Blue Jackets at Penguins preview

BLUE JACKETS (37-26-3) at PENGUINS (35-22-9)
7 p.m. ET; NBCSN, TVAS, ATTSN-PT, NHL.TV

The Penguins, who have won two straight and are 7-2-2 in their past 11 games, hold the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference, tied in points with the Montreal Canadiens (79) and two points ahead of the Blue Jackets. Pittsburgh and Columbus will play again at Nationwide Arena on Saturday.
The Blue Jackets are 2-3-0 in their past five games after going 7-3-0 in their previous 10.
Pittsburgh can defeat Columbus for the third time this season; the Penguins won 4-2 on Nov. 24 and 5-2 on Feb. 26.

Players to watch

Blue Jackets forward Artemi Panarin has six points (one goal, five assists) in his past six games, and 13 points (five goals, eight assists) in his past 12.
Penguins center Sidney Crosby has 13 points (five goals, eight assists) during a five-game goal/multipoint streak and 25 points (seven goals, 18 assists) in his past 12 games.

They said it

"I'd just like to open the gate, just like a bunch of horses, and go play. We're not going to overcoach it. Go play." -- Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella
"The goals have come from [the first line], but there's been a significant amount of chances that have been generated from the other lines. We believe as long as they're getting opportunities, getting the looks, that the puck will go in the net." -- Penguins coach Mike Sullivan

Blue Jackets projected lineup

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

Penguins projected lineup

Jared McCann -- Sidney Crosby -- Jake Guentzel
Zach Aston-Reese -- Evgeni Malkin -- Phil Kessel
Dominik Simon -- Nick Bjugstad -- Patric Hornqvist
Teddy Blueger -- Matt Cullen -- Garrett Wilson
Brian Dumoulin -- Zach Trotman
Jack Johnson -- Justin Schultz
Marcus Pettersson -- Erik Gudbranson
Matt Murray
Casey DeSmith
Scratched: Juuso Riikola
Injured: Olli Maatta (upper body), Bryan Rust (lower body), Kris Letang (upper body), Chad Ruhwedel (upper body)

Status report

Tortorella said Bobrovsky would be scratched to give him some rest, with Kinkaid dressing as Korpisalo's backup. ... Hornqvist is expected to play after missing practice Wednesday because of a maintenance day.

Stat pack

Anderson needs one point to reach 100 in the NHL. ... Malkin, who has 16 points (seven goals, nine assists) in his past 14 games, is four points shy of 1,000 in the NHL. He would become the 88th player in League history and the fifth Russia-born player to reach that milestone.