Bus & Truck Tour: A New Kind of Tension - Road Game #8

The Blues brief two game road trip finishes up tonight in Buckeye country. After Thursday's disappointment in Nashville, the Note will look to get back on track against the BJs.

The Blue Jackets came to Scottrade last week immediately after a ridiculous 10-0 embarrassment of the Habs, but the Blues were able to eke out an overtime win in the :43 seconds before going to a shootout with a Vladimir Tarasenko goal.

The BJs are an odd squad. They've amassed a decent amount of young talent that other clubs either traded away or couldn't afford to keep around, but they're also among the teams that take on other GMs bad contracts in order to make the salary cap floor. It's a strange mix that our old friends Jarmo & John Davidson have thrown together, made even stranger by their head coach. John Tortorella is the kind of coach who is fast becoming obsolete in the NHL, and no where was that more evident than while he was in charge of the United States World Cup of Hockey team that finished 0-3 in a tournament literally designed to get them to the finals. With his heavy insistence on shot blocking and defensive forechecking, Torts is the best coach you can hire if you have a personal grudge against your players and want them to hate hockey. You might even go so far as to call him an idiot. An...American Idiot?

TONIGHT'S PERFORMANCE: @ the Columbus Blue Jackets

CURTAIN TIME: 6:00 central

BROADCAST OPTIONS: Fox Sports Midwest (TV); 1120am KMOX (radio)

CAST LIST: Check out this post from earlier today with the projected lineup for tonight, but the key thing to note is that Robby Fabbri is back in tonight, while Ryan Reaves sits. Meaning he won't get a chance to fight Torts after his...let's say "questionable" comments about Reaver last week. If any coach in the league deserves to have his face socked in by a player, it's Torts, and I bet half of the league wouldn't even care.

CENTRAL CHARACTER: C Patrik Berglund - Bergie has quietly been pretty consistent so far. He's only recorded a 1-3-4 scoreline to this point, but he's been driving possession forward just as much as usual, with a 54.7% Corsi For. And with a PDO of only 95.4, it's only a matter of time before those start turning into more goals. Perhaps it could start tonight.

MAIN ANTAGONIST: C Alexander Wennberg - This 22-year old Swede already has 13 assists this year in Lumbus' 12 games, included 7 in only the past 5. That also includes 8 helpers on the BJs' power play unit - a unit running at an incredible 32.35% rate to lead the NHL. The goal will be to try not to take penalties, but if we do, deny Wennberg any lanes to pass through.

PLAYBILL: For more on #Lumbus, check out our SBNation sister site The Cannon.

So, anyone else see the shots of the Blues players at Crew Stadium MAPFRE Stadium for last night's Dos a Cero US loss to Mexico in soccer? I think we can blame the Blues getting their Blues-y-ness on Michael Bradley. For real ya'll, how the hell is Rafa Marquez still playing international soccer?