The set-up: Tradition be damned, these teams are at opposite ends of the Eastern Conference. Columbus has been one of the top teams in the entire league this year and only two teams (Washington, Minnesota) can claim to have more points than their 71. Detroit is just fighting to make it into the top eight. Right now, they are sixth in the Atlantic Division with just 53 points. That's five back of third place.

Columbus: The Blue Jackets won their first game post-All Star Break (6-4 over the Rangers), but have dropped two in a row since. They've actually lost four of five going back before the Break. Whether it's them, their opponent or both, we've seen a recent rash of scoring in their games. The last six have all gone Over the total. They've scored 22 during those six games (3.5 per game) while allowing 27 (4.5 per game!).

Detroit: Recent results have been much different for the Red Wings. They were not playing well heading into the Break (lost 5 in a row) and then dropped their first game of the second half, 4-3 to the Devils. But they've rallied to take two straight. While the last game was a 1-0 win, it took a remarkable performance in goal from Petr Mrazek, who made 42 saves. The previous win, over the Islanders, came by a score of 6-5.

The pick: Recent results for Columbus are too difficult to overlook here. Each of those last six games have seen a MINIMUM of six total goals scored. Meanwhile, I would not expect Mrazek to repeat his performance from Saturday against Nashville here. The Over is 3-0 this season when Detroit is off a shutout win. I'm making the Over a 10* play