Tonight at 7:00 p.m. ET, the Columbus Blue Jackets (30-25-5, 65 points) and Toronto Maple Leafs (32-22-8, 72 points) faceoff for the third and final time this season live from the Air Canada Centre in Toronto. The game can be live streamed here. Columbus fans can hear all of the action on 97.1 The Fan while Toronto fans can do the same on TSN 1050.
Columbus has lost four of its last five road games and is looking to climb up the latter as it eyes the final wild-card position in the Eastern Conference while Toronto has won seven straight games at home. The Blue Jackets look for the season sweep after defeating the Maple Leafs 5-2 in Columbus on Oct. 25 and 6-0 in Toronto on Nov. 25.
The Maple Leafs are coming off of a 4-3 overtime defeat to the Montreal Canadiens Saturday after blowing a third period lead.
"We're .500 on the road which, in this situation, isn't great," coach Randy Carlyle told NHL.com afterward. "We'd like to have won both hockey games in our minds, but this is the way it goes. We will regroup, practice [Sunday] and get ready for Columbus."
The Blue Jackets looked different in both of their games since returning from the Olympic break, as they lost 5-2 to the New Jersey Devils on Thursday then turned around and beat the Florida Panthers 6-3 on Saturday.
"There's still room for improvement. This group can't be satisfied," Brandon Dubinsky said per NHL.com. "We've got to continue pushing, continue trying to get better."
Dubinsky is second on the team with 37 points off of 12 goals and 25 assists while Ryan Johansen leads the Blue Jackets with 47 points off of 24 tallies and 23 helpers and James Wisniewski ranks third with 36 points while lighting the lamp five times and adding 31 assists.
Phil Kessel paces the Maple Leafs with 69 points off of 33 goals and 36 assists while James Van Riemsdyk is 2-5-7 in his last five games and has 26 markers and 26 helpers for 52 points and Nazem Kadri has found the twine 42 times while adding 15 goals and 27 assists.
Jonathan Bernier will likely man the crease for Toronto and is 22-16-7 with a 2.63 goals-against average and a .924 save percentage while Sergei Bobrovsky is probable to play between the pipes for Columbus and is 21-15-3 with a 2.58 GAA and a .915 save percentage.
The Blue Jackets look for the season sweep while the Maple Leafs try for its eighth straight victory on home ice when the puck drops at the Air Canada Centre tonight in Toronto.
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