Throwdown Lowdown – Blue Jackets @ Blues 1-30-10
Just had to. Just HAD to. Image via Red Wings blog (ugh), fightnightatthejoe.blogspot.com
The Blues have gone two straight games without playing Cam Janssen . . . and thus, two straight games without a good ol’ scrap. While this is great for Gary Bettman and his friends in New York, it tends to put people like me in a sedated trance without the proper innoculation. In layman’s terms . . . DO NOT WANT! The Blues remain strong at the 5th position with 45 fights and a 21-13-11 season fight record.
The good thing about divisional opponents is that we play them a lot. Thus, they get written about a lot and bloggers like me don’t have to repeat ourselves too much. The Columbus Blue Jackets have been reported about twice already: here and here. In both, it was well marked that the Jackets are not very good at fighting this season for whatever reason. They come into this contest tied with the New York Rangers for 11th in the NHL with 35 fights on the season and 7-15-13 on the season. All four fights between the Blues and Jackets came in the Blues home win back on January 12th. The Jackets are 1-1-2 since January 18th, the last matchup between the Blues and Jackets. The win came from the fists of . . . Rick Nash. AGAIN! He’s obviously taking his captaincy to heart. Or he’s training for his next fight with David Backes.
We’ve mentioned violent winger Jared Boll (6’2″, 210lbs, 4-6-6) on several occasions for these reports. It’s not that he’s an easy target . . . it’s just that he really likes to fight. And there’s nothing wrong with that. Others to look forward to are multi-talented captain winger Nash (6’4″, 218lbs, 2-0-0) and veteran defenseman Mike Commodore (6’5″, 228lbs, 0-0-2, should REALLY wear #64). Those are the only multiple fighters who have not been traded away, waived, sent to the IR or sent to Syracuse. Ken Hitchcock must have missed that memo about the Western Conference being a bit more rugged.
The dream matchup of the evening will likely be Boll against someone like Brad Winchester or BJ Crombeen, as with Janssen out the last two games, there’s no expectation that he would play. I will jinx it by saying this . . . I do not anticipate a fight in this game.
The home team has held serve in the Blues-Blue Jackets season series thus far. Let’s hope that continues tonight, and maybe the Blues will play like January 12th (violent) instead of like January 18th (largely passive).
LET’S GO BLUES!!!!!
Information obtained via the incomparable Fried Chicken’s Hockey Fights
