The Detroit Red Wings are coming off a season-high three consecutive losses as they'll host a surging Columbus Blue Jackets team tonight. The visitors have started the month with six straight wins, defeating teams like the Penguins and the Lightning. The Wings blew the Blue Jackets away in a 5-0 victory in Columbus earlier in the season, but I expect a much closer contest here.

Here are my keys to the game:

1. Sergei Bobrovsky - To say that he's a big reason to the Blue Jackets recent success would be an understatement. The 26 year old Russian has started each of the last six games coming out with a 1.91 GAA. He might be in for quiet evening tonight, the Red Wings have scored only 10 goals over their last five games and mustered only 28 shots on goal in the 4-1 loss against Toronto Saturday.

2. Injuries/Illness - Tomas Tatar and Johan Franzen missed the Red Wings practice Monday due to the flu and Justin Abdelkader and Danny DeKeyser are still questionable to be back in the team after injuries.

3. X-Factor - Don't expect to see the visitors try to play a fancy game. They are among the NHL leaders for hits with 30.6 per game while the Red Wings average only 18.7 for one of the league's lowest averages.

Selection: This is a play on the Columbus Blue Jackets +1.5 (7*)