The Columbus Blue Jackets conclude their season series in a home and home weekend of games with the Washington Capitals. Saturday afternoon, Columbus hosts with a noon-thirty start; Sunday is a six o’clock dinner time start from the nation’s capital.

With the Capitals having clinched home ice through the Eastern Conference Final and hosting the Blue Jackets on Sunday, Ovechkin may not play Saturday. Jakob Chychrun missed a 5-4 shootout win against the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday; if he is unavailable, Dylan McIlrath may take his spot on defense.

Blue Jackets coach Dean Evason said Friday that Jake Christiansen and Merzlikins will not play; Christiansen left during the first period of a 3-2 win against the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday and Merzlikins left early during the morning skate Thursday. Evason said Merzlikins did not sustain an injury while practicing.

Projected Lineups

Washington Capitals
Alex Ovechkin -- Dylan Strome -- Taylor Raddysh
Connor McMichael -- Pierre-Luc Dubois -- Tom Wilson
Andrew Mangiapane -- Lars Eller -- Ryan Leonard
Brandon Duhaime -- Nic Dowd -- Anthony Beauvillier

Rasmus Sandin -- John Carlson
Jakob Chychrun -- Trevor van Riemsdyk
Martin Fehervary -- Matt Roy

Charlie Lindgren
Hunter Shepard

Scratched: Dylan McIlrath, Alex Alexeyev, Ethen Frank

Injured: Aliaksei Protas (lower body), Logan Thompson (upper body), Sonny Milano (upper body)

Columbus Blue Jackets
Boone Jenner -- Sean Monahan -- Kirill Marchenko
James van Riemsdyk -- Adam Fantilli -- Kent Johnson
Dmitri Voronkov -- Cole Sillinger -- Mathieu Olivier
Zach Aston-Reese -- Sean Kuraly -- Justin Danforth

Zach Werenski -- Dante Fabbro
Denton Mateychuk -- Ivan Provorov
Jack Johnson -- Erik Gudbranson

Jet Greaves
Daniil Tarasov

Scratched: Jordan Harris, Christian Fischer, Jack Williams, Damon Severson, Luke Kunin, Yegor Chinakhov

Injured: Elvis Merzlikins (undisclosed), Jake Christiansen (upper body), Owen Sillinger, Kevin Labanc

Players to Watch

Washington — Ryan Leonard // Alex Ovechkin — the BC quiz master had his first career goal on an empty net; but bandz a make her dance is 5 away from 900.

Columbus — Kent Johnson // Adam Fantilli — the Michigan duo must bring the offense to keep the playoff hopes alive before April 17. KJ has 4 points in previous 5; Fantilli, while second in goals with 25, only has 1 in the last 5.

Predicted Final Scores

Sat

WSH — 3

CBJ — 4

OT

SUN

WSH — 5

CBJ — 1


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