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Tuesday, 08 February 2011 03:21

Written by Seth Rorabaugh

A preview of the Blue Jackets.

When and where: 7 p.m. Consol Energy Center.

TV: FSN Pittsburgh, FSN Ohio.

Record: 25-22-5, 55 points. The Blue Jackets are in 13th place in the Western Conference and fourth place in the Central Division.

Leading Scorer: Rick Nash (right), 44 points (23 goals, 21 assists).

Last Game: 4-3 home win, Saturday. R.J. Umberger, a native of Plum (if you can believe that) had two goals and two assists for the Oilers.

Last Game against the Penguins: 7-2 home loss, Dec 4, 2010. Sidney Crosby and Paul Martin each had two goals for the Penguins in the "Columbus Invasion."

Blue Jackets Player We Would Bet Money On Scoring: Antoine Vermette. He has points in six of his last eight games.

Ex-Penguins on the Blue Jackets: Bob Boughner, assistant coach; Mathieu Garon, goaltender; Tyler Wright, development coach.

Ex-Blue Jackets on the Penguins: Mike Rupp, C.

Useless Blue Jackets Trivia Vaguely Related to the Penguins: Rupp is one of two one-time Penguins who have worn No. 20 for the Blue Jackets. The other is Lasse Pirjeta.

Best Blue Jackets Video We Could Find: Nash's one-legged shootout goal against the Ducks last season:

Probable goaltenders: Marc-Andre Fleury (25-12-2, 2.19 GAA, .924 SV%) for the Penguins and Steve Mason (17-13-2, 3.18 GAA, .898 SV%) for the Blue Jackets.

Injuries: For the Penguins, forward Arron Asham (undisclosed) is day to day. Forward Evgeni Malkin (knee) is out. Forwards Mike Comrie (hip), Sidney Crosby (concussion), Mark Letestu (knee) and defenseman Alex Grant (knee) are on injured reserve. For the Blue Jackets, defenseman Rostislav Klesla (knee) is day to day. Forward Ethan Moreau (knee) is on injured reserve.

Potential lines and defensive pairings: The Penguins did not practice with a full crew yesterday. Their primary lines and defensive pairings against the Capitals Sunday were:

Matt Cooke - Jordan Staal - Tyler Kennedy
Chris Kunitz - Dustin Jeffrey - Pascal Dupuis
Mike Rupp - Maxime Talbot - Chris Conner
Eric Tangradi - Craig Adams - Tim Wallace

Brooks Orpik - Kris Letang
Paul Martin - Zbynek Michalek
Alex Goligoski - Deryk Engelland

-The Blues Jackets primary lines and defensive pairings against the Oilers Saturday were:

Rick Nash - Derick Brassard - Jakub Voracek
Matt Calvert - Antoine Vermette - R.J. Umberger
Andrew Murray - Samuel Pahlsson - Derek Dorsett
Kristian Huselius - Derek MacKenzie - Jared Boll

Kris Russell - Glant Clitsome
Marc Methot - Fedor Tyutin
John Moore - Jan Hejda

Notes:

-What exactly is Eric Tangradi's role?

-"Once, I made a good save, and I heard, 'Flur-ee, Flur-ee,' like in Pittsburgh. That was pretty funny, I thought." - Fleury on the game Dec. 4.

-Dan Bylsma has 99 career wins.

-Michalek has 98 career assists.

-Kennedy has 47 career goals.

-"Are we going to get stuck in parade traffic?" - Blue Jackets forward Derek Dorsett sarcastically asking coach Scott Arniel, a Steelers fan, if there would be any troubles traveling into Pittsburgh yesterday.

-Our live blog begins at approximately 6 p.m. Please tune in.

(Photo: John Grieshop/Getty Images)

Comments (4)

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written by Bones, February 08, 2011 - 08:50 AM

Always cool to see Lasse Pirjeta's name come up.

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written by eman41, February 08, 2011 - 09:48 AM

Oooo that was a sick burn by Dorsett.

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written by Huckster, February 08, 2011 - 09:57 AM

The Plum kid is back in town after a 4 point game on Sat. vs Edmonton. Let's go PENS...we need these two points after that mess with the CAPS.

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written by Bones, February 08, 2011 - 10:20 AM

Time for Staal to take the reins and make this team his until Sid gets back. Hope they are working on their faceoffs...

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