Blue Jackets at Senators preview

Duchene and defenseman prospect Julius Bergman were acquired by the Blue Jackets from the Senators for forward prospects Vitaly Abramov and Jonathan Davidsson, a first-round pick in the 2019 NHL Draft and a conditional first-round pick in the 2020 draft.

Columbus, which has lost two straight after going 5-1-0 in its previous six games, is one point behind the Carolina Hurricanes for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference. Forward Artemi Panarin and goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, who each can become an unrestricted free agent on July 1, will play.

Forwards Mark Stone and Ryan Dzingel will not play for the Senators; they also were held out of the lineup in a 4-0 loss at the New Jersey Devils on Thursday. Each can become an unrestricted free agent on July 1. The NHL trade deadline is Monday at 3 p.m. ET.

Ottawa, 3-9-0 in its past 12 games, is in last place in the NHL, 21 points out of the second wild card in the East.

Players to watch

Blue Jackets center Matt Duchene has five points (two goals, three assists) in a personal three-game point streak and 21 points (12 goals, nine assists) in his past 17 games.

Senators center Chris Tierney has seven assists in his past seven games.

They said it

"Every team, at this time of year, not just ours, there's a little bit of angst in there, as far as, 'What's our team going to look like in the next couple days? Are we buyers? Are we sellers?' I'm sure that's in the room. Our situation's a little bit different -- it's been hanging over our head all year long. We haven't changed how we go about our business." -- Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella

"As soon as it was determined that [Duchene] did not want to be part of our rebuild, we shifted our focus to see what assets we could acquire in exchange for Matt that would help grow our pipeline of potential. We feel that both Vitaly and Jonathan, along with the first-round pick will help enhance the team's future and fit with our continuing effort to build a younger, faster and stronger roster." -- Senators general manager Pierre Dorion

Blue Jackets projected lineup

Artemi Panarin -- Matt Duchene -- Cam Atkinson

Nick Foligno -- Boone Jenner -- Josh Anderson

Eric Robinson -- Pierre-Luc Dubois -- Oliver Bjorkstrand

Riley Nash -- Alexander Wennberg -- Lukas Sedlak

Seth Jones -- Zach Werenski

Markus Nutivaara -- David Savard

Scott Harrington -- Dean Kukan

Sergei Bobrovsky

Joonas Korpisalo

Scratched: Brandon Dubinsky, Anthony Duclair, Adam Clendening

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

Senators projected lineup

Brady Tkachuk -- Colin White -- Bobby Ryan

Zack Smith -- Jean-Gabriel Pageau -- Drake Batherson

Rudolfs Balcers -- Chris Tierney -- Mikkel Boedker

Magnus Paajarvi -- Logan Brown -- Filip Chlapik

Thomas Chabot -- Dylan DeMelo

Maxime Lajoie -- Cody Ceci

Ben Harpur -- Christian Jaros

Craig Anderson

Anders Nilsson

Scratched: Mark Stone, Ryan Dzingel

Injured: Mark Borowiecki (foot)

Status report

The Blue Jackets placed Murray on injured reserve. … The Senators recalled Brown and Batherson from Belleville of the American Hockey League.

Stat pack

Panarin has 22 points (11 goals, 11 assists) in past 16 games and will play in his 300th NHL game. … Dubois needs one point for 100 in the NHL.