Game Preview: Play sharper
The homestretch starts now
The Columbus Blue Jackets host the Buffalo Sabres tonight in their third and final meeting of the season - all of which occurred in the month of March, for some reason. The first meeting was a back and forth battle with Columbus prevailing thanks to 2 power play goals. The second meeting was the next night in Buffalo, featuring Columbus blowing a 3-0 first intermission lead.
Buffalo is a worse team on paper, but still has dangerous young talent. Their power play is tops in the league. They added 2 more power play goals in a 4-2 win over Florida last night at home.
While the Sabres are on the second leg of a back-to-back, the Blue Jackets are coming off their final 2 day break of the regular season. They spent practice yesterday working on the struggling power play. Hopefully some line shuffles help, with Seth Jones and Scott Hartnell bumped up to the first unit.
In lineup changes, on Saturday William Karlsson was moved to left wing, with Lukas Sedlak shifted back to center. That line played their best game in weeks and were rewarded with extra shifts by Torts.
The most noteworthy lineup news for Buffalo is that defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen will miss the game due to suspension.
Projected Lineups
| Boone Jenner | Brandon Dubinsky | Josh Anderson |
| Brandon Saad | Sam Gagner | Cam Atkinson |
| Scott Hartnell | Alexander Wennberg | Nick Foligno |
| William Karlsson | Lukas Sedlak | Matt Calvert |
| Zach Werenski | Seth Jones |
| Jack Johnson | David Savard |
| Kyle Quincey | Markus Nutivaara |
| Sergei Bobrovsky |
| Joonas Korpisalo |
| Tyler Ennis | Ryan O'Reilly | Kyle Okposo |
| Marcus Foligno | Jack Eichel | Sam Reinhart |
| Evander Kane | Evan Rodrigues | Brian Gionta |
| William Carrier | Zemgus Girgensons | Matt Moulson |
| Dmitry Kulikov | Jake McCabe |
| Brady Austin | Zach Bogosian |
| Justin Falk | Josh Gorges |
| Anders Nilsson |
| Robin Lehner |