Penguins at Blue Jackets preview

PENGUINS (36-22-9) at BLUE JACKETS (37-27-3)
7 p.m. ET; FS-O, ATTSN-PT, ESPN+, NHL.TV

The Penguins have won three straight games and are 4-0-2 in their past six games, and 8-2-2 in their past 12. They are in third place in the Metropolitan Division, four points behind the New York Islanders and two ahead of the Carolina Hurricanes.
Columbus has lost four of six, including two shutouts. They are two points behind the Hurricanes in the division, and two behind the Montreal Canadiens for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.
The Penguins have defeated the Blue Jackets eight straight times outscoring them 34-17, including 12-4 in three wins this season.

Players to watch

Penguins forward Sidney Crosby has a six-game goal streak and point streak (six goals, eight assists), and can tie the longest goal streak of his NHL career (Jan. 21-Feb. 8, 2016).
Blue Jackets forward Artemi Panarin has six points (one goal, five assists) in his past seven games.

They said it

"I don't have an explanation for how the games have gone. I know we're trying to play the games hard. We're trying to play the game the right way. Columbus is a hard team to play against. Every game has been a hard-fought battle." -- Penguins coach Mike Sullivan
"This team has such a good work ethic and worker's mentality sometimes we forget how talented we are. There needs to be a combination of that." -- Blue Jackets forward Matt Duchene

Penguins projected lineup

Jake Guentzel -- Sidney Crosby -- Dominik Simon
Zach Aston-Reese -- Evgeni Malkin -- Phil Kessel
Jared McCann -- 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)

Blue Jackets projected lineup

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

Status report

Bobrovsky will start after not dressing in a 3-0 loss at Pittsburgh on Thursday.

Stat pack

Guentzel has seven points (four goals, three assists) in a three-game point streak. … The Blue Jackets have not scored in 124:08 and have three regulation goals in their past four games. … Columbus last defeated Pittsburgh in the regular season on Feb. 17, 2017 (2-1 in overtime). … Anderson, who hasn't had a point in his past four games, is one from 100 in the NHL (59 goals, 40 assists).