Jackets Look to Fly Over Philadelphia in Tonight's Matchup

The Columbus Blue Jackets take on the Philadelphia Flyers for their third rematch of the season. In their previous meeting, Columbus fell to Philadelphia 1-2 in overtime. Simmonds scored the first goal of the night in the second, but Cam Atkinson was able to tie it up in the third. The match was forced into OT, but Philly's Sean Couturier scored 2 minutes in.

After a 2-1 win over the Devils, the Jackets travelled to Pennsylvania and had a day of rest. They held a morning skate today in preparation for the fight tonight.

The Blue Jackets will have to face the Flyers without captain Nick Foligno (upper-body) and defensemen Dean Kukan (lower-body) and Markus Nutivaara (upper-body). In the leader's absence, Seth Jones has been designated to wear the third "A" alongside Boone Jenner and Jack Johnson.

To fill the gaps in the roster, Nathan Gerbe and Taylor Chorney were brought up from the Cleveland Monsters. They skated at this morning's practice where Josh Anderson and Artemi Panarin did not. However, neither player is expected to start and may be used at a later time.

Columbus hasn't been playing the best as of late, running a three-game losing streak until their win in New Jersey. Even still, their game against the Devils wasn't exactly stellar. They were outshot the majority of the game, and this was the first time in nine games where they didn't dominate the opposition. Regardless of the lack of energy, CBJ was able to pul out the win and get the much needed two points.

With the two points, Columbus was able to pass the Carolina Hurricanes in the standings and return to a playoff position. They may only be beating Carolina by one point, but as it stands, Columbus holds the second wildcard position. They have to be on their toes from here on out especially with how close the metro standings are. The Blue Jackets have 65 points while Carolina and the Islanders are tied at 64. New Jersey, who holds the first wild card position, have 70 points.

Both Philly and 'Lumbus have something to prove tonight. Columbus is hoping to bounce back from the sloppy play Tuesday night, while the Flyers are hoping to keep up their three game winning streak. The carrots on ice were able to come from behind and ultimately defeat the Montreal Canadiens in overtime 3-2. They tied the game with a mere 1:25 left in regulation and won the game 1:26 into overtime.

It's going to be a tight race in these final few games for the Metro. Columbus only has 22 games left including tonight. Four of those games will be between another Metro team before Columbus breaks off into the other divisions. Every point counts as Seth Jones notes:

"That's where you make a name for yourself, is in the big games. It's not just the playoffs, but big shifts within a game, big moments. It's do or die. Every point counts at the end. I think it's going to be one of the tighter playoff races you're going to see from here on out. A point's probably going to decide it at the end, so we're going to need all we can get this season."

Projected CBJ Lineup

Artemi Panarin - Pierre-Luc Dubois - Cam Atkinson

Boone Jenner - Alexander Wennberg - Oliver Bjorkstrand

Matt Calvert - Brandon Dubinsky - Josh Anderson

Markus Hannikainen - Lukas Sedlak - Zac Dalpe

Zach Werenski - Seth Jones

Jack Johnson - Ryan Murray

Scott Harrington - David Savard

Sergei Bobrovsky in net

Projected PHI Lineup

Claude Giroux - Sean Couturier - Travis Konecny

Jordan Weal - Nolan Patrick - Jakub Voracek

Oskar Lindblom - Scott Laughton - Michael Raffl

Jori Lehtera - Valtteri Filppula - Dale Weise

Ivan Provorov - Shayne Gostisbehere

Robert Hagg - Andrew MacDonald

Brandon Manning - Radko Gudas

Petr Mrazek