Blue Jackets at Senators preview

BLUE JACKETS (46-31-4) at SENATORS (29-46-6)
7 p.m. ET; SN360, CITY, TVAS2, FS-O, NHL.TV

The Blue Jackets, who clinched a playoff berth with a 3-2 shootout win against the New York Rangers on Friday, can secure the first wild card if they defeat the Senators and the Carolina Hurricanes lose to the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday. Columbus will also clinch the first wild card if they earn one point and Carolina loses in regulation.
Goalie Craig Anderson will start for the Senators, who will try for their fifth win in eight games after losing 13 of 16 (3-12-1).

Players to watch

Blue Jackets goalie Sergei Bobrovsky is 8-2-0 with a .942 save percentage and four shutouts in his past 10 starts.
Senators forward Brady Tkachuk has six points (three goals, three assists) in his past five games.

They said it

"When you get down to the final two games, I was a little nervous (on Friday), coming into it. I wasn't sure how the nerves were on the team. You just kind of get anxious because you want to get in so bad. We're there now. … We're going to try and play the right way. When we get to the playoffs, we're going to have some fun." -- Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella
"The right way to do things is always to do the right things. And I give our guys credit. While they haven't been perfect, they've tried to do the right things. Their effort has been good and that's what we're going to need again tonight." -- Senators coach Marc Crawford

Blue Jackets projected lineup

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

Senators projected lineup

Mikkel Boedker -- Jean-Gabriel Pageau -- Max Veronneau
Anthony Duclair -- Chris Tierney -- Bobby Ryan
Brady Tkachuk -- Colin White -- Brian Gibbons
Zack Smith -- Oscar Lindberg -- Magnus Paajarvi
Thomas Chabot -- Dylan DeMelo
Andreas Englund -- Cody Ceci
Mark Borowiecki -- Christian Jaros
Craig Anderson
Anders Nilsson
Scratched:Joey Daccord
Injured: Ben Harpur (concussion)

Status report

The Senators sent defenseman
Christian Wolanin
and forward Rudolfs Balcers to Belleville of the American Hockey League.

Stat pack

Columbus is 6-1-0 in its past seven games. … Atkinson needs one goal to move ahead of Rick Nash (41 in 2003-04) for sole possession of the Blue Jackets' single-season record.