Woods and Sutter will form the fourth line with Patrick Brown, who had his first NHL goal and assist in a 4-3 win against the New York Rangers on Thursday.
"Woods, Sutter and Brown has been a very successful line in the American League," Hurricanes coach Bill Peters said. "We will give it a chance to be successful up here."
Brown had 13 goals and 10 assists in 66 games with the Checkers this season. Sutter had 21 points (11 goals, 10 assists) in 64 games, and Woods had 19 points (eight goals, 11 assists) in 56 games.
The Hurricanes returned Derek Ryan and Sergey Tolchinsky to the AHL. Ryan had two goals in five games during his first NHL stint. Tolchinsky earned the primary assist on a goal by Justin Faulk on Thursday.
"Ryan and Tolchinsky deserve another look," Peters said. "We want to get Sergey another look for sure. We will figure it out as we go."
The Hurricanes, who are five points behind the Philadelphia Flyers for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference, are unbeaten in regulation in their past five games (3-0-2) and are 6-2-6 since the beginning of March.
The Blue Jackets, who had an optional morning skate Saturday, try to end a four-game losing streak.
Coach John Tortorella has pointed out the need for his veteran scorers to get back to doing what they do best. Brandon Dubinsky and Brandon Saad each scored in a 4-3 loss against the New York Islanders on March 31 to snap 14-game and 10-game scoring droughts, respectively.
"That's our job, and part of what we need to bring," said captain Nick Foligno, who is without a goal in the past 14 games. "We're sitting where we are in the standings for a reason. Some of us, myself mostly, haven't had the year we would have liked. It's disappointing, but there's five games to rectify that. We're going to do everything we can to make sure that's the case."
The Hurricanes have won the three previous matchups this season.
"They play really well in their structure," Foligno said. "They are a team that doesn't really break very often. They come in waves. It's something we have to key on tonight. We have to get our game going, not allowing them to get theirs."
Here are the projected lineups:
BLUE JACKETS
Boone Jenner - Brandon Dubinsky - Cam Atkinson
Sonny Milano - Alex Wennberg - Brandon Saad
Scott Hartnell - Nick Foligno - Oliver Bjorkstrand
William Karlsson - Gregory Campbell - Matt Calvert
Ryan Murray - Seth Jones
Dalton Prout - David Savard
Dean Kukan - Cody Goloubef
Joonas Korpisalo
Sergei Bobrovsky
Scratches: Rene Bourque, David Clarkson
Injuries: Jack Johnson (shoulder), Curtis McElhinney (knee), Fedor Tyutin (lower body)
HURRICANES
Joakim Nordstrom - Jordan Staal - Elias Lindholm
Jeff Skinner - Victor Rask - Chris Terry
Nathan Gerbe - Jay McClement - Brad Malone
Brendan Woods - Brody Sutter - Patrick Brown
Jacob Slavin - Justin Faulk
Noah Hanifin - Brett Pesce
Ron Hainsey - Ryan Murphy
Eddie Lack
Cam Ward
Scratches: Michal Jordan
Injuries: Riley Nash (upper body), Phil Di Giuseppe (upper body), Andre Nestrasil (back), James Wisniewski (knee)
Status report: Nash wore a yellow non-contact jersey at morning skate. ... Peters said DiGiuseppe has limited range of motion in the weight room, and doesn't appear ready to return on the short term.
Who's hot: Jenner has five goals in the past seven games. … Saad has points in four of the past five games. ... Rask has five goals in the past five games.
