Game Preview: Blue Jackets Desperate to Stay in Playoff Position vs. Bruins

The Columbus Blue Jackets (38-24-11, 87 points) are down to a single-digit number of games remaining. They played game No. 72 of 82 on Saturday, a 3-2 loss to the San Jose Sharks, which snapped the Sharks' six-game losing streak and ended the Blue Jackets' 12-game home point streak.

Sunday's opponent, less than 24 hours later, is the Boston Bruins (41-24-8, 90 points), who won their critical showdown on Saturday, 6-3 over the Minnesota Wild. The Bruins hold down the first Eastern Conference wild card spot, with a three-point lead over the Blue Jackets, who have the second spot.

It was just this past week that Columbus was up to second in the Metropolitan Division. But consecutive regulation losses since, and the Jackets are lingering just on the plus side of the playoff dividing line.

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Coming into Sunday's matchup, Columbus is one point ahead of the Ottawa Senators and Detroit Red Wings. The Red Wings could have taken over the final wild card spot Saturday night, but lost 5-3 to the Philadelphia Flyers.

It'll continue to be a fight to the finish the rest of the way.

Here are five things to know before the early, 5:00 p.m. puck-drop:

• Boston enters its matchup with Columbus on a two-game winning streak and points in seven of its last eight (5-1-2) streak, scoring 3.63 goals a game (5th in NHL) in that stretch since Mar. 14. ... The Bruins, often perenial Stanley Cup contenders at this time of year, finished with the fifth worst record in the entire league, and tied with the Flyers at the bottom of the Eastern Conference last season with 76 points. ... Former Bruin and first-year head coach Marco Sturm has helped right the ship as the Bruins look to make it back to the playoffs for the ninth time in the last 10 seasons.
   
• The Blue Jackets dropped just their second home game in regulation under head coach Rick Bowness (11-2-3), but have the best home mark in the NHL since Jan. 13, who are one point better than the Bruins are at home, as Nationwide Arena has been a lethal building for opponents to come into. Columbus is 20-9-7 (47 points) at home overall this season, the 10th-best mark in the league. While Boston is the best home team in the NHL (27-10-1, 55 points), they're just a .500 road team on the road (14-14-7, 35 points), which is 22nd in the league.
   
• The Blue Jacket surrendered its most shots on goal since Bowness took over when the Sharks got their 34th midway through the third period and ended the game with 36. San Jose went over nine minutes without a shot on goal in the third period before the Sharks' go-ahead and eventual game-winning goal by Igor Chernyshov. Merzlikins took the loss, making 33 saves, and was the game's second star.
   
• Boone Jenner is set to play in his 800th career NHL game. The franchise's all-time leader in games played has 125 games over second-place Rick Nash. The next active player on the list is Zach Werenski (633). Cole Sillinger, the next active player, is 19th (358), trailing Jody Shelley (380) by 22 games.
   
• Dmitri Voronkov played in his first game on Saturday since Mar. 12 after being held out as a healthy scratch. He left the game against the Sharks due to an upper-body injury and won't play Sunday. Bowness said postgame that Voronkov will be reevaluated on Monday. This comes on the heels of losing Damon Severson on Thursday, who is officially listed as week-to-week. Here are the complete projections: