Tonight at 7:00 p.m. ET, the Pittsburgh Penguins (46-22-5, 97 points) and Columbus Blue Jackets (37-29-6, 80 points) faceoff live from the Nationwide Arena in Columbus for the fifth and final meeting between the Metropolitan Division rivals. The game can be live streamed here. Pittsburgh fans can hear all of the action on WXDX 105.9 while Columbus fans can do the same on 97.1 The Fan.
Pittsburgh has lost three straight games and is coming off of a loss Thursday night while Columbus is in a four-way tie for the final two playoff spots in the Eastern Conference, and enters having lost two of its last three games. Pittsburgh looks for the season sweep after defeating Columbus in all four prior meetings, including most recently in a 5-3 triumph on Dec. 29 in Columbus.
The Penguins are coming off of a 3-2 loss to the Los Angeles Kings and will try to get their penalty kill going.
"A couple more goals against [our penalty kill], which is a little frustrating; we're having a little tough time right now," forward Brandon Sutter said via NHL.com. "... We just have to keep battling, stay with what we're doing and try not to get too frustrated."
The Blue Jackets will be without top goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky (illness) and Curtis McElhinney will man the crease.
McElhinney is 9-9-1 with a 2.75 goals-against average and a .909 save percentage. He'll be opposed by Marc-Andre Fleury, who is 34-17-4 with a 2.37 GAA and a .915 save percentage.
Sidney Crosby (34-62-96) leads the NHL in points and also paces Pittsburgh along with Evgeni Malkin (23-49-72) and Chris Kunitz (33-30-63). Malkin is out with a foot injury.
Ryan Johansen (29-25-54), Brandon Dubinsky (15-29-44) and James Wisniewski (6-36-42) lead Columbus in scoring.
The Penguins and Blue Jackets clash for the final time this season when the puck drops tonight at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus.
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