Blue Jackets at Penguins
Home ice has been quite kind to the Columbus Blue Jackets of late. They'll look to carry that momentum on the road Friday as they travel to Pittsburgh for the opener of a home-and-home series with the formidable Penguins. In the midst of playing at home eight times in a nine-game span, the Blue Jackets went 3-1-0 over the first half of the stretch but will be in for a tough time against a Penguins team that already owns a seven-point lead atop the Metropolitan Division.
While Pittsburgh's offense is as potent as expected, the improved defense and goaltending has been the catalyst for the Penguins' early surge. Netminder Marc-Andre Fleury is doing his best to put last year's playoff disaster behind him, boasting a 9-2-0 record with a 1.81 goals-against average and a .927 save percentage. Columbus went through an offensive dry spell in mid-October but has rebounded with 15 goals over its last four games.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, FSN Ohio (Columbus), ROOT (Pittsburgh)
ABOUT THE BLUE JACKETS (5-6-0): Head coach Todd Richards has his team playing well - but he's still concerned about the impact a poor effort against a team like Pittsburgh can have on his players. "You better be ready to go, otherwise they can embarrass you," Richards told the Columbus Post-Dispatch after putting the team through a lengthy practice Thursday. "There's a fear of getting embarrassed there. It doesn't mean we need to take a back seat to these guys; it just means if you aren't on top of your game, if you cheat and you're not responsible with the puck ..."
ABOUT THE PENGUINS (9-4-0): A wayward stick in the face from teammate Kris Letang forced Pascal Dupuis to remove a loose tooth himself while on the Pittsburgh bench during Wednesday's 3-2 win in Boston. "It was part of a bridge, so I don't think it hurt as much," star center Sidney Crosby told the Penguins' website after the game. "But I saw a steel rod in his tooth when it came out, so that's not something you see every day. So it was kind of funny, kind of gross. But it's not something that you see too often."
OVERTIME
1. Pittsburgh has won five of the last seven meetings, including a 4-2 triumph in their last encounter on Feb. 26, 2012.
2. Crosby has three goals and seven assists in six career games against the Blue Jackets.
3. Penguins F James Neal (upper body) has started working out but is expected to miss at least the next three weeks.