Game Day #78: Blue Jackets, Sabres Meet Thursday In Can't-Lose Situation For Columbus

They're not dead yet.

With just one week left in the season, the Columbus Blue Jackets are still alive and fighting in the battle for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. 

To keep that statement true, they must pick up at least one point Thursday night when they face the Buffalo Sabres. 

While the math is very much not in Columbus' favor, a regulation loss would officially eliminate the Blue Jackets from playoff contention. An overtime loss would give them a stay of execution.

But with a win Thursday, there's a fairly straightforward (though extremely difficult) path for Columbus: win out, and have the Montreal Canadiens go either 0-4-0 or 0-3-1 in their final four.

The Habs finish the season with Ottawa and Toronto on the road before coming home for games against Chicago and Carolina.

In that scenario, the Detroit Red Wings would need to lose (in any form) one of their final five.

An overtime loss for the Blue Jackets on Thursday would remove the cushion of an overtime loss for Montreal; they would need to lose all four in regulation (with Columbus winning all four).

No matter what the end result will be, forward Justin Danforth said that he already knows how the Blue Jackets will finish out the season.

"Regardless of what happens, we’re going to finish strong for our fans and for each other," said Danforth.

Here's what else to know before the Blue Jackets face the Sabres in the third-to-final home game of the season:

• RE: SABRES
  Buffalo is about as hot of a team as there in hockey right now, winning five in a row and eight of their last nine. During the current five-game win streak, they're outscoring opponents by a more than two-to-one margin (25-12) — and they aren't doing this against bad teams. Washington, Ottawa, Tampa Bay, and Carolina have felt the Sabres wrath in the last week. Four bona fide East playoff teams. ... Tage Thompson might be the most under-the-radar player in the NHL. He has 44 goals this season and has an elite shot. A player to always be weary of, as the Blue Jackets learned two seasons ago when he scored five goals in a game at Nationwide. ... James Reimer starts for the Sabres. He's played just 21 games this season but has a .905 save percentage and 2.79 goals against average. He's won his last seven starts and made 27 of 29 saves against the Blue Jackets in a Buffalo victory over Columbus on Feb. 4th.
   
• TARASOV STARTS, GREAVES BACKS HIM UP
  Elvis Merzlikins will not dress tonight with an undisclosed injury and the team brought Jet Greaves in from Cleveland on emergency recall to serve as the backup. Greaves was in net last night for the Monsters, so the Blue Jackets will start Daniil Tarasov. In his last start on Sunday against the Ottawa Senators, Tarasov was pulled just 4:26 into the game after allowing two goals on six shots and looking uncomfortable in net.
   
• 15 FROM A RECORD
  With five games left, the Blue Jackets need 15 more goals to break a franchise record for the most goals in a season. The 244 they've scored this season ranks as the fourth-best, with the all-time record of 258 coming in the 2021-22 season. They would need to average three goals over the final five to obtain the record.
   
• LINEUPS CHANGES & PROJECTIONS:
  Outside of the changes to the goaltenders, there are no changes to the rest of the lineup. Forward trios and defensive pairs will remain the same. Here are the projected lines: