Blue Jackets at Blues preview: Consistency is key

The Blues frittered away another easily winnable game yesterday.

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: the Blues lost an easily winnable game.

After frittering away a commanding two goal lead, the Blues snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in an overtime result that looked like a foregone conclusion. It’s frustrating, because a) the Blues lost but also b) they looked like they had control of the game for the first period and a half.

Then David Perron got knocked out of the game, they began playing with ten forwards, and the meltdown began. A point is a moral victory when you’re the team that fights back. If you’re the team that blows the lead, then it’s a point toward trying to keep pace in the division. Considering that the Blues have lost seven of their last nine games, it’s a mild miracle that they’re sitting tied for second in the Central and just four points behind the Minnesota Wild.

Today’s a good day to make up some lost ground with a win against the Columbus Blue Jackets. The Blues, as of the time of this writing, hasn’t called up any forwards from the AHL, which is a good sign. James Neal, who has missed the last two games, and Klim Kostin, who missed yesterday’s, may well be good to go. No word has been said about Perron, but it’s probably fair to assume that he will not be joining us for today’s tilt.

The Jackets are one of the Eastern Conference’s surprise successes, with a record of 12-6-0, which is only good enough for fourth in the Metro division and the top wild card slot. They’ve won five of their last six games heading into tonight, which is a step above many of the Blues’ recent opponents.

Unfortunately for the Blue Jackets, noted Blues killer Patrick Laine is still on the IR. Laine was placed on the IR list back on November 5th after suffering an oblique strain against the Colorado Avalanche.

Ville Husso should be in net tonight, since Jordan Binnington got the call yesterday against the divisional opponent. Husso was fine in the Blues’ 4-2 loss on Wednesday against the Detroit Red Wings, but he’s going to need to be more than fine tonight if the Blues want to wrap this back-to-back with a win.