Columbus Blue Jackets (53 pts) vs. Carolina Hurricanes (61 pts) Game Preview

The Jackets visit Lenovo Center for the second and final time this season as the two teams will finish off a four-game season series on Thursday.

Head Coach Dean Evason will try to get his team to win three of four games against the Canes on the season. This will be his 300th career game as a head coach in the NHL, and he has a career NHL coaching record of 170-95-34.

The Hurricanes come into this game winners of three straight and six of their last 10. The Blue Jackets beat the Maple Leafs badly last night, but are coming in on a back-to-back on the road, which is never easy in this league.

The Jackets have been outscored 11-10 on the season by the Canes, but Columbus is 2-1 against Carolina thanks to a pair of shootout wins. Now that we're talking about a playoff race, the Jackets can ill afford to give a point to Carolina. Although tonight will be an uphill battle for the road-weary Jackets, they must try to salvage a point themselves in this tight wild card race.

It's no secret that the Carolina Hurricanes are a wagon, but the CBJ are no slouch themselves and can win this game. Like last night's "Team win," they're going to have to do that again tonight.

Series History vs. The Hurricanes

• Columbus is 13-15-3 on the road and 29-29-5 in all meetings against Carolina.

• The home team has won 9 of the last 11 in the series, including five straight.

Who To Watch For The Hurricanes

• Martin Nečas leads the team with 38 assists and 54 points.

• Jack Roslovic leads the team with 17 goals.

• Frederik Andersen is 4-1 with a .929 SV%.

• Pyotr Kochetkov is 18-9 with a .904 SV%.

CBJ Player Notes vs. The Hurricanes

• Kirill Marchenko has 10 points in 9 games vs. the Hurricanes.

• Zach Werenski has 15 points in 30 games.

• Ivan Provorov has 13 points in 32 games against Carolina.

Injuries

• Boone Jenner (shoulder) is on Injured Reserve on Oct. 7; (48 Games)

• Erik Gudbranson (upper body) is on Injured Reserve on Oct. 16; (45 Games)

• Yegor Chinakhov (upper body) is on Injured Reserve (27 Games)

• Sean Monahan (upper body); is on Injured Reserve retroactive to Dec. 7 (7 Games)

• Cole Sillinger (upper body) missed Wednesday's game (1 Game)

TOTAL MAN GAMES LOST: 199

How to Watch & Listen: Tonight's game will be on FanDuel Sports Network. Steve Mears will be on the play-by-play. The radio broadcast will be on 97.1 The Fan with Bob McElligott behind the mic doing the play-by-play.

* Game will be simulcast on the following stations (markets): CW 53 (Columbus), WKRC 12.2 CW (Cincinnati), WUAB 43.1 CW (Cleveland), WKEF 22.3 MyTV (Dayton), WQCW 30.1 CW (Charleston, WV/Huntington, WV/Portsmouth, OH), WKYT 27.2 CW (Lexington, KY), WAVE 3.2 Bounce (Louisville, KY). 

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