GAME DAY: vs. Minnesota
Jackets will play eight home games in February, the first of which is tonight
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Columbus Blue Jackets vs. Minnesota Wild 
WATCH: FOX Sports Ohio (HD) | LISTEN: CD102.5 FM & BlueJackets.com
GAME NOTES
GAME DAY ON THE ROAD presented by:
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| A lot has changed for the Minnesota Wild in the span of a couple months. Not too long ago, they were sitting atop the National Hockey League standings and had just seven regulation losses through their first 32 games, sporting a comfortable lead over several Western Conference contenders. Despite being hammered with injuries and inconsistent scoring, they managed to steady the ship and tread water before a disastrous collapse leading up to the All-Star break.
Their play away from Xcel Energy Center catalyzed their fall down the conference standings, with an 11-game road losing streak dropping them to ninth place at one point. The Wild have since rebounded with a road win at Colorado last week, and a nail-biting overtime loss over the weekend in Dallas after a deflating 5-4 defeat at home to Nashville on Jan. 31. Minnesota led 4-1 in the third period of that game, but the Predators struck for four third-period goals – including the winner in the final minute – to stun the Wild and steal two valuable points. Playing without captain Mikko Koivu has also been challenging for the Wild, but there is a chance he returns tonight against the Blue Jackets. The dynamic center has been missing from the Minnesota lineup for the past seven games after suffering an upper-body injury on Jan. 14 in St. Louis. Despite missing a chunk of the season, Koivu still leads the team with 24 assists and holds the club season-high points streak (seven games, Nov. 17-Dec. 2). An unexpected source of offense for Minnesota has been veteran center Kyle Brodziak, who is currently riding a six-game points streak with seven points (3-4-7) in his last nine games overall. Spending a lot of time in the top six due to injury has sparked Brodziak’s game and helped ease the absences of both Pierre-Marc Bouchard and Guillaume Latendresse, who are also on injured reserve with concussions. Wild coach Mike Yeo is trying to work a new player into his lineup after acquiring center Erik Christensen from the New York Rangers for Casey Wellman over the weekend. Christensen gives Minnesota another option at center until Bouchard and Koivu are deemed fit to return to action.
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