Blue Jackets at Oilers preview

BLUE JACKETS (40-29-4) at OILERS (32-34-7)
9 p.m. ET; SN1, SNE, SNO, SNP, TVAS, FS-O, NHL.TV

The Blue Jackets, who have lost two straight (0-1-1) after going 4-2-0 in their previous six games, are one point ahead of the Montreal Canadiens, who host the New York Islanders on Thursday.
Goalie Joonas Korpisalo will start for the Blue Jackets in place of Sergei Bobrovsky, who is out because of an undisclosed injury. Keith Kinkaid will dress as the backup.
The Oilers, 1-3-0 in their past four games after going 7-2-1 in their previous 10, are seven points behind the Arizona Coyotes for the second wild card into the playoffs from the West with nine games remaining.

Players to watch

Blue Jackets forward Josh Anderson has six points (two goals, four assists) in his past four games.
Oilers center Connor McDavid has 23 points (five goals, 18 assists) in his past 13 games. With 105 points (36 goals, 69 assists) in 69 games this season, he's three points shy of matching his NHL career high of 108 (41 goals, 67 assists) in 82 games last season.

They said it

"It's a fun time of the year, it's a race. A lot of teams are battling for a few spots. We're one of those teams, and it's good news that we're in, but there are not a lot of games left to get the points that we need." -- Blue Jackets center Pierre-Luc Dubois
"We got outplayed from start to finish in St Louis and tonight has to be a rebound for us and we have to make sure we're playing with passion and energy and playing in their end." -- Oilers forward Sam Gagner on bouncing back from a 7-2 loss at the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday

Blue Jackets projected lineup

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

Oilers projected lineup

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins -- Connor McDavid -- Zack Kassian
Milan Lucic -- Leon Draisaitl -- Alex Chiasson
Joseph Gambardella -- Kyle Brodziak -- Josh Currie
Tobias Rieder -- Colby Cave -- Sam Gagner
Oscar Klefbom -- Adam Larsson
Darnell Nurse -- Kris Russell
Andrej Sekera -- Matt Benning
Mikko Koskinen
Anthony Stolarz
Scratched: Kevin Gravel, Ty Rattie, Alexander Petrovic, Brad Malone
Injured: Jesse Puljujarvi (lower body), Jujhar Khaira (foot)

Status report

Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella said Bobrovsky was "nicked up" and will not dress … Nutivaara returns to the lineup after missing one game with an illness … Khaira will miss his second game with a foot injury.

Stat pack

Draisaitl has 25 points (11 goals, 14 assists) in his past 18 games and needs two points for 300 in the NHL.