The Opponent:
The Blue Jackets travel to Pittsburgh to face the Penguins on national TV; their third meeting of the season after a home-and-home pair that the Penguins swept at the beginning of November. The Penguins are currently 20-9-1 and sit atop the Metropolitan Division. The last game in Pittsburgh was November 1, which the Penguins won by a final of 4-2. The Pens come in having lost Brooks Orpik to injury (concussion) in their last game, and James Neal to suspension for his hit on Brad Marchand of the Bruins in the same game. They do get Evgeni Malkin back into the lineup, however. Sidney Crosby leads the Pens in points with 42 points (15 G, 27 A), Chris Kunitz leads in goals with 17 goals, and Evgeni Malkin leads in assists with 30. The Blue Jackets are 5-8-3 all-time against the Pens. The projected lineup from penguins.nhl.com:
Kunitz-Crosby-Dupuis
Jokinen-Malkin-Megna
Conner-Sutter-Vitale
Adams-Sill-Kobasew
Maatta-Letang
Niskanen-Engelland
Bortuzzo-Despres
Fleury
The Blue Jackets:
The Jackets come in riding their first winning streak since October 20-26 after defeating the Minnesota Wild by a 4-0 count on Friday night in Columbus. The Jackets are lead in scoring by Ryan Johansen who has 22 points and 10 goals. James Wisniewski leads in assists with 16, but will be out of tonight's game and is day-to-day with an upper body injury. Tim Erixon has been recalled from Springfield to fill the open roster spot. The Blue Jackets' projected lineup from bluejackets.nhl.com:
Foligno-Johansen-Umberger
Calvert-Dubinsky-Atkinson
Jenner-Anisimov-Comeau
Letestu-MacKenzie-Tropp
Tyutin-Johnson
Murray-Savard
Nikitin-Prout
McElhinney
The Prediction:
The Blue Jackets have a good opportunity to prove how far they have come and to preserve their momentum by winning tonight. However, this will be difficult as they are facing one of the top teams in the league. They may be aided by the loss of Orpik and the suspension of Neal, but the Jackets will still need to play at the top of their game if they want to win. Road wins do not come easy at CONSOL Energy Center.
Penguins win, 4-3
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