Blue Jackets at Sharks preview

BLUE JACKETS (32-28-5) AT SHARKS (35-21-9)
9 p.m. ET; NBCSCA, FS-O, NHL.TV

The Sharks are in second place in the Pacific Division, eight points behind the Vegas Golden Knights points and two ahead of the Los Angeles Kings. Goaltender Martin Jones will likely make his fourth straight start. He's 5-1-1 with a 1.99 goals-against average and .942 save percentage in his past seven starts.
The Blue Jackets are 5-9-2 since the All-Star break and 0-2-0 entering the finale of their three-game California trip. They lost 5-2 at Los Angeles on Thursday and 4-2 at the Anaheim Ducks on Friday.
Columbus began Sunday even in points with the Carolina Hurricanes for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.

Players to watch

Blue Jackets forward Cam Atkinson has five points (three goals, two assists) in his past four games.
Sharks forward Evander Kane has three assists, four shots and five hits in his first two games with San Jose since being acquired from the Buffalo Sabres on Monday.

They said it

"You can't get down, you can't overthink it. We're going to have to keep on trying to grow. I thought we had opportunities. I thought we played a good game other than a couple of sections of it of just a couple minutes, but we find ways to lose. That's what we have to turn around." -- Columbus coach John Tortorella after losing to Anaheim
"I think he creates room and keeps people honest on the other team for everybody when he's out there. He has a reputation as a big power forward that's not afraid of the physical part of the game." -- Sharks coach Peter DeBoer on Evander Kane

Blue Jackets projected lineup

Artemi Panarin -- Pierre-Luc Dubois -- Cam Atkinson
Sonny Milano
-- Nick Foligno -- Oliver Bjorkstrand
Thomas Vanek -- Brandon Dubinsky -- Boone Jenner
Matt Calvert -- Mark Letestu -- Lukas Sedlak
Zach Werenski -- Seth Jones
Ryan Murray -- Jack Johnson
Ian Cole -- David Savard
Sergei Bobrovsky
Joonas Korpisalo
Scratched:Taylor Chorney, Scott Harrington, Markus Hannikainen
Injured:Alex Wennberg (upper body), Dean Kukan (upper body), Markus Nutivaara (upper body), Josh Anderson (knee)

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Sharks projected lineup

Evander Kane -- Joe Pavelski -- Joonas Donskoi
Tomas Hertl -- Logan Couture -- Mikkel Boedker
Timo Meier -- Chris Tierney -- Kevin Labanc
Barclay Goodrow -- Eric Fehr -- Melker Karlsson
Joakim Ryan -- Brent Burns
Marc-Edouard Vlasic -- Justin Braun
Brenden Dillon -- Dylan DeMelo
Martin Jones
Aaron Dell
Scratched:Tim Heed, Paul Martin, Jannik Hansen, Marcus Sorensen
Injured:Joe Thornton (knee), Joel Ward (shoulder)

S tatus report

Fehr is expected to play after missing one game with a lower-body injury. ... Neither team held a morning skate.

Stat pack

Panarin has seven points (three goals, four assists) in his past seven games. … Pavelski has six points (three goals, three assists) in his past two games.