Columbus Blue Jackets at Pittsburgh Penguins
March 1, 2015 - 5:00 pm EST
Consol Energy Center - Pittsburgh, PA
Radio - 102.5 FM - TV - Fox Sports Ohio
Opponent's Blog: PensBurgh
The Jackets have lost five in a row, with their last victory coming on February 19th against these same Penguins. You may remember that game for the scrap between Brandon Dubinsky and Sidney Crosby, but there won't be a round 2 in that battle, as Dubinsky is out of the lineup with a concussion.
Dubinsky is joined by Jack Skille, Boone Jenner, Matt Calvert, Jeremy Morin, Ryan Murray and Kevin Connauton on the injured list.
Dating back to last year's playoff series, Crosby was locked down by Dubinsky. Tonight the Jackets will need another center to do the heavy lifting - I'm doubtful the Jackets will assign Alexander Wennberg the task of keeping the NHL's best player in-check.
Though this is a mismatch on paper, the Jackets have had Pittsburgh's number this year, beating them in both meetings this year. For the Jackets to break their current five-game losing streak, they'll need to shut down Pittsburgh's potent offense (including newcomer Daniel Winnik) and score some timely goals. This would be a perfect time for the powerplay to get going again.
Though he dressed last night, we won't be seeing Bobrovsky this afternoon (hopefully). It will be Curtis McElhinney opposite Marc-Andre Fleury between the pipes tonight.
Projected Lineups
Columbus Blue Jackets
(26-31-4, 56 Points; 7th division, 13th conference)
| Nick Foligno | Ryan Johansen | David Clarkson |
| Scott Hartnell | Alexander Wennberg | Cam Atkinson |
| Brian Gibbons | Artem Anisimov | Marko Dano |
| Corey Tropp | Mark Letestu | Jared Boll |
| Jack Johnson | David Savard |
| Fedor Tyutin | James Wisniewski |
| Dalton Prout | Cody Goloubef |
| Curtis McElhinney |
| Sergei Bobrovsky |
Pittsburgh Penguins
(35-17-9, 79 Points; 3rd Division, 6th Conference)
| David Perron | Sidney Crosby | Patric Hornqvist |
| Chris Kunitz | Evgeni Malkin | Blake Comeau |
| Daniel Winnik | Brandon Sutter | Steve Downie |
| Nick Spaling | Maxim Lapierre | Beau Bennett |
| Paul Martin | Kris Letang |
| Christian Ehrhoff | Derrick Pouliot |
| Rob Scuderi | Simon Despres |
| Marc-Andre Fleury |
| Thomas Greiss |
Season Series
Pittsburgh - 0-1-1
CBJ - 2-0-012/13/14 - Columbus 4 vs. Pittsburgh 3 (SO)
02/19/15 - Columbus 2 at Pittsburgh 1
03/01/15 - Columbus at Pittsburgh
04/04/15 - Pittsburgh at Columbus
Head to Head Stats
| Pittsburgh | Columbus | |
| 2.84 (9) | GPG | 2.51 (24) |
| 2.41 (4) | GAPG | 3.10 (26) |
| 20.4% (7) | PP% | 20.2% (8) |
| 85.6% (6) | PK% | 81.3% (16) |
| Evgeni Malkin, 24 | G leader | Nick Foligno, 23 |
| Sidney Crosby, 42 | A leader | Nick Foligno / Ryan Johansen, 32 |
| Sidney Crosby, 62 | Pts leader | Nick Foligno, 55 |
| Steve Downie, 191 | PIM leader | Scott Hartnell, Jared Boll 84 |
| 16-7-6 | Home/Road | 14-14-2 |
| 6-3-1 | Last 10 | 3-6-1 |
| 2/25 at WashingtonW 4-3 | Last Game | 2/28 vs. New Jersey L 2-0 |