Saturday, March 8, 5:00 PM on FSOH, FSTN

Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, Tennessee

Two teams on the opposite side of the playoff spectrum meet up Saturday night in Nashville. The Blue Jackets are chasing their first postseason berth since the 2008/09 season while the Predators find themselves mired in last place in the Central, failing to qualify for the playoffs for a second straight year.

Columbus currently holds the 8th playoff spot in the Eastern Conference but has Detroit (-1 point), Washington (-1 point), and New Jersey (-2 points) hot on their heels. Victories like this over the Nashville Predators are must-have's with right around 20 games remaining. The Blue Jackets have turned it around as of late, winning three consecutive games after an Olympic break return loss to New Jersey.

Nashville on the other hand has struggled after returning from the Sochi intermission. They beat the Lightning on February 27 but subsequently dropped consecutive games to Winnipeg and Pittsburgh, scoring only a goal apiece in each game. They could take some solace at being a thorn in the side of Columbus once again after blanking the Blue Jackets 4-0 back at the end of November.

In that earlier matchup Nashville was dominant. They only allowed 19 shots on goal and committed two penalties for 4:00 total. Columbus goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky was heavily overmatched allowing the four goals on only 29 shots, a lowly .862 save percentage. Under bettors were happy with the lack of firepower from Columbus as the total of 5 failed to hit and oddsmakers expected good things from the Predators in that first matchup, cashing them out as underdogs at only +104.