{"id":487151,"date":"2026-04-07T08:45:58","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T12:45:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=487151"},"modified":"2026-04-07T08:45:58","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T12:45:58","slug":"nhl-predictions-detroit-red-wings-vs-columbus-blue-jackets-april-7th","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2026\/04\/07\/nhl-predictions-detroit-red-wings-vs-columbus-blue-jackets-april-7th\/","title":{"rendered":"NHL Predictions: Detroit Red Wings vs. Columbus Blue Jackets, April 7th"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome back to NHL predictions,<\/em> where tonight\u2019s game features two teams whose playoff chances are growing slim. The Detroit Red Wings<\/a> are once again playing uninspired hockey<\/a> with a handful of games left. Meanwhile, the Columbus Blue Jackets<\/a> looked like they were about to shock the hockey world in March. Since March 24th, however, they have lost six straight.<\/p>\n

NHL Predictions With the Red Wings and Blue Jackets<\/h2>\n

Season Series:<\/strong> Red Wings 1-0-1, Blue Jackets 1-0-1<\/p>\n

Puck Drop:<\/strong> 7:00 p.m. EDT<\/p>\n

How to Watch<\/a>: FDSNDET, FDSNOH<\/h3>\n

Somebody has to win this one and get back on track. The Red Wings appear to look bad for multiple periods at a time. When they finally start playing like a team fighting for a playoff berth, it\u2019s come-from-behind hockey. As they have learned the hard way, it\u2019s not sustainable to pick up the pace when they go down by three goals.<\/p>\n

Two straight blowout losses to the Carolina Hurricanes<\/a> revealed weaknesses in the Blue Jackets. It showed they\u2019re most likely still a team in transition. While they may not be ready for the playoffs, there\u2019s a definite culture change brewing in Ohio\u2019s state capital.<\/p>\n

Team \u2013 GP \u2013 Pts \u2013 RW<\/strong><\/p>\n

BOS \u2013 78 \u2013 95 \u2013 31
\nOTT \u2013 77 \u2013 90 \u2013 34<\/p>\n

NYI \u2013 78 \u2013 89 \u2013 28
\nDET \u2013 77 \u2013 88 \u2013 29<\/p>\n

CBJ \u2013 77 \u2013 88 \u2013 27
\nWAS \u2013 78 \u2013 87 \u2013 33<\/p>\n

This one is still too close for comfort, but it\u2019s easy to see how the Red Wings and Blue Jackets are at a disadvantage. The Ottawa Senators<\/a> have a two-point advantage and more regulation wins. Neither team has a game in hand over the Senators. It just shows now that every point matters.<\/p>\n

The Red Wings Biggest Problem<\/h2>\n

Detroit is playing bad hockey, and you can\u2019t sugarcoat it. On Sunday, they scored early, then looked like a team that forgot it was supposed to be in the playoff race. They showed they could play with intensity in the third period of Sunday\u2019s loss, but their problem is that they can\u2019t string together 60 minutes of playoff-style hockey.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re also not playing smart hockey. On Sunday, Patrick Kane<\/a> committed one of the most ill-fated penalties of the season when he deliberately tripped up Quinn Hughes<\/a>. In tonight\u2019s game, the Wings must pull a complete one-eighty from what they looked like in that loss to the Minnesota Wild.<\/a><\/p>\n

The Burning Question Facing the Blue Jackets<\/h2>\n

Have they run out of firepower? The Blue Jackets have scored just 10 goals in this six-game losing streak. They\u2019re banged up, and losing Damon Severson<\/a>, Mathieu Olivier<\/a>, and Dmitri Voronkov<\/a> hurts. But with stakes at their highest, they have no choice but to adopt the \u201cnext man up\u201d mentality.<\/p>\n

Until the Blue Jackets can navigate those rough waters, they will end the year with another 82-game effort. These last few games will serve as the ultimate test for the Jackets.<\/p>\n

Prediction<\/h2>\n

These two teams look like they\u2019re racing to see who gets eliminated from contention the fastest as opposed to racing for the playoffs. But with so many injuries devastating the Blue Jackets, and the fact they have barely scored in six straight contests, it\u2019s hard to like them here.<\/p>\n

Red Wings 4 \u2013 Blue Jackets 2<\/em><\/p>\n

Prop Bets<\/h2>\n

Alex DeBrincat<\/a> is one goal away from reaching 40 and has been on a mission all season<\/a>. He has a golden opportunity to get there against an ailing team. Kirill Marchenko<\/a> will be the go-to in this game to try and nudge the Blue Jackets out of this slump.<\/p>\n

Main photo by: Brian Bradshaw Sevald-Imagn Images<\/em><\/p>\n

Please play responsibly, check for your local rules and age restrictions; some jurisdictions require ages 21+. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Welcome back to NHL predictions, where tonight\u2019s game features two teams whose playoff chances are growing slim. The Detroit Red Wings are once again playing uninspired hockey with a handful of games left. Meanwhile, the Columbus Blue Jackets looked like they were about to shock the hockey world in March. Since March 24th, however, they […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5796,"featured_media":444260,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4524,11,4,4547,4548],"tags":[1046,6083,6201,3381],"class_list":["post-487151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nhl-predictions","category-bluejackets","category-redwings","category-hockey","category-nhl","tag-alex-debrincat","tag-columbus-blue-jackets-predictions","tag-detroit-red-wings-predictions","tag-kirill-marchenko"],"modified_by":"Dan Mount, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487151","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5796"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=487151"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487151\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":487189,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487151\/revisions\/487189"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/444260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=487151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=487151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=487151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}