Columbus Blue Jackets vs Detroit Red Wings Prediction, Odds and Picks for Today, 04/07/26

Tuesday night’s matchup between the Columbus Blue Jackets and Detroit Red Wings truly feels like a loser-goes-home affair, as both teams have fallen out of the Eastern Conference playoff race due to poor stretches of play. The Blue Jackets were playing with house money after they sat near the bottom of the league before the hiring of Rick Bowness, so missing the playoffs will be disappointing but franchise-altering. However, the Red Wings were once the top team in the Atlantic Division, but yet another March meltdown has raised all kinds of questions about the roster and management.

The Blue Jackets were becoming fan favorites because of their strength in an improbable run back to the playoff picture. Bowness was even getting Jack Adams Trophy recognition at one point, until a recent 3-6-1 stretch has the team in a freefall and the interim head coach questioning their compete in post-game pressers. Columbus feels like a team falling apart, but the Red Wings have a similar outlook.

Detroit has a similar 4-6-0 stretch, but their most demoralizing loss came on Sunday when they were down 4-1 to the Minnesota Wild, mounted a furious three-goal comeback in the third period, but choked it away after a brutal penalty from Patrick Kane in the dying minutes set up Kirill Kaprizov to score his hat-trick goal on the powerplay. It wasn’t a great way for the Red Wings’ playoff chances to potentially end, but it could become a rallying point if they can dust themselves off and grab a win against the Blue Jackets at home.

It’s hard to feel overly confident in either of these teams, but the Blue Jackets getting called out by Bowness recently and the Red Wings having home-ice advantage here makes me lean towards Detroit.

Blue Jackets vs Red Wings prediction: Red Wings ML (-120) available at time of publishing. Playable at that number.