Columbus Blue Jackets host the Nashville Predators at the Nationwide Arena
Columbus Blue Jackets will be hosting the Nashville Predators at the Nationwide Arena in another game of Tuesday. This will be the fourth of the six meetings due to take place between the two sides.
Out of the three meetings that have already taken place between the two sides, the Blue Jackets won the first game 2-0 while the Predators have won the last two meetings 4-3 and 4-1 respectively. Both the teams are close in the Central Division and in the
Western Conference as they look to make it into the play-off cut.
Though the Predators are in the fifth spot in the Western Conference but they are only six points ahead of the Blue Jackets who are in the 12th spot in the Conference. A win for either of the teams would be very crucial as the play-off race heats
up.
The play-off picture during the course of this season is very open tight especially in the Western Conference where still five spot for the play-offs are still up for grabs. During the course of a normal National Hockey League season a seven point difference
between the two sides would be unreachable but things are totally different this time.
The Predators are level on points with the Calgary Flames with 70 but there are five other teams below them on 68 points making this race a very tough one. This game can turn out to be very crucial for the winning team to boosting their chances of a play-off
spot.
The last four games of the Predators according to the experts should have been won by them as they played them on home ice. However, they weren’t able to take advantage of this as they won only two games and score a point in one losing the other.
However, if the Predators are thinking of making it into the play-offs then they need to step up their game and come up with some good results as they play 14 out of their last 23 games on home ice. Though this past Saturday they lost 3-2 against the Coyotes
but they are hopeful for a better shot this time out.
"Our guys stayed with them the whole game. There was no quit in our game," Nashville coach Barry Trotz said. "I was disappointed in the way we gave up goals. All three could have been very preventable."
The Predators have played 59 games during the season out of which they have won 31 games in regulation time, secured a point in eight games and scored 70 points. The Blues Jackets have scored 64 points out of the 58 games they have played winning 29 games
in regulation time and six games in overtime.
The Blue Jackets have piled up some good results that have seen them winning six out of their last eight games. In their last game against the Hawks, the Blue Jackets came up with a brilliant performance that saw them winning the game 4-3 in the end.
"We've had success in the last three or four weeks because we haven't gotten intimidated by any team we're playing," said Columbus coach Scott Arniel.
The game will be surely hard fought as the teams try to come up with a win to score vital points in the running for the play-off spots.
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