Blue Jackets at Penguins preview

BLUE JACKETS (21-13-1) at PENGUINS (17-15-3)
7 p.m. ET; TVA Sports, SN, ATTSN-PT, FS-O, NHL.TV

Hornqvist will be a game-time decision after practicing Wednesday and participating in the morning skate Thursday. He had sat out against the Colorado Avalanche on Monday because of an upper-body injury.
Pittsburgh is 2-5-0 in its past seven games since winning four in row from Nov. 25-Dec. 2.
The Blue Jackets look for their second win in as many days; they won 4-2 against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday. They had lost their previous two games, against the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday and the Boston Bruins on Monday by a combined score of 9-3.
Columbus (43 points) is tied with the New Jersey Devils for second place in the Metropolitan Division, two points behind the first-place Washington Capitals. Pittsburgh (37 points) is seventh.

Players to watch

Blue Jackets goalie Sergei Bobrovsky is 1-3-0 and has allowed 18 goals in his past four games, after going 8-3-0 with three shutouts and 19 goals allowed in his previous 11 games.
Penguins forward Sidney Crosby has one goal in his past four games after he had 16 points (seven goals, nine assists) in his previous nine.

They said it

"I think we're a good team. This is a process. … That's the opportunity [the players] have to get us out of a little bit of a jam we have." -- Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella
"I get better here every day and I feel pretty good right now. So there should be no worries by tonight." -- Penguins forward Patric Hornqvist

Blue Jackets projected lineup

Artemi Panarin -- Pierre-Luc Dubois -- Josh Anderson
Boone Jenner -- Nick Foligno -- Oliver Bjorkstrand
Sonny Milano
-- Alex Wennberg -- Cam Atkinson
Matt Calvert -- Lukas Sedlak -- Markus Hannikainen
Markus Nutivaara -- Seth Jones
Jack Johnson -- David Savard
Scott Harrington -- Gabriel Carlsson
Sergei Bobrovsky
Joonas Korpisalo
Scratched: Cameron Gaunce](https://www.nhl.com/player/cameron-gaunce-8474611?season=20172018)
Injured: Ryan Murray](https://www.nhl.com/player/ryan-murray-8476850?season=20172018) (upper body), Brandon Dubinsky (fractured orbital bone), Zach Werenski (upper body)

Penguins projected lineup

Jake Guentzel -- Sidney Crosby -- Patric Hornqvist
Carl Hagelin -- Evgeni Malkin -- Phil Kessel
Conor Sheary -- Riley Sheahan -- Bryan Rust
Dominik Simon
-- Carter Rowney -- Ryan Reaves
Brian Dumoulin -- Kris Letang
Chad Ruhwedel -- Olli Maatta
Matt Hunwick -- Jamie Oleksiak
Matt Murray
Tristan Jarry
Scratched:Ian Cole, Tom Kuhnhackl
Injured: Justin Schultz](https://www.nhl.com/player/justin-schultz-8474602?season=20172018) (lower body)

Status report

Bobrovsky should start for the Blue Jackets after Korpisalo made 39 saves against the Maple Leafs. … Oleksiak will make his Penguins debut after being acquired from the Dallas Stars in a trade Tuesday for a conditional fourth-round pick in the 2019 NHL Draft.

Stat pack

The Blue Jackets are 6-for-61 (9.8 percent) on the power play in their previous 22 games. They are 31st in the NHL with an 11.0 percent conversion rate. … Hunwick will play his 500th NHL game.