Blue Jackets at Sabres preview

BLUE JACKETS (12-7-1) at SABRES (5-11-4)
7 p.m. ET; SN1, SNE, SNP, MSG-B, FS-O, NHL.TV

Eichel, who has five goals this season and one goal in the past 11 games, will center Zemgus Girgensons and Jason Pominville. Ryan O'Reilly will skate between Evander Kane and Sam Reinhart and Johan Larsson will center Benoit Pouliot and Kyle Okposo.
Robin Lehner will start for the Sabres. He's 1-2-1 and allowed 11 goals in his past four starts.
The Blue Jackets will try to win their fourth straight game. In the past three games, Sergei Bobrovsky, who likely will start, has allowed two goals and has a shutout. Bobrovsky is 9-3-1 with a .919 save percentage against the Sabres in his career.

Players to watch

Blue Jackets defenseman Zach Werenski has scored a goal in two straight games and is second on the team in goals (six) and tied for second in points (12).
Sabres left wing Evander Kane has six points (four goals, two assists) in the past six games and leads Buffalo with 19 points (11 goals, eight assists) in 20 games.

They said it

"I thought we played in the areas we needed to play in. We were better. It was a game that I thought we deserved to win. I'm pretty honest about winning and losing. We won some games prior to that, that, really, we went in the back door. We're still getting chances from, really, our secondary guys. We still haven't gotten our top guys untracked, but I thought we played good."-- Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella on the three-game winning streak
"We're putting ourselves in games here and I feel like whether or not we let a point or two slip away, it's a bit frustrating. We just need to find ways to get over that hump and just continue to battle and stick with it." -- Sabres center Jack Eichel

Blue Jackets projected lineup

Artemi Panarin -- Nick Foligno -- Oliver Bjorkstrand
Boone Jenner -- Brandon Dubinsky -- Cam Atkinson
Tyler Motte -- Pierre-Luc Dubois -- Josh Anderson
Sonny Milano -- Jordan Schroeder -- Markus Hannikainen
Zach Werenski -- Seth Jones
Jack Johnson -- David Savard
Ryan Murray -- Markus Nutivaara
Sergei Bobrovsky
Joonas Korpisalo
Scratched: Scott Harrington
Injured: Lukas Sedlak (ankle), Matt Calvert (upper body), Alex Wennberg (undisclosed)

Sabres projected lineup

Evander Kane -- Ryan O'Reilly -- Sam Reinhart
Benoit Pouliot -- Johan Larsson -- Kyle Okposo
Zemgus Girgensons -- Jack Eichel -- Jason Pominville
Seth Griffith -- Kyle Criscuolo -- Jordan Nolan
Marco Scandella -- Justin Falk
Jake McCabe -- Nathan Beaulieu
Josh Gorges -- Victor Antipin
Robin Lehner
Chad Johnson
Scratched: Matt Moulson, Casey Nelson
Injured: Taylor Fedun (lower body), Matt Tennyson (foot), Rasmus Ristolainen (upper body), Jacob Josefson (lower body), Zach Bogosian (lower body)

Status update

The Blue Jackets did not hold a morning skate. ... Josefson practiced with the Sabres for the first time since he was injured Oct. 15 against Anaheim.

Stat pack

Columbus has scored three or more goals in five straight games against the Sabres. Lehner is 5-2-0 in his career against the Blue Jackets with a .952 save percentage.