stanley Cup finalists in their last matchups, but coming out was a different story. Columbus lost, 3-2, on Monday against Vancouver Canucks while Colorado came out strong against Boston Bruins by shutting them out, 1-0.
"We've had two tough challenges to start the season", Colorado centre, Paul Stastny, said. "It's easy to get up for these games, especially playing a team like this - the defending champs".
Colorado was faced with Detroit Red Wings, one of the leagues strongest teams, in their home season opener and could not score a single goal, losing 3-0, but made a strong comeback against the Stanley Cup defenders.
Their rookie goalie, Semyon Varlamov, managed to stay steadfast in the net and block all 30 incoming shots, bringing his total career shutouts to five.
For Colorado, their veteran forward, Milan Hejduk, made the game-winner against Boston during the final period and have them that much needed guidance. His presence on the ice along with a number of junior players will allow Colorado to advance and utilise
their newly acquired talent to the fullest.
Columbus believed that they had a good run against Vancouver, but it was the Canucks who emerged victorious in the end.
"I thought we played a good 40 minutes", Blue Jackets captain, Rick Nash, said. "(In the) third period, it seemed like they turned it up a little more and we stayed the same".
Blue Jackets will be focusing on using their special team performers to the max in order to take advantage of power play opportunities and capitalise on an loop holes in the oppositions offence or defence.
"Special teams are key in the NHL nowadays", left wing Vinny Prospal said. "We haven't scored one power-play goal in the three games and (Vancouver) had one (Monday), and it ended up being a winner".
Since Colorado Avalanche has become a good penalty killing team over the few matches it has played so far, this could create a troubling situation for Columbus Blue Jackets, who are as worse at taking advantage or killing of their shorthanded situations.
Columbus head coach, Scott Arniel, certainly knows that his team is troubled over their power play situation but believes that they will just have to continue playing through it until they find a breakthrough solution.
Colorado will be playing without forwards, Mark Olver and Brandon Yip, who have been placed on injured reserve for head and arm injuries respectively, while the opposing club, Columbus, has all their players healthy at the moment.
Being the first time in history that Columbus has not been able to win a single game out of their initial three contests of a new season, it will be exciting to see whether this losing streak continues or whether the team will be able to make a comeback.
The match begins at 7:00 p.m. ET.
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