Tonight we’ll get a better sense of the direction of this series. The Wings set the tone in Game 1 with a dominant performance, but the tone set today is even more important.

The Jackets face a possible 2-0 deficit and will have to be at their best if they want to even things up. Three keys for Columbus:

Mason. Steve Mason was strong Thursday night, but he wasn’t the unbeatable kid we saw at times in the regular season. He can’t help deflected goals, but he can be better. The Jackets will need him to be tonight.

Nash. Rick Nash faces the monumental task of overcoming the main attention of the Wings’ defensive players. As the long-time main offensive setpiece in the Columbus arsenal, he should be used to that kind of attention. He’s going to have to find a way to overcome it, even if it means just one goal. He wears the C to lead his teammates and an appearance on the scoresheet should help drive them.

Power play. Columbus has to find a way to capitalize on power play chances.

Apparently, there will be lineup changes, but Hitchcock won’t say what those will be. Tom Reed looks for Derek Dorsett to be in.

The Wings will look to maintain home ice advantage, something that will come in handy should the series go south. Some keys to the game for Detroit:

Top Guns. With the Game 1 breakout of the third line, Samuelsson, Hudler, and Filppula will get more attention tonight. The big guns of Zetterberg, Datsyuk, Franzen, and Hossa will need to take advantage of the more spread out Columbus defensive responsibilities.

Osgood. He had a heck of a game on Thursday, and will have to repeat that performance tonight.

Power play. The Jackets are sure to play with a lot of emotion tonight, and they’re sure to take some penalties in the process. The Wings need to make them pay.

No lineup changes for the Wings.

This game is likely to be a wild one. I just need it to be 6:00.

[Source: OnTheWingsBlog.com]