The Columbus Blue Jackets begin just the second playoff run in franchise history, as they visit the Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday for Game 1. After getting swept in its lone playoff series, Columbus hopes to skate away with at least one victory in this opening round set despite being heavy underdogs against the Metropolitan Division champion Penguins. The Blue Jackets, who entered the NHL as an expansion team for the 2000-01 campaign, didnt qualify for the postseason until 2009 when they lost all four games against Detroit in the first round. This time they enter the playoffs as the first wild card in the East and face a Pittsburgh team with the second- best record in the conference. Pittsburgh swept the Blue Jackets in 2013-14, winning all five encounters in regulation. The Pens have claimed six straight and 10 of 12 in the series overall. The Blue Jackets and Pens were division rivals for the first time in 2013-14, as Columbus moved from the Western Conference to the East as part of the NHLs realignment plan for this season. Pens star Sidney Crosby racked up seven points (2g, 5a) in five meetings with the Blue Jackets this season. Pittsburghs Chris Kunitz had six points on four goals and two assists, while James Neal added three goals and two helpers. Pens goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, meanwhile, went 3-0 with a 1.33 GAA in the season series. Columbus defenseman Jack Johnson was the best point-producer in the season series for Columbus, posting three assists over the five losses. One bright spot for the Blue Jackets was that No. 1 goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky only faced Pittsburgh once in 2013-14, missing the other four encounters due to injury or illness. On the other hand, Pittsburgh completely dominated the Jackets in special teams during the season series, going 5-for-19 on the power play while killing 13-of-14 penalties. Pittsburgh cruised to a division title this season, taking the Metropolitan with 109 points -- 13 more than the second-place New York Rangers and a healthy Crosby was a big reason why. Crosby led the NHL in scoring with 104 points this season and is the leading candidate for the 2013-14 Hart Trophy. Crosbys fellow star centerman Evgeni Malkin sat out the final 11 games of the regular season with a sprained foot, but he practiced on the first power play unit this morning. A bigger question for Pittsburgh heading into the postseason is whether Fleury will struggle again in net. Fleury anchored Pittsburghs Cup win in 2009, but he has looked awful in the postseason since then and was even demoted to backup last spring. Fleury was replaced by Tomas Vokoun as the clubs No. 1 goaltender after Game 4 of the opening round against the New York Islanders and did not start another game in the playoffs as Pittsburgh was eventually eliminated by Boston in a conference final sweep. However, Pittsburgh is putting its faith in Fleury once again after he went 39-18-5 with a 2.37 goals against average and .915 save percentage during the 2013-14 regular season. In 80 games during his postseason career, Fleury is 45-34 with a 2.73 GAA and .903 save percentage. "(I) remind myself I have one more Stanley Cup than a lot of people, so I know I can do it," Fleury said. "I think we have a solid team and Ill try my best to get to it again." The key to the series for Columbus resides in the crease where Bobrovsky could give the Blue Jackets a considerable edge should Fleury get another case of the postseason yips. Bobrovsky won the Vezina last season and proved that campaign was no fluke in 2013-14, going 32-20-5 with a 2.38 GAA and .923 save percentage. Bobrovsky has playoff experience from his time in Philadelphia, starting three postseason games while making relief appearances on four other occasions. He was 0-2 with a 4.04 GAA and .848 save percentage in those outings. Pittsburgh, which also will host Game 2 on Saturday, was 28-9-4 at CONSOL Energy Center this season. Columbus was 21-17-3 as the visiting team. Penguins Projected Lines Kunitz - Crosby - BennettJokinen - Malkin - NealGlass - Sutter - StempniakAdams - Vitale - Gibbons Scuderi - LetangMartin - OrpickNiskanen - Matta Fleury - Zatkoff Blue Jackets Projected Lines Jenner - Johansen - SkilleCalvert - Dubinsky - AtkinsonMacKenzie - Anisimov - ComeauTropp - Letestu - Boll Murray - WisniewskiTyutin - JohnsonNikitin - Savard Bobrovsky - McElhinney Don Baylor Angels Jersey . “Momentum is only as good as the next days starter,” the long-time Baltimore Orioles manager famously quipped. Trevor Cahill Jersey . The (35-35-10) Jets have 80 points and are also playing .500 hockey on home ice this season with a 17-17-6 record. Michael Hutchinson will start his second straight game in goal. https://www.cheapangels.com/1603j-felix-...y-angels.html.J. -- Kyle Palmieri thrilled his personal rooting section with an overtime winner that sent the Anaheim Ducks to their seventh straight win. Andrelton Simmons Angels Jersey . Mohamed Diame put West Ham ahead in the 47th minute before goals