The Blue Jackets are back in action this afternoon, as they take on the Penguins in search of their ninth consecutive game.
This is a matchup of teams heading in very different directions, as the Blue Jackets are finally starting to get healthy, and have won 10 of 11 as a result.
On the other side of the coin, the Penguins have struggled of late (3-6-1 in their last 10) in large part due to injury concerns, and it doesn't appear things will be any better today.
Defensemen Christian Ehrhoff and Kris Letang, both of whom are established top-4 guys, will not dress, while one of the league's top forwards in Evgeni Malkin won't play.
Sidney Crosby will once again be relied upon to do the heavy lifting. Special teams (PP:19%, PK: 85%) also figure to be an important factor for a banged up Penguins team.
With a mostly healthy forward core, Columbus has scoring ability on all four lines, and don't necessarily need to rely on one or two players for production.
Still, they've been getting regular contributions from some of their players. At the top of that list is Ryan Johansen, who enters this game having recorded at least a point in nine straight. If he's able to find the scoresheet today, it'll mark the 3rd time this season he's gone on a point streak of 10 games or longer.
Sergei Bobrovsky will mend the crease for Columbus, while Marc-Andre Fleury is expected to do the same for the Pens.
Like the rest of the Blue Jackets, Bobrovsky enters this game red hot. He has won seven consecutive games, and has recorded a .923SV% or better in six of those seven games. Fleury has been solid for the Penguins this year - as evident by his .921SV% - so goaltending shouldn't be an issue for either team.
If the Blue Jackets are able to win this afternoon, they'll have 39 wins on the year, and would have a handful of games remaining to try for 40.
Given the team has lost over 400 man games due to injury, that'd be quite an accomplishment.
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