Those two games in Nashville sure were fun, weren’t they? 

The amount of sarcasm in that sentence can’t even be computed. 

Thankfully they’re over. The Chicago Blackhawks head back home to take on the Columbus Blue Jackets in the next 2-game series. The two teams are heading into Friday night’s game after two straight overtime games. The Blackhawks lost both of them - one in a shootout. Columbus split their series with the Panthers - losing one in the shootout and winning the last one in the shootout. Aside from the win, the difference is Columbus played Thursday night, so the Blackhawks see them on the back half of a back-to-back. Will the more rested team take advantage?

The Columbus Blue Jackets (3-2-3) sit at first in the division while the Blackhawks (2-3-3) are fifth. The funny thing is, they’ve both played 8 games (most in the division) and the Blackhawks only have 2 fewer points. That’s how weird the standings are looking this season with so many games having to be postponed due to COVID. 

Goal differential time!

The Blue Jackets have scored 21 goals and allowed 24 for a DIFF of -3. The Blackhawks have scored 22 and allowed 28 for a DIFF of -6. Those first 4 games are still haunting them. But, the games against Detroit also helped normalize the number a bit. Who knows where it will sit at the end of the season. Those numbers are fairly similar for the two team having played the same amount of games. Hopefully the Blackhawks regain their scoring touch that they left at home when they traveled to Nashville. 

Here’s who to watch on Friday:

Brandon Hagel

It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of Brand Hagel’s game. It’s also no secret that I know he has a lot more in him. He picked up his first NHL point in the only goal of the game for the Blackhawks on Wednesday night. His determined effort and the pressure from his line mates on the Predators defense led to a Ryan Carpenter goal. It’s hard to argue with how effective that line has been, but Hagel’s skill is being wasted on the 4th line. I’d love to see him move up the lineup or get some power play time. The Blackhawks are in need of some offense, let’s see if he gets a bigger role against Columbus. 

Pius Suter

After his 3-goal game, Pius Suter has been pretty quiet. That’s not to say he’s been bad, because he hasn’t. But, we haven’t seen as many offensive flashes from him. That could be due to the matchups he faced against Nashville. Being back at home, I expect him to get some more of those quality chances we saw before these last two games. 

Nicolas Beaudin

We don’t have the lineup for Friday’s game against CBJ as I write this. This could very well be like me including Lankinen in the first game against Nashville. As soon as I hit publish, it was announced that Subban was starting. It happens. 

Nicolas Beaudin got his first game of the season in Wednesday’s game against the Preds. For a 21 year old kid in his second pro season, he looked great out there. There’s room for improvement, but I didn’t feel nervous when he hit the ice. He looked confident and made some great plays. I hope he remains in the lineup. If Jeremy Colliton wanted to sit Calvin de Haan in favor of Beaudin for a few games, you wouldn’t find me complaining.

Just get back in the win column.