Blue Jackets at Kings preview

BLUE JACKETS (32-26-5) at KINGS (35-24-5)
10:30 p.m. ET; FS-W, FS-O, SN1, NHL.TV

Vanek, 34, was acquired by the Blue Jackets in a trade with the Vancouver Canucks on Monday. He had 41 points (17 goals, 24 assists) in 61 games with the Canucks.
Columbus, 3-1-0 in its past four games after going 2-6-2 in its previous 10 games, holds the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference, five points ahead of the Carolina Hurricanes, and trails the Pittsburgh Penguins by seven points for third place in the Metropolitan Division.
The Kings, who seek their third straight win and are 5-2-0 in their past seven games, are in third place in the Pacific Division, two points behind the San Jose Sharks and one point ahead of the Anaheim Ducks.

Players to watch

Blue Jackets forward Artemi Panarin has six points (three goals, three assists) in a five-game point streak.
Kings center Jeff Carter has goals in consecutive games. This will be his third game back after missing 55 games with a lacerated ankle tendon that required surgery.

They said it

"I feel like I can still score in this league and play at a high level. My goal is always to come in, find chemistry with whoever it is and try to make them better, and hopefully they can make me better." -- Blue Jackets forward Thomas Vanek
"We're getting something from everybody. We've got a real team toughness and identity, where everybody is involved and playing hard and playing smart." -- Kings forward Kyle Clifford

Blue Jackets projected lineup

Artemi Panarin -- Pierre-Luc Dubois -- Cam Atkinson
Thomas Vanek -- Alex Wennberg -- Nick Foligno
Sonny Milano -- Brandon Dubinsky -- Oliver Bjorkstrand
Boone Jenner -- Mark Letestu -- Matt Calvert
Zach Werenski -- Seth Jones
Jack Johnson -- Ryan Murray
Ian Cole -- David Savard
Joonas Korpisalo
Sergei Bobrovsky
Scratched: Scott Harrington, Markus Hannikainen, Taylor Chorney, Lukas Sedlak
Injured: Markus Nutivaara (upper body), Dean Kukan (upper body), Josh Anderson (knee)

Kings projected lineup

Alex Iafallo -- Anze Kopitar -- Dustin Brown
Tanner Pearson -- Jeff Carter -- Tyler Toffoli
Nate Thompson -- Adrian Kempe -- Tobias Rieder
Kyle Clifford -- Michael Amadio -- Torrey Mitchell
Derek Forbort -- Drew Doughty
Dion Phaneuf -- Alec Martinez
Jake Muzzin -- Christian Folin
Jonathan Quick
Jack Campbell
Scratched: Andy Andreoff, Paul LaDue, Kevin Gravel
Injured: Trevor Lewis (upper body)

Status report

Foligno was activated off injured reserve Wednesday. He missed four games with a lower-body injury. … Lewis practiced with Los Angeles on Thursday, but has not been cleared for contact. "I wouldn't even call him day-to-day at this point," Kings coach John Stevens said.

Stat pack

Atkinson has four points (two goals, two assists) in his past two games. … Kopitar has six points (two goals, four assists) in a three-game point streak and 25 points (nine goals, 16 assists) in his past 20 games.