The Columbus Blue Jackets have a chance to play spoiler to the Eastern Conference playoff race in a key battle for the home team Detroit Red Wings. This is the first game of the Blue Jackets’ road trip as March Madness begins at Nationwide Arena.

This is the final meeting of the season between the teams. Since the injury to captain Dylan Larkin, the team has been lost. They made one tweak at the deadline for Radek Smiek in a trade that sent Klim Kostin to San Jose.

They have only won once in March. Team practice fight, disappearing offense, and injuries have not helped the team in their first attempted quest to the postseason in 8 years.

Expect an Alex Lyon v Elvis matchup.

Projected Lineups

Detroit Red Wings

Alex DeBrincat -- Joe Veleno -- Patrick Kane

David Perron -- J.T. Compher -- Lucas Raymond

Robby Fabbri -- Andrew Copp -- Christian Fischer

Jonatan Berggren-- Daniel Sprong

Ben Chiarot -- Moritz Seider

Simon Edvinsson -- Jeff Petry

Olli Maatta -- Shayne Gostisbehere

Justin Holl

James Reimer

Alex Lyon

Scratched: Justin Holl, Alex Czarnik

Injured: Ville Husso (lower body), Dylan Larkin (lower body), Jake Walman (lower body), Michael Rasmussen (illness)

Columbus Blue Jackets

Johnny Gaudreau -- Boone Jenner -- Alex Nylander

Alexandre Texier -- Cole Sillinger -- Kirill Marchenko

Mikael Pyyhtia -- Dmitri Voronkov -- Trey Fix-Wolansky

Mathieu Olivier -- Brendan Gaunce -- Carson Meyer

Jake Bean -- Zach Werenski

Ivan Provorov -- Damon Severson

Jake Christiansen -- Erik Gudbranson

Daniil Tarasov

Elvis Merzlikins

Scratched: None

Injured: Adam Fantilli (calf), Patrik Laine (upper body), Justin Danforth (concussion), Sean Kuraly (lower body), Yegor Chinakhov (upper body), Adam Boqvist (upper body)


Players to Watch

Detroit — Mortiz Seider — 35 points this season and a -9 this season. Massive downer for top guy in Motown.

Columbus — Ivan Provorov — just passed his 600th career. Let’s see what goes forward

Predicted Final Score

DET — 2

CBJ — 1

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