The 30-23-and-6 Detroit Red Wings and 29-22-and-8 Columbus Blue Jackets are tied in the NHL standings as the teams play in the NHL’s Stadium Series tonight (6 PM EST start on ESPN/TVA Sports/FX-CA/97.1 FM).
The Red Wings are hoping to avenge an ugly 5-2 loss to Columbus on Thurdsay, and, quite frankly, spoil what is Columbus’ “coming out party” as a debutante on the NHL stage today. Today is all about Columbus, the Blue Jackets, Ohio State traditions and how the Blue Jackets are supposed to be the “story of the year”…
And it’s up to the Red Wings, who are playing in their 5th outdoor game, and their 4th as a visitor (what’s up with that?), to spoil Columbus’ party.
The Associated Press’s Joe Reedy discussed the significance of the Stadium Series game at Ohio Stadium to ESPN in his game preview:
The Stadium Series usually has significance due to the location, but it carries huge implications in the Eastern Conference playoff race. After Thursday night’s 5-2 victory, Columbus is tied with Detroit for the first wild-card spot. Both have 66 points, and are four points clear of Ottawa, Boston and the New York Rangers.
The Red Wings haven’t been to the Stanley Cup playoffs since 2016 while the Blue Jackets are in contention even while mourning the deaths of Johnny Gaudreau and his brother Matthew in August.
Besides the Ohio-Michigan rivalry being manifested on ice, Ohio Stadium should provide a great backdrop because college stadiums seem to be more conducive to NHL Stadium Series games with not a lot of sideline room. The fans are also more on top of the rink and closer to the ice compared to when the outdoor games have taken place in baseball parks.
“The NHL does a really good job of finding these iconic settings. And ‘The Horseshoe’ just screams that,” Levy said. “If you’re naming five iconic college football stadiums, this is one. Just like ‘The Big House’ in Michigan (which has also hosted a Stadium Series game) is on that list.”
With the game being outdoors, ESPN will use a drone to capture some of the views as well as testing some new virtual graphics.
While Canada’s 4-3 overtime victory over the United States in the 4 Nations championship averaged a record 9.3 million viewers, Levy and ESPN are hoping that some stick around the rest of the season and going into the playoffs.
“We’re not going to keep them all. But what percentage of those same fans who were wowed by 4 Nations an we keep a little longer? Because everybody in this sport knows once we get to the Stanley Cup playoffs, you can get them to that point. They’re going to stick around regardless of what teams are in just because the postseason so intense and crazy,” Levy said.
Also of note regarding today’s broadcast, per the Columbus Dispatch’s Lori Schmidt:
According to ESPN, Saturday’s broadcast will feature “state-of-the-art technology, including aerial coverage, Skycam, on-ice skatecam and virtual graphics.”
The studio crew of Steve Levy, Mark Messier and P.K. Subban will be on-site in Columbus along with reporters Marty Smith, Emily Kaplan and Kevin Weekes. Play-by-play will be handled by Sean McDonough. Saturday’s color analyst is Ray Ferraro.
The Blue Jackets lost forward Cole Sillinger (upper-body) in Thursday’s 5-2 win over Detroit, but the team is rough and ready to take a series sweep tonight, as they told ColumbusBlueJackets.com’s Jeff Svoboda:
More than 90,000 fans are expected to descend on Ohio State’s campus and fit into the venerable, century-old Horseshoe for what will be the second most-attended game in NHL history. That alone makes this one of the most unique and special events in NHL history, and that’s before you even consider what’s on the line.
Columbus’ 5-2 win in the Motor City on Thursday moved the Blue Jackets into a tie with the Red Wings for the first wild card spot in the Eastern Conference, with both teams four points clear of all challengers. With a month and a half to go in the NHL season, the two teams will be battling for two crucial points, all with a massive television audience, the eyes of the hockey world and a packed house on hand.
“I think that was our goal going into the year after some of the injuries early on was to play meaningful hockey at the Stadium Series, and that’s exactly what we’re doing,” Zach Werenski said after the team’s practice at the stadium Friday. “We’re tied up in the standings. Played them last night in a good, hard-fought battle, and tomorrow’s going to be much of the same thing.”
While there is a lot of pomp and circumstance to the proceedings, CBJ head coach Dean Evason said his message to the team going into such a unique setting will be consistent with what it has been all year. There’s no reason to change, either, with the Blue Jackets winning three in a row off the 4 Nations break and outscoring opponents 16-7.
“We stress to our group that it doesn’t matter who, when or where we play, we play the exact same way,” Evason said. “So if we’re playing on the road or we’re playing outside or we’re playing in our fantastic arena, then we play the same way.”
