Columbus @ Chicago preview

Last Meeting ( Oct 20, 2018 ) Chicago 4, Columbus 1

The red-hot Chicago Blackhawks are closing in on the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference, emerging from oblivion and surging into contention courtesy of eight victories in their last nine games. The Blackhawks will play four of their next five games at home, beginning with Saturday night's matchup against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

After having its seven-game winning streak snapped in a 6-3 setback at Boston, Chicago responded with a 5-2 victory over New Jersey on Thursday as Patrick Kane extended his point string to 15 games. “When we all get on board with playing a certain way, we can catch teams in transition and make them vulnerable,” Blackhawks coach Jeremy Colliton said. The Blue Jackets have been running hot and cold over the past five weeks and are tied with the Pittsburgh Penguins for third place in the Metropolitan Division. Columbus sandwiched a pair of four-game winning streaks around a five-game slide prior to Thursday's 3-0 home loss to the New York Islanders.

TV: 8:30 p.m. ET, FS Ohio (Columbus), NBCS Chicago

ABOUT THE BLUE JACKETS (32-21-3): Columbus will be missing some bodies up front as forwards Boone Jenner (injury) and Markus Hannikainen (illness) did not accompany the team to Chicago while forward Brandon Dubinsky (hip) was placed on injured reserve after missing his fifth consecutive game. The team dipped into the minors to add some depth by recalling forward Kole Sherwood, a native of New Albany, Ohio, who is on a tear with seven goals in the last 11 games for Cleveland of the American Hockey League. With Jenner out, captain Nick Foligno is expected to center a line of Josh Anderson and Anthony Duclair.

ABOUT THE BLACKHAWKS (24-25-9): Kane collected three more points Thursday and has scored 12 goals while setting up 22 others during his torrid stretch to shatter the franchise record set by Stan Mikita in 1967 with at least one assist in 15 consecutive games. "Sometimes I feel like I can play better, make better plays, have the puck more out there," said Kane, who has amassed 34 goals and 85 points on the season. "It's all a work in progress. Nice to produce, though, so keep going here." Brandon Saad, who had a career-high 31 goals with Columbus in 2015-16, has scored eight times in his last 14 games.

OVERTIME

1. Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews has eight goals and seven assists in the last nine games.

2. Columbus F Artemi Panarin, who had 61 goals in his first two seasons with Chicago, has 35 points in 27 road games.

3. Ex-Blue Jackets C Artem Anisimov halted an 11-game goal drought in Chicago's win on Thursday night.

PREDICTION: Blackhawks 4, Blue Jackets 3