Penguins at Blue Jackets preview

PENGUINS (45-29-6) at BLUE JACKETS (45-29-6)
7 p.m. ET; FS-O, ATTSN-PT NHL.TV

If Columbus gets at least one point or the Florida Panthers lose at home to the Boston Bruins in any fashion, the Blue Jackets would qualify for the playoffs for the second straight season.
Pittsburgh, which has already qualified, can clinch second place in the Metropolitan Division with a regulation victory and a loss by the New Jersey Devils to the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The Penguins and Blue Jackets each have 96 points with two games remaining, but Pittsburgh is second in the division because it has more regulation/overtime wins (43-39).

Players to watch

Penguins forward Patric Hornqvist has six points (four goals, two assists) in a five-game point streak including a goal in three straight games.
Blue Jackets forward Artemi Panarin has 11 points (two goals goal, nine assists) in a four-game point streak and 34 points (12 goals, 22 assists) his past 22 games.

They said it

"Home-ice is definitely important, at least for the first series. Getting that one extra game at home, especially for us, I think will help us."-- Penguins forward Conor Sheary
"I want them to have a ball. It's a great team. It's the Stanley Cup champions and we're going to play them at an important part of our schedule." -- Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella

Penguins projected lineup

Jake Guentzel -- Sidney Crosby -- Bryan Rust
Carl Hagelin -- Evgeni Malkin -- Phil Kessel
Conor Sheary -- Riley Sheahan -- Patric Hornqvist
Zach Aston-Reese -- Josh Jooris -- Tom Kuhnhackl
Brian Dumoulin -- Kris Letang
Olli Maatta -- Justin Schultz
Chad Ruhwedel -- Jamie Oleksiak
Matt Murray
Casey DeSmith
Scratched:Dominik Simon, Matt Hunwick
Injured:Derick Brassard (lower body), Carter Rowney (upper body)

Blue Jackets projected lineup

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

Status report

Ruhwedel is expected to replace Hunwick. … Anderson (knee) could return after missing 17 games. The Blue Jackets did not hold a morning skate.

Stat pack

The Penguins lead the season series 3-0-0 with two wins in shootouts. … The Blue Jackets are 16-4-1 since a 5-2 loss to the Penguins on Feb. 18 that put Columbus 11 points behind Pittsburgh.