Morning Skate: Friday, 1/9

Tonight’s Slate:
Blue Jackets @ Capitals, 7:00 ET
Rangers @ Sabres, 7:30
Sharks @ Oilers, 9:00
Blues @ Canucks, 10:00
Lightning @ Ducks, 10:30

Game of the Night:
Columbus Blue Jackets (18-18-4) @ Washington Capitals (27-11-3)
7:00 ET… TV: Local Networks

Players to watch:
CLB- Fredrik Modin
With the recent injuries to Nash and Huselius, Modin needs to step up.
WSH- Mike Green
The All-Star snub has 16 points in 14 home games this year.

Projected Goaltenders:
CLB- Steve Mason (08-09 stats: 13-9-1, 1.82 GAA)
WSH- Jose Theodore (Last 6 games: 6-0, 1.85 GAA)

Injury Report:
CLB- Rick Nash (lower body, doubtful), Kristian Huselius (upper body, doubtful), Pascal Leclaire (lower body, out), Rostislav Klesla (lower body, out), Derick Brassard (shoulder, out), Raffi Torres (knee, out), Jiri Novotny (upper body, out), O-K Tollefsen (knee, out), Jason Chimera (groin, out), Jared Boll (upper body, questionable)
WSH- Sergei Fedorov (ankle, out), Tomas Fleischmann (illness, doubtful), John Erskine (concussion, out), Tom Poti (groin, out), Brian Pothier (concussion, out)

Last Ten Games:
Blue Jackets (5-4-1) … Capitals (9-1-0)

Season Series:
1-0 Blue Jackets

Game Thoughts:
After an impressive 4-game winning streak last week, the Jackets have slowed down considerably. They’ll look to get at least a point in the jam-packed West race. Washington is hot, and is coming off a 2-1 shootout win over Philly. I think Columbus is capable of pulling off the surprise tonight. But looking at their injury list and the home record for the Caps, I’ll take Bruce Boudreau’s group in this one.

Prediction: Capitals 3, Blue Jackets 1
The rest of tonight’s predictions:
Sabres over Rangers
Sharks over Oilers
Canucks over Blues
Ducks over Lightning

For more predictions and analysis on the NHL like this, stop by the Red Light District.