Jackets Look for Eighth Straight Win as They Take on the Boston Bruins

This is the final matchup for these two teams, each won having won the other two meetings.

Columbus beat the Bruins back in October with a 4-3 shootout win, but the Bruins were able to tie the series when they defeated the Blue Jackets 7-2 in December.

Boston holds the 2 playoff spot in the Atlantic Division with a whopping 98 points. Columbus was able to move to the first wildcard spot with 83 points after a 2-1 win against the Ottawa Senators. They trail the Flyers by 2 points still, but the Devils are only one point behind Columbus. The boys in blue need to stay on their toes if they want to guarantee a playoff spot.

The last time these two teams met was back on December 18th at TD Garden where Boston destroyed the Jackets 7-2. It was an embarrassing loss after they had just lost to the Oilers by the same margin a few days prior. Though revenge may be on their minds, Columbus is more focused on getting the W tonight to further their standings.

"We want to get the win," captain Nick Foligno said. "The last time [here] we didn't. We know it's a hard building to win in, but we've got to find a way to play better than we did the last time. There's always motivation, but our motivation isn't revenge. It's just about climbing the standings and making sure we're giving ourselves the best chance to win because of the race we're in with some other teams. The Bruins are in the way of that, so we're going to have an exciting game on our hands."

The Bruins will be a formidable opponent for the Jackets tonight. They're coming off a 3-0 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning which puts them only 2 points behind the #1 Atlantic team. They are 8-2-0 in their last 10 games, but in the fight, they lost some of their best players.

It won't be an easy game tonight, that's for sure, but there may be a small glimmer of hope from Boston's injuries. They've lost their top defensemen, Zdeno Chara and Charlie McAvoy, to injuries as well as a few of their top forwards in Patrice Bergeron and David Backes. While the Jackets can look at that as a positive, they have their own injuries to worry about.

Seth Jones sat out Saturday's game with an upper-body injury, and he's expected to miss tonight as well. Not to mention they're still without forward Josh Anderson. It'll be a hard game without a top defensemen and forward, but there's some hope in the young d-man, Markus Nutivaara.

Nutivaara was able to capitalize on Columbus' power play and scored his fourth goal of the season and it ultimately became the game-winning goal. That goal marks the Blue Jackets ninth goal by a defenseman and 34.4% in the last nine have been made off of d-men.

On the goalie front, Boston's Tuukka Rask, who has won his last six appearances, will make guard the net tonight. Joonas Korpisalo will defend the Blue Jackets' net and he has won his last two appearances. Korpi has some big shoes to fill after Bobrovsky's stellar performances. Nevertheless, what matters at the end of the night is how many goals the teams have, and Columbus has been averaging four goals a game.

Blue Jackets Lineup

Artemi Panarin — Pierre-Luc Dubois — Cam Atkinson

Sonny Milano — Nick Foligno — Oliver Bjorkstrand

Boone Jenner — Alexander Wennberg — Thomas Vanek

Matt Calvert — Brandon Dubinsky — Mark Letestu

Zach Werenski — Jack Johnson

Ian Cole — David Savard

Ryan Murray — Markus Nutivaara

Boston Bruins Lineup

Brad Marchand - Riley Nash - David Pastrnak

Danton Heinen - David Krejci - Rick Nash

Ryan Donato - Noel Acciari - Brian Gionta

Tim Schaller - Sean Kuraly - Tommy Wingels

Torey Krug - Adam McQuaid

Matt Grzelcyk - Kevan Miller

Nick Holden - Brandon Carlo

Tuukka Rask