Establishing a home identity is the biggest concern for the Boston Bruins past the midway point of the 2015-16 season. With a 10-12-2 mark at TD Garden, the Black and Gold’s inconsistencies at home were front and center in Thursday’s loss to the Canucks as they failed to get to the .500 mark at their friendly confines.

Maybe the B’s will be able to take a baby step tonight as they welcome former teammate Gregory Campbell and the John Tortorella-less Columbus Blue Jackets to Causeway Street. The headstrong Tortorella, who took over for Todd Richards in October, suffered broken ribs in a collision with Rene Bourque during Friday’s outdoor practice in Ohio’s capital city. He did not travel with his team and will watch from home.

@NHLBruins thanks, Coach!

— NHL Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) January 23, 2016

With the Bruins getting healthier, they’ll hope to get something going at home against the 30th ranked team in the NHL and come away with two points in their first of three meetings with the Blue Jackets this season.

Gametime: 7:00 p.m.
TV/Radio: NESN/98.5 The Sports Hub
Records: Bruins 24-17-5 (53 points), Blue Jackets 17-27-4 (38 points)
Location: TD Garden

Bruins projected lines

Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-Brett Connolly
Matt Beleskey-David Krejci-Loui Eriksson
Landon Ferraro-Ryan Spooner-Jimmy Hayes
Zac Rinaldo-Max Talbot-David Pastrnak

Zdeno Chara-Zach Trotman
Dennis Seidenberg-Joe Morrow
Torey Krug-Kevan Miller

Tuukka Rask
Jonas Gustavsson

Blue Jackets projected lines

Boone Jenner-Alexander Wennberg-Cam Atkinson
Scott