Red Wings at Blue Jackets
The Columbus Blue Jackets currently own the second wild card in the Eastern Conference, but they still have their sights set on one of the top three spots in the Metropolitan Division. Columbus, which trails third-place Philadelphia by four points and is seven behind Pittsburgh for first, looks to extend its winning streak to four contests as it continues its four-game homestand Friday against the Detroit Red Wings.
Defenseman Seth Jones recorded two assists before scoring 59 seconds into overtime on Thursday as the Blue Jackets edged Colorado 5-4 in a see-saw battle that saw them register four straight goals after falling behind by two, only to yield a pair late in the third period. The 23-year-old Jones has set a new career high with 44 points - two more than his total from last season. Detroit is likely to miss the playoffs for the second straight campaign following a 25-season run as it trails Columbus by 12 points for the second wild-card spot with 15 contests remaining. The Red Wings' slide reached five games (0-4-1) on Thursday as they suffered a 4-0 loss to Vegas in their only home contest sandwiched between a pair of five-game road trips.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, Sportsnet, TVA, FS Detroit Plus, FS Ohio (Columbus)
ABOUT THE RED WINGS (26-30-11): Evgeny Svechnikov was recalled from Grand Rapids of the American Hockey League on Thursday and made his season debut against the Golden Knights, registering one shot and a minus-2 rating in 9 minutes, 9 seconds of ice time. The 21-year-old Russian right wing, who was drafted 19th overall in 2015, remains in search of his first career point after being kept off the scoresheet in two contests last season - his first in the NHL. Captain Henrik Zetterberg needs one goal to snap a tie with Ted Lindsay (335) for fifth place on the franchise list and six points to match Sergei Fedorov (954) for fifth in that category, while Niklas Kronwall is one tally away from pulling even with Marcel Pronovost (80) for fourth in club history among defensemen and one point shy of passing Igor Larionov (397) for 20th all-time with the team.
ABOUT THE BLUE JACKETS (35-28-5): Sergei Bobrovsky served as Joonas Korpisalo's backup on Thursday after sitting out the team's prior game due to an illness and likely will make the start against Detroit. Artemi Panarin has recorded six points over his last three contests and 13 while landing on the scoresheet in nine of his last 10 games while Zach Werenski, who set the franchise single-season record for goals by a defenseman with his 13th on Tuesday, also tallied versus the Avalanche and has notched six points in five contests. Pierre-Luc Dubois, who also has collected six points in his last three games, needs two goals to tie the franchise rookie record (17) and two points to match the club mark for most by a rookie forward (39) - both of which were set in 2002-03 by Rick Nash.
OVERTIME
1. Red Wings C Frans Nielsen missed Thursday's game with an upper-body injury after ending his 10-game goal-scoring drought two days earlier at Boston.
2. Detroit LW Justin Abdelkader, who has scored just one goal over his last seven games, is two shy of 100 for his career.
3. Columbus LW Thomas Vanek, who spent part of last season with Detroit, scored twice on Thursday for his first two goals in five games with the team after being acquired from Vancouver at the trade deadline.