Columbus Blue Jackets - Washington Capitals
Tue Feb 5, 2008 -- 7:00 pm EST

Columbus (25-23-6)

During this season Columbus Blue Jackets showed two faces.

On home ice in Nationwide Arena they play very good and have 16-8-4 score but on road thay have a lot problems in offense and one of the worst scores in league 9-15-2.

In 6 seasons since joining the league Columbus didn’t qualified for playoffs. This season is teams bets since joining the league and they are in playoff hunt with only 3 pts less than currently 8th Nashville.

(LW) Fredrik Modin ( 2 galls and 2 assists in 11 games) and (C) Sergei Fedorov (8 goals and 19 assists in 46 games) are on injured list.

On Feb 1, Columbus traded (LW) Curtis Glencroos (7 goals and 6 assists in 46 games) for veteran defenseman Dick Tarnstrom of Edmonton on Friday.

Washington (24-24-5)

Washington made big improvements this season especialy under new coach Bruce Boudreau but still this team depends on the play of their superstar (LW) Alex Ovechkin. With 43 scored goals Ovechkin is on the top of scorers list.

When Ovechkin plays well the rest of the team follows and Washington wins but when Ovechkin has bad night or opponents keep a close eye on him there is no other player in Washington’s roster who can lead the team.

(RW) Alexander Semin and (C) Viktor Kozlov are having bad seasons and big offseason pickup (C) Michael Nylander (11 goals and 26 assists in 40 games played) is injured and will miss rest of season.

(D) Brian Pothier (5 goals and 9 assists in 38 games played) is also on injured reserve.

STATS COMPARISON

Columbus home 16-8-4 *** Washington away 10-12-4

Current form (last 5 games)
Columbus W-W-L-L-L *** Washington L-W-L-W-L

GFA
Columbus 2.40 (26th) *** Washington 2.80 (11th)

GAA
Columbus 2.43 (6th) *** Washington 3.06 (25th)

Power Play (%)
Columbus 16.0 (23rd) *** Washington 17.5 (17th)

Penalty Kill (%)
Columbus 86.6 (3rd) *** Washington 79.8 (25th)

HEAD TO HEAD

Last game between these two teams was played on Oct 5,2005 in Washington and the home team won 3-2. That game was NHL debut for Alex Ovechkin and he scored 2 goals.

THE VERDICT

Columbus will probably go with (G) Pascal Leclaire (2.11 GAA and .925 SV%) in this game. For Washington still has no news about starting goaltender and Bruce Bodreau usually don’t follow rotation.

(G) Olof Kolzig (3.07 GAA and .883 SV%) started in last 2 games and conceded 6 goals.

The main goal for Columbus is to stop Ovechkin and if they succeed in that we will have low scoring game and Columbus win.

The Pick :

Columbus 42%– Draw 24% - Washington 34%

FIXED ODDS BETTING :

Columbus on the ML