Blue Jackets at Canadiens preview

Panarin, the leading scorer for the Blue Jackets with 67 points (24 goals, 43 assists) will miss the game because of illness.

Columbus forward Brandon Dubinsky was activated from injured reserve and is expected to return after missing seven games with a hip injury.

The Blue Jackets, who lost 5-1 to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday, are 5-2-0 in their past seven games after a five-game losing streak (0-5-0). They're third in the Metropolitan Division (69 points) with a game in hand on the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Montreal has lost four in a row (0-3-1) for the second time this season; the Canadiens had a five-game losing streak (0-3-2) from Nov. 19-27. They hold the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.

Players to watch

Blue Jackets goalie Sergei Bobrovsky is 5-1-0 in his past six games with a 2.17 goals-against average .924 save percentage and one shutout.

Canadiens forward Brendan Gallagher has seven points (four goals, three assists) in his past six games. 

They said it

"We have done a decent job doing that throughout the season. We have to have a good effort (Tuesday) and we need two points." -- Blue Jackets forward Lukas Sedlak about Columbus going 16-7-1 in games following a loss

"We've just got to make sure we're sharp in our reloads coming back, not to give them outnumbered situations. At the same time, because they are aggressive, you do get opportunities on the other side of it to take advantage of that." -- Canadiens coach Claude Julien

Blue Jackets projected lineup

Anthony Duclair -- Pierre-Luc Dubois -- Cam Atkinson

Nick Foligno -- Boone Jenner -- Josh Anderson

Eric Robinson -- Alexander Wennberg -- Oliver Bjorkstrand

Riley Nash -- Brandon Dubinsky -- Lukas Sedlak

Zach Werenski -- Seth Jones

Markus Nutivaara -- David Savard

Scott Harrington -- Dean Kukan

Sergei Bobrovsky

Joonas Korpisalo

Scratched: Adam Clendening

Injured: Markus Hannikainen (illness), Ryan Murray (upper body), Artemi Panarin (illness)

Canadiens projected lineup

Jonathan Drouin -- Max Domi -- Joel Armia

Tomas Tatar -- Phillip Danault -- Brendan Gallagher

Artturi Lehkonen -- Jesperi Kotkaniemi -- Andrew Shaw

Charles Hudon -- Nate Thompson -- Paul Byron

Victor Mete -- Shea Weber

Mike Reilly -- Jeff Petry

Brett Kulak -- Jordie Benn

Carey Price

Antti Niemi

Scratched: Christian Folin, Nicolas Deslauriers, Matthew Peca

Injured: None

Status report

Murray was injured Monday and did not make the trip. … Hannikainen was placed on injured reserve retroactive to Feb. 14. … Clendening was recalled from Cleveland of the American Hockey League … Petry had therapy and did not take part in the morning skate but is expected to play. … Danault, whose wife is expecting their first child, missed the skate for personal reasons. … Byron was given medical clearance after missing six games with an arm injury. … Forward Dale Weise was assigned to Laval of the AHL.

Stat pack

Dubois needs one point for 100 in the NHL. … Price is five wins from tying Jacques Plante (314) for most by a Canadiens goalie. He is 7-3-1 with a 2.04 goals-against average, .938 save percentage and one shutout in his past 11 games.