The Columbus Blue Jackets may be trying to tank tonight’s game to play the Capitals in the first round

This news will never be officially confirmed by the team, but John Tortorella and the Columbus Blue Jackets have an interesting strategy heading into their final regular season game against the Nashville Predators.

With a regulation victory over the Presidents’ Trophy-winning club, Columbus could clinch the third spot in the Metropolitan Division standings, forcing a first-round matchup against the Pittsburgh Penguins. A huge game with potential later round home-ice implications, right?

Instead, the Blue Jackets are going to roll the dice and sit some of their prominent players, according to The Athletic’s Aaron Portzline.

Word in the #Preds dressing room is #CBJ will be sitting some of their prominent players tonight. Nothing official yet. Tortorella to speak in a couple of minutes

— Aaron Portzline (@Aportzline) April 7, 2018

Portzline reported that several regular scratches and young players will get jerseys. Star players Artem Panarin, Seth Jones, and Nick Foligno will all sit. Sergei Bobrovski will not start.

#CBJ Tortorella says Korpisalo will start, F Eric Robinson will make his #NHL debut, D Taylor Chorney will make his #CBJ debut and F Alex Broadhurst will play vs. #Preds

— Aaron Portzline (@Aportzline) April 7, 2018

Many of the Jackets’ top players (Panarin, Atkinson, Jones, Foligno, Bobrovsky) will sit tonight in Nashville. https://t.co/Cfvfu1C9if

— Adam Vingan (@AdamVingan) April 7, 2018

Here are the #CBJ lines for tonight: Milano-Dubois-Anderson; Broadhurst-Jenner-Vanek; Robinson-Letestu-Bjorkstrand; Calvert-Dubinsky-Hannikainen;

— Steve Gorten (@sgorten) April 7, 2018

When Tortorella was asked if this was a tactic to avoid playing the Penguins, he said “absolutely not.” Twice!

Question: “So this isn’t a case of ‘Let’s not play Pittsburgh in the first round’”?
Tortorella: “Oh, absolutely not. Absolutely not.”#CBJ #LetsGoPens

— Aaron Portzline (@Aportzline) April 7, 2018

One prominent NHL reporter, NBC Sports’ Adam Gretz, suggested out loud what we were all thinking.

Tanking for Washington? https://t.co/ijFxtYnkZY

— Adam Gretz (@AGretz) April 7, 2018

If the Blue Jackets lose tonight, the team’s first-round opponent could change big time. With a New Jersey win (against Washington) and a Philadelphia loss, the Blue Jackets would play the Capitals in the first round. If New Jersey and Philadelphia both win, the Blue Jackets could play Tampa Bay or Boston – the two best teams in the Eastern Conference. The Blue Jackets would then try to go through the Atlantic Division and avoid both Washington and Pittsburgh in the first two rounds completely.

The thought behind this strategy is clearer when you look at the head-to-head matchups. Not only did Columbus lose to the Penguins in five games last season in the first round, they also went winless against Pittsburgh during the 2017-18 regular season (0-1-3), giving up over 40 shots twice.

While the Blue Jackets struggled against all four teams they could end up being matched-up against in the playoffs, it could be argued they performed better against Washington, Tampa Bay, and Boston during the regular season.

So the odds for a Capitals-Blue Jackets first-round matchup just got a little bit higher. And I am okay with this.

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