But there’s no denying not much will be the same when the Blue Jackets take on the Red Wings tonight. Captain Boone Jenner is in his 12th season in Columbus and has been attending games in Ohio Stadium since he arrived. He’s seen the Horseshoe plenty of times, but never like this, and the spectacular venue is sure to be part of the show for the long-awaited event.
“It blew me away,” Jenner said of his first thoughts of seeing Ohio Stadium decked out for a hockey party. “It looks really cool. I’m super excited that it’s finally here. I’ve come to a lot of football games here. Never imagined this was going to happen.”
NHL.com has named the Stadium Series game its “game of the day“…
Detroit Red Wings at Columbus Blue Jackets (6 p.m. ET; ESPN, ESPN+, Disney+, TVAS-D, FX-CA)
The Blue Jackets (29-22-8) will look to extend their winning streak to four games when they face the Red Wings (30-23-6) at Ohio Stadium in the 2025 Navy Federal Credit Union NHL Stadium Series. This is the first outdoor game for Columbus and the fifth for Detroit (2-0-2). The winner of the game on the Ohio State campus will move into the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference. The teams are tied with 66 points and occupy the two final playoff spots in the East. James van Riemsdyk scored two goals for the Blue Jackets in a 5-2 win at the Red Wings on Thursday. The forward has the most outdoor experience in NHL history and will be playing his eighth such game. He has six points (three goals, three assists) in outdoor games: four with the Philadelphia Flyers and three with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Detroit forward Alex DeBrincat can extend his point streak to nine games. He scored Thursday to give him 12 points (six goals, six assists) during his streak.
In terms of stats and stuff, the Hockey News’s Jason Newland posted a very good statistical game preview, and MLive’s Ansar Khan offered some stats of note as well…
The Red Wings are 2-0-2 in outdoor games. They will tie Boston and the New York Rangers for fourth-most. Only Chicago (seven), Pittsburgh (six) and Philadelphia (six) have played more.
This will be Patrick Kane’s seventh outdoor game, only James van Riemsdyk, who’ll be playing in his eighth, has appeared in more. Kane has one goal and two assists in outdoor games. His teams went 1-5-0 (all with Chicago).
This will be Erik Gustafsson’s fifth outdoor game with five different teams (also played outdoors with Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington and Rangers). He will be the first player to appear in outdoor games with five different teams.
Vladimir Tarasenko has played in two outdoor games and his three goals are tied for third all-time, behind Tyler Toffoli and David Pastrnak, who have four each.
This will be Red Wings goaltender Cam Talbot’s seventh outdoor game. He has started in two, going 1-1-0 with Edmonton and Minnesota.Red Wings coach Todd McLellan is 2-1-0 in outdoor games, winning with Edmonton (at Winnipeg) and Los Angeles (vs. Colorado in Colorado Springs) and losing with San Jose (vs. Los Angeles in Santa Clara, Calif.).
And yes, Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin was called out for his sub-par performance in Thursday’s 5-2 loss, both he and coach Todd McLellan addressed the situation while speaking with NHL.com’s Shawn P. Roarke yesterday:
“It was an easy conversation,” McLellan said of his dialogue with Larkin on Friday. “He’s our captain, he cares, he’s committed to doing things right. He had an off night, we all do. Coaches have off nights. Other players have bad nights. He’ll be ready to play and I’m excited about watching him do that.“
Larkin knows the importance of the game Saturday, not only for bragging rights in a heated rivalry between Michigan and Ohio, often contested by the state universities on this very field, but also in an incredibly tight race for the Stanley Cup Playoffs that has each team holding a four-point advantage over a chasing pack for the two wild-card spots from the Eastern Conference.
He wasn’t acting like a player dealing with struggles Friday.
After taking part in the practice, Larkin, a proud member of the University of Michigan hockey family, called the home of The Ohio State University football team, the defending national champion, “probably the ugliest stadium I have ever been in.”
Larkin didn’t have a point, was minus-3, managed one shot on goal and lost five of nine face-offs in the game Thursday.
“I understand why [McLellan] said it and I probably would have said it myself if I spoke to you guys after the game,” Larkin said. “I wasn’t happy, I haven’t been thrilled with how I have been playing, but the team has been winning, and we have been playing well. I’m going through some stuff now to feel 100 percent and I’ll be there. But I understand why he said it. I hold myself to a high standard and I wasn’t happy with myself after that game.”
The game Thursday had huge ramifications. With the win, the Blue Jackets (29-22-8) moved into a tie with the Red Wings (30-23-6) for the first wild card from the Eastern Conference. Each team has 66 points.
Now, the Stadium Series is even bigger.
I’ll update this with the Red Wings’ game preview in a bit, but for now, here are the NHL’s game notes: today’s referees are Kendrick Nicholson and Francis Charron, and the linesmen are Travis Gawryletz and Jesse Marquis:
