PREVIEW: Blue Jackets begin key stretch vs. Pittsburgh

BLUE JACKETS (37-26-3) at PENGUINS (35-22-9)Thursday, 7 p.m., PPG Paints Arena, Pittsburgh (NBC Sports Network, CBJ app, 97.1 The Fan)
The Blue Jackets are in a battle to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
One could argue looking at the upcoming schedule that Columbus is set to begin playoff hockey on Thursday night.
Tonight's visit to Pittsburgh kicks off a stretch of seven straight games against teams that are currently on the right side of the playoff bar. Those games will take place over 13 days and be staged in five different cities, and four will be staged against the Metropolitan Division foes the Jackets are battling for playoff spots.

"Right now, every night should be a do-or-die mentality," defenseman Seth Jones said. "We should have that going into every single game. It's not going to get any easier, so I think we need to understand that in this room, and I believe we do."
Columbus stopped the bleeding of a two-game losing streak on Tuesday with a 2-1, shootout victory at New Jersey, but it didn't engender a ton of celebration in the Blue Jackets' locker room. The Jackets had just 18 shots on goal, their lowest total of the season, against a New Jersey team that was devastated by injuries to half of its usual forward group.
It wasn't pretty hockey by any stretch of the imagination, and the Blue Jackets knew it afterward.
"Guys are just panicking for some reason," said Cam Atkinson, who scored his career-high 36th goal in the win vs. the Devils. "We have a lot of skilled players, and guys are afraid to make five-foot passes, tape-to-tape passes, then guys are running around out of position and we're just throwing the puck off the glass and not helping our D out.
"We're a blue-collar team and where we thrive is off our forecheck and banging and creating turnovers. That's where we get all of our goals and for whatever reason it seems like we think we're a highly skilled team that is just going to out-skill every team. We have to get back to the good habits and working hard."
The Blue Jackets are 4-3 since acquiring center Matt Duchene from Ottawa but 2-3 since the deadline brought three other new Blue Jackets to Columbus. Meanwhile, Washington has captured five games in a row after Wednesday's win vs. Philadelphia, Carolina was 8-1-1 in its last 10, and Pittsburgh is riding a 6-2-2 run.
At the same time, everything is still in front of the Blue Jackets. Columbus is eight points behind the Capitals, six behind the New York Islanders and two behind the Penguins and Hurricanes.
When asked how the Blue Jackets can get ready for the upcoming gantlet, head coach John Tortorella had a simple answer.
"Play more consistently," he said. "We have a tough schedule. I think we have Pitt twice here, Boston a couple of times. Not looking too far ahead, we'll have our hands full with Pitt. No matter what it looks like, no matter what the reason is as we've been inconsistent, we just have to go each day at a time and find a way to get better."
For captain Nick Foligno, a return to the Jackets' roots would be the cure for what has ailed the team.
"I don't know why, for whatever reason our mind-set changed after the deadline," he said. "Before the deadline, I thought our game was bang on against San Jose. It just seems like we're trying to be something we're not now, and that's a slippery slope to go down.".
Know the Foe
When these teams met in Columbus last Tuesday, the Penguins were nursing a bevy of injuries on the back end. Now, the team is getting a little healthier, the best players are playing like it, and the team has points in five games in a row including a two-game win streak.
Sidney Crosby has at least a goal and an assist in five straight games with a 5-8-13 line in that span, while Blue Jackets killer Jake Guentzel has scored two goals in two straight games. Meanwhile, in the defensive corps, Brian Dumoulin (concussion) returned Tuesday vs. Florida and Kris Letang (upper body) might not be far behind. Erik Gudbranson also has joined the team after missing the first game after the deadline vs. Columbus waiting for a work visa.
Scoring is still the team forte, with the Penguins' 3.46 goals per game fifth in the NHL, while the power play is also fifth at 25.4 percent. Crosby (30-56-86) is fourth in the league in scoring, while Phil Kessel and Evgeni Malkin have identical 21-45-66 lines though Kessel hasn't scored a goal since Jan. 30. Guentzel also adds a team-high 33 goals and Letang has a 15-38-53 line.
Matt Murray (21-10-3, 2.87, .914) and Casey DeSmith (14-11-5, 2.86, .914) have split the starts this year as Murray has been banged up at times, and their numbers are eerily similar.
3 Keys
Play with energy: This is easier said than done, but Tortorella said the team has been lacking that of late. If the same team that played against New Jersey on Tuesday shows up tonight, it will be a long night.
Hit the net: The Blue Jackets had 18 shots on goal vs. the Devils but 17 other shots that missed the net. This season-long trend is being amplified of late as the Jackets perhaps try to play too perfectly.
Strong in net: No matter what, you can't win this time of year without a good performance in net. Sergei Bobrovsky has had his ups and downs vs. Pittsburgh, victimized often by fluky goals, but turned in a great showing vs. New Jersey.
Of Note
Columbus has lost the first two games of the season series, but the Blue Jackets are 14-7-1 vs. Metro foes this season. … Josh Anderson is one point from 100 in his CBJ career. ... The Blue Jackets are 20-10-1 on the road this season, the third-best record in the NHL. … Guentzel has a 7-4-11 line in nine career regular season games vs. Columbus. … Pittsburgh has won seven consecutive regular-season games in the series and Columbus has won just four of 18 all-time games in the Steel City. … Columbus, which ranks third in the NHL in penalty kill (84.2 percent), has allowed a power-play goal in just four of the past 28 contests (60-of-65; 92.3 percent). ... The Jackets have set a franchise record for most wins on a single day in a campaign in club history, going 14-2-0 on Thursday.
Blue Jackets Projected Lineup
Subject to change
Artemi Panarin - Matt Duchene - Cam Atkinson
Nick Foligno - Boone Jenner - Josh Anderson
Alex Wennberg - Pierre-Luc Dubois - Oliver Bjorkstrand
Ryan Dzingel - Brandon Dubinsky - Riley Nash
Zach Werenski - Seth Jones
Markus Nutivaara - David Savard
Scott Harrington - Adam McQuaid
Joonas Korpisalo
Keith Kinkaid
Scratched:Markus Hannikainen ,Eric Robinson, Lukas Sedlak, Dean Kukan, Sergei Bobrovsky
Roster notes:Kinkaid played his first game in a Blue Jackets sweater against his former team, the Devils, and is 6-3-2 in his career vs. Pittsburgh. The lines were juggled often against the Devils on Tuesday but this is what Tortorella eventually settled on. Bobrovsky will sit out for rest while Korpisalo gets the start.
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