Avalanche at Blue Jackets
The Columbus Blue Jackets are attempting to maintain possession of the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference and the Colorado Avalanche are trying to latch onto the No. 8 slot in the West. The Blue Jackets will go for their third consecutive victory as they continue a four-game homestand against the Avalanche on Thursday night.
Artemi Panarin set the tone for Columbus by scoring 16 seconds into Tuesday's 4-1 win over Pacific Division-leading Vegas on Tuesday and has three goals and five points in the past two wins. "He's beginning to come alive here," coach John Tortorella said. "He competes and he's a game-breaker, and that's important for us here as we're trying to get some wins as we go through the end of the season." Colorado has its own game-breaker in leading scorer Nathan MacKinnon, who scored for the seventh time in six games in Tuesday's 2-1 overtime loss at Chicago. The Avalanche have lost two in a row but have points in five straight games (3-0-2) to remain tied with Los Angeles on points for the last postseason berth.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, Altitude (Colorado), FS Ohio (Columbus)
ABOUT THE AVALANCHE (35-24-7): MacKinnon, the reigning NHL First Star of the Week, has eight goals and 17 points over his last eight contests while notching a pair of tallies and five assists in eight games versus Columbus. "On the ice you can see, he's so dominant," Colorado center Tyson Jost said. "He's a man among boys out there and he's always someone we can rely on." Linemate Mikko Rantanen had a four-game point streak halted Tuesday, but he collected a goal and an assist in a 2-0 victory over Columbus on Jan. 4.
ABOUT THE BLUE JACKETS (34-28-5): After enduring a 25-goalless drought, Zach Werenski has scored twice in the past three games to boost his total to 13, setting a Columbus single-season franchise record for defensemen. "A lot of good players go through it, where they go into slumps like that, but I'm happy to be out of it," Werenski said. "Hopefully I can keep scoring some goals and helping this team here in this playoff race." Panarin has six goals and six assists in his last nine and 10 points in 10 games versus Colorado.
OVERTIME
1. Blue Jackets C Pierre-Luc Dubois needs two goals to tie Rick Nash's franchise rookie record of 17.
3. Avalanche G Semyon Varlamov is 7-5-1 with three shutouts versus the Blue Jackets but backup Jonathan Bernier blanked them in January.
3. Columbus is 0-for-11 on the power play over the past four games.