by substitutes Carlton Cole and Joe Cole condemned Fulham to a fifth straight defeat, keeping the visitors in the bottom three. Brian Downing Jersey . The native of Mont-Tremblant, Que., captured a World Cup downhill event Saturday, his second this year and fifth career victory on the circuit.MINNEAPOLIS -- Zygi Wilf beamed in the middle of the sharp-dressed group, a gold-painted shovel in his hands, a purple Vikings hard hat on his head and star running back Adrian Peterson by his side. Finally, the work on Minnesotas polarizing and long-sought new stadium was under way. After more than a decade of planning, dealing and pleading, the $1 billion project began Tuesday with a formal groundbreaking in downtown Minneapolis. About 600 people, including local politicians, business leaders and chanting fans, were in attendance as Wilf, Peterson, Gov. Mark Dayton and many others took turns flipping dirt and smiling for photos as fireworks exploded overhead. The grinning and digging took place in the parking lot next to the Metrodome, where the Vikings have played since 1982. Their last game there is Dec. 29, and a three-month demolition of the Teflon-topped stadium will start in mid-January. After two years outdoors at the University of Minnesota, the Vikings are scheduled to inaugurate the ship-shaped, glass-encased venue in time for the 2016 season. During a set of speeches in a nearby tent, Dayton joked that he felt just like Vikings coach Leslie Frazier after the teams 23-20 overtime victory Sunday over Chicago. "I cant believe its over, and I cant believe we won," Dayton said. State lawmakers enacted a bill last year to fund the stadium with the threat, real or perceived, of the 52-year-old franchise moving to Los Angeles hovering over the often-tense process. Many of the same hard-core, costumed fans who camped out at the state capitol to help lobby for a deal were at the event Tuesday, their presence recognized by Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak. "Sometimes democracy includes painting faces and wearing horns," Rybak said. The public is on the hook for roughly half the cost: $498 million. The NFL and Vikings are handling the rest, with much of the teams share coming from corporate naming rights and fees on season ticketholders, known as personal seat licenses. Many lawmakers and citizens have railed against the project since it was first raised as a possibility around the turn of the century when Red McCombs owned the team. Dayton was a driving force behind the legislation, but even he publicly criticized the Vikings for the proposed PSLs. The Vikings recently pledged to increase their contribution to more than $500 million to make sure the project has all the top-end amenitiies they want, like high-definition televisions in extra-wide concourses.dddddddddddd "Whatever that took to get that done, we had to step up because our fans are what this is all about," Mark Wilf said in an interview after the event. He added: "When its actually here and you see the shovels out there beginning to dig, its exciting." Its also a nice respite from a challenging season. The Vikings have gone from a 10-6 playoff team in 2012 to a 3-8-1 mess this year. And the Wilfs, who built their fortune in a family real estate business, were ordered in September by a New Jersey court to pay $84.5 million to two former business partners the judge ruled they defrauded in a deal forged in the 1980s. So this event was a true highlight. "This is a positive, exciting and great project, and thats been our focus," Mark Wilf said. "I think as the project goes up, as people start seeing the frame go up, and the building become a reality over these next 2 1/2 years, and the jobs being created and the excitement being generated, I think its going to be something that all Minnesotans can appreciate." Mark Wilf declined to answer a question about the performance of Frazier and general manager Rick Spielman. "Were of course disappointed in our season. We didnt expect to be where we are," he said. "One of our goals was to get the stadium project built and have a great facility but our ultimate goal is to win championships and Super Bowls." Away from the festivities, a collection of conservative groups and lawmakers held a counter-event to try to keep focus on the stadiums heavy taxpayer subsidy. They described the financing as shaky, noting that a prior plan to pay for the $350 million state share through electronic gambling has fallen woefully short of projections. Lawmakers plugged the gap in a stadium account this year with a one-time diversion of tobacco taxes and for the future with a corporate tax. "Its a bad day for Minnesotans," said Republican state Sen. Roger Chamberlain. "Were talking about taxpayers paying for Zygi to walk away with hundreds of millions in his pocket if he sold the team, not to mention the increased annual profits. This is not about having football or no football, stadium or no stadium. We could have done this a better way." The stadium plan also relies on $150 million in city taxes from Minneapolis. ' ' '