The Columbus Blue Jackets meet the Pittsburgh Penguins NHL PLAYOFFS Free LIve Streaming Online Hockey Wednesday night at 7:30 PM ET

The Blue Jackets are the closest NHL team to the Penguins, at least geographically. The two franchises are separated by 185 miles of highway.

Their resumes and the expectations that come with them, however, are worlds apart.

The next postseason game Columbus wins will be its first since entering the league in 2000. Call it the byproduct of a dozen seasons spent mostly as so much expansion fodder for the top-heavy Western Conference.

Moved to the Eastern Conference as part of realignment, the Blue Jackets have made no secret of their desire to start a regional rivalry with the Penguins. The foundation can be laid over the next two weeks as they meet in the opening round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Game 1 is Wednesday night in Pittsburgh, where the hosts are doing their best to not get overconfident despite sweeping all five regular season games between the clubs, outscoring Columbus 16-8 in the process.

"They were good hockey games," Penguins coach Dan Bylsma told the team's website. "I don't think you can say 'Hey we won five' and that's going to have some large bearing on this series."

It's not the same for Columbus, which will be without veteran forward Nathan Horton for the entire series and center R.J. Umberger and winger Nick Foligno for Game 1 because of lingering injuries. The Blue Jackets figure it's just one more thing to overcome.

"We're the underdog in the series," forward Matt Calvert said. "We like being in that position."

Then again, they should be used to it.

The game will be live streaming onlinenhl.aoso.ru/‎