Penguins at Blue Jackets
Home ice for the opening round of the playoffs could be on the line when the Pittsburgh Penguins visit the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday night in the fourth and final regular-season meeting between the teams. The Penguins and Blue Jackets are tied for second place in the Metropolitan Division with two games left, with Thursday's winner getting a leg up on securing home ice for the first-round playoff series.
Pittsburgh, which already has clinched a playoff spot, rolled to a 5-2 victory at Columbus on Feb. 18 to improve to 3-0-0 against the Blue Jackets this season and a win Thursday would wrap up the No. 2 spot in the Metropolitan and keep open the possibility that Columbus finishes out of the playoff picture. "It's an important game to both teams," Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. "It's as close to a playoff atmosphere as you're going to get because the stakes are so high for both teams." The surging Blue Jackets, who can finish second in the division by winning their final two, rallied from a three-goal deficit in Tuesday's 5-4 overtime victory over Detroit. It marked the 13th win in 15 games (13-1-1) for Columbus, which will wrap up a playoff spot in consecutive seasons for the first time in franchise history by earning one point or if Florida fails to win its final three games.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, AT&T Sportsnet-Pittsburgh, FS Ohio (Columbus)
ABOUT THE PENGUINS (45-29-6): Pittsburgh owns the second-best home record in the NHL behind Winnipeg, including a pair of shootout victories over Columbus, so the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions do not want to open the playoffs on the road. "It's a big deal," Penguins defenseman Brian Dumoulin said. "You look at our track record throughout this year and years past, we've been good on home ice and that's where we're comfortable." Patric Hornqvist has goals in three straight contests and a five-game point streak.
ABOUT THE BLUE JACKETS (45-29-6): Forward Josh Anderson, who is the fourth-leading goal scorer on the team with 18 despite missing the past 17 games with a sprained knee, was a full participant in practice Wednesday and could rejoin the lineup against Pittsburgh. Asked if he was 100 percent, Anderson told a reporter: "I feel pretty good, so we’ll go with that." Artemi Panarin needs three goals to reach 30 for the third straight season, but he's on a tear with a pair of tallies and nine assists during a four-game point streak.
OVERTIME
1. Blue Jackets F Cam Atkinson has scored 10 goals in the last 10 games.
2. Penguins F Evgeni Malkin has five points in three meetings versus Columbus but captain Sidney Crosby has been limited to two assists.
3. Panarin has 27 points in the last 15 games overall and four goals and an assist in three contests versus Pittsburgh this season.