Game Preview : Friday Night BJs

Season Series

The Blue Jackets are making their second visit to the United Center in the last five days. The Blackhawks and Corey Crawford shutout Columbus 1-0 last Sunday. Crawford and Ray Emery combined for another shutout against the St Louis Blues last night. Apparently Crow skated with the team this morning, but his injury is still a bit of a mystery. The Blackhawks beat reporters leave much to be desired when it comes to getting answers out of Joel Qunneville. It will be Ray Emery who gets the start tonight. Razor was named the NHL's 3rd Star for the month of February earlier today. Dave Bolland will miss his fourth straight game with the dreaded upper body injury. The Hawks will get tomorrow to rest up before playing a matinee in Detroit on Sunday.

The Blue Jackets of a league low 13 points. Let's put this in prospective for a second. It has taken the Jackets 20 games to reach 13 points. The Blackhawks have more points in the last 7 games than Columbus has all season. The Jackets continue to struggle across the board. They are 29th in the league in goals scored, 21st in goals allowed and have the 29th ranked power play. President John Davidson and new general manager Jarmo Kekalainen certainly have their work cut out for them over the next few years. But buck up BJ fans, it could be a lot wose! You could have Jay Feaster making all the decisions. Steve Mason will make his 3rd start of the season against the Hawks tonight. We have yet to see Sergei Bobrovsky between the pipes. Mason who has had his struggles in the past versus the Hawks, has been solid this year only giving up four goals on 51 shots. Columbus is expecting to get Artem Anisimov back from injury tonight. He missed last Sunday's game with a head injury he suffered a week ago in Detroit. Columbus is not a very good team and they are ravaged with injuries right now. There is no reason why the Hawks point streak should not reach 21 tonight.

Probable Chicago Blackhawks lineup:

Forwards

Brandon Saad - Jonathan Toews - Marian Hossa

Patrick Sharp - Marcus Kruger - Patrick Kane

Bryan Bickell - Andrew Shaw - Viktor Stalberg

Dan Carcillo - Michael Frolik - Brandon Bollig

Defensive Pairings

Duncan Keith - Brent Seabrook

Johnny Oduya - Niklas Hjalmarsson

Nick Leddy - Michal Rozsival

Goaltender

Ray Emery 8-0-0, 1.92 GAA, .931 save %, 0 SO

Inuries

Dave Bolland (upper body) OUT

Leading Scorers

Probable Columbus Blue Jackets lineup:

Forwards

R.J. Umberger - Artem Anisimov - Cam Atkinson

Matt Calvert - Ryan Johansen - Nick Foligno

Vinny Prospal - Mark Letestu - Derek Dorsett

Colton Gillies - Nicholas Drazenovic - Jared Boll

Defensive Pairings

Fedor Tyutin - Nikita Nikitin

Tim Erixon - John Moore

Cody Goloubef - Adrian Aucoin

Goaltender

Steve Mason 2-6-0, 2.77 GAA, .907 save %, 0 SO

Injuries

Derick Brassard (upper body) OUT, Jack Johnson (upper body) OUT, James Wisniewski (foot) OUT, Brandon Dubinsky (knee) OUT

Leading scorers

Chicago Blackhawks Tickets