Panthers at Blue Jackets preview

PANTHERS (37-27-7) at BLUE JACKETS (41-28-5)
7 p.m. ET; FS-O, FS-F, NHL.TV

The Blue Jackets (87) are one point ahead of the Philadelphia Flyers for third place in the Metropolitan Division and can pull even in points with the second-place Pittsburgh Penguins with a victory, though they will have played one more game.
Columbus can tie the Colorado Avalanche and Nashville Predators for the longest winning streak in the NHL this season. A 10-game streak would be the second-longest in team history; the Blue Jackets won 16 straight games from Nov. 29, 2016, to Jan. 3, 2017.
Florida, which is 11-2-1 in its past 14 games, needs one point to move into the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference. The Panthers trail the New Jersey Devils by one point and have played two fewer games.

Players to watch

Panthers forward Aleksander Barkov has 19 points (six goals, 13 assists) in his past 14 games. His next goal will be his 100th in the NHL.
Blue Jackets forward Artemi Panarin has 22 points (10 goals, 12 assists) in his past 16 games.

They said it

"We know this team starts fast and is really good at home. If we can play well in the first five to 10 minutes I think we can settle it down and control the pace." -- Panthers coach Bob Boughner
"No one's even thinking about the streak. We're just trying to get two points every game. It makes it easy to focus." -- Blue Jackets captain Nick Foligno

Panthers projected lineup

Evgenii Dadonov -- Aleksander Barkov -- Nick Bjugstad
Jonathan Huberdeau -- Vincent Trocheck -- Denis Malgin
Jamie McGinn -- Jared McCann -- Frank Vatrano
Micheal Haley -- Derek MacKenzie -- Colton Sceviour
Keith Yandle -- Aaron Ekblad
Mike Matheson -- Mark Pysyk
MacKenzie Weegar -- Alexander Petrovic
Roberto Luongo
James Reimer
Scratched: Connor Brickley, Radim Vrbata, Ian McCoshen, Maxim Mamin
Injured: None

Blue Jackets projected lineup

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

Status report

Petrovic (lower body) is expected to return after missing Florida's 7-2 win at the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday. He could replace McCoshen. … Jones (upper body) returns after missing three games; he will replace Johnson or Murray. Dubinsky will be a healthy scratch for the second straight game.

Stat pack

The Panthers' penalty kill is 24-for-24 in the past 10 games. … Columbus has won seven in a row at home.