Blue Jackets at Bruins preview

BLUE JACKETS (40-28-3) at BRUINS (42-20-9)
7 p.m. ET ; ESPN+, NESN , FS-O , NHL.TV

Columbus is even in points with the Carolina Hurricanes for the first wild card into the playoffs after defeating Carolina 3-0 at Nationwide Arena on Friday, but the Blue Jackets have played one more game. The Blue Jackets trail the Pittsburgh Penguins by four points for third place in the Metropolitan Division and lead the Montreal Canadiens by two points for the second wild card.
The Bruins will try to end their three-game losing streak. Boston hasn't lost four in a row in regulation since March 16-23, 2017. The Bruins lead the Toronto Maple Leafs by two points for second place in the Atlantic Division.

Players to watch

Blue Jackets forward Josh Anderson has five points (two goals, three assists) in his past two games.
Bruins forward Brad Marchand has 14 points (six goals, eight assists) in his past nine games.

They said it

"You get two points in this league, you get out of here and feel good about yourself, knowing there are things you need to work on. That's the way we're going to approach it. It's a huge two points for this team, and I'm glad we play [Saturday]." -- Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella
"We've got to keep the puck out of our net. It's been kind of our team identity all year, and these last three games you can point to different reasons, but at the end of the day let's look at the big one, we're probably more suited now to win a 2-1 game to get back on track than a 6-5 job." -- Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy

Blue Jackets projected lineup

Artemi Panarin -- Pierre-Luc Dubois -- Cam Atkinson
Ryan Dzingel -- Matt Duchene -- Josh Anderson
Lukas Sedlak -- Riley Nash -- Boone Jenner
Brandon Dubinsky -- Alex Wennberg -- Oliver Bjorkstrand
Zach Werenski -- Seth Jones
Markus Nutivaara -- David Savard
Scott Harrington -- Adam McQuaid
Joonas Korpisalo
Keith Kinkaid
Scratched:Dean Kukan, Markus Hannikainen, Eric Robinson, Nick Foligno, Sergei Bobrovsky
Injured:Ryan Murray (upper body)

Bruins projected lineup

Brad Marchand -- Patrice Bergeron -- Danton Heinen
Jake DeBrusk -- David Krejci -- Charlie Coyle
Paul Carey -- Sean Kuraly -- Chris Wagner
Joakim Nordstrom -- Noel Acciari -- David Backes
Zdeno Chara -- Charlie McAvoy
John Moore -- Brandon Carlo
Steven Kampfer -- Connor Clifton
Jaroslav Halak
Tuukka Rask
Scratched:Trent Frederic
Injured:Kevan Miller (upper body), Marcus Johansson (lung contusion), Torey Krug (concussion), Matt Grzelcyk (upper body)

Status report

The Blue Jackets did not hold a morning skate. .. Bobrovsky is scratched after making 46 saves against the Hurricanes. … Folgino left the Blu Jackets for personal reasons. ... DeBrusk returns after missing five games with a lower-body injury. He replaces Frederic. … Halak makes his second start in four games. He also allowed one goal on 10 shots in relief of Rask in a 7-4 loss at Columbus on Tuesday.

Stat pack

Jenner has four points (three goals, one assist) in his past two games, including a hat trick against Boston in the win Tuesday. … Bergeron is one point from 800 in the NHL.