Buffalo looks to right the ship with a three-game win streak, but a tough matchup in Columbus looms.

The Buffalo Sabres will look to continue to punch their way up through the Eastern Conference with a Wednesday night matchup against the Columbus Blue Jackets. The Sabres and Blue Jackets will meet for the first time this season at 8 p.m. ET on NBCSN.

Buffalo and Columbus have trended opposite directions in their most recent games. Coming into Wednesday, the Blue Jackets have lost their last two games, while the Sabres won their previous two.

Jack Eichel, the Sabres star forward, will have his hands full with a stout Blue Jackets defense. Eichel leads the Sabres as one of three players with 11 points in 10 games, alongside teammates Evander Kane and Jason Pominville. At the other end, they’ll face a Blue Jackets defensive core led by youngsters Zach Werenski and Seth Jones, and a wall of a goaltender in Sergei Bobrovsky.

Columbus has allowed just 21 goals against on the year through eight games, and Eichel and the Sabres will have a tough challenge ahead of them if they want to win their third straight.

Time, TV channel, and streaming info

• Time: 8 p.m. ET
• Location: Nationwide Arena, Columbus
• TV: NBCSN
• Streaming: NBCSports.com
• Odds: Columbus -230

Sabres vs. Blue Jackets news:

• The Sabres may get some depth back by game time.

Zemgus Girgensons and Justin Falk skated yesterday and Phil Housley said they were close to returning. We’ll have to wait until later to see if either get into the lineup with no morning skate today.

• Eichel has been great, but the performance of the Sabres netminders has colored his fantastic start to the season.
• Columbus is looking for better defense from their top line after allowing Los Angeles to walk all over them in their previous game.

Coach John Tortorella is looking for an improvement from his top-line defense, after the Los Angeles Kings top line of Dustin Brown, Anze Kopitar, and rookie Alex Iafallo combined for 3-6-9 Saturday night LA’s win over Columbus. All three were a plus-5 rating.

Tortorella following Saturday’s loss:

“I thought that was probably (the Wennberg line’s) worst period of the game when we needed it to be their best period.”

• The addition of Artermi Panarin has been just what the Blue Jackets have needed on offense.

He has a team-lead nine points, eight assists, and is the only forward cracking 20-minute ice-time on average. Tortorella also spoke glowingly of Panarin after the teams’ first game against the Islanders.

Sabres vs. Blue Jackets prediction:

The Sabres are still a bit wobbly in net while the Blue Jackets have the ever-steady Bobrovsky. Buffalo will likely find it hard to get traction against a better defensive Blue Jackets squad as their win streak falls apart after two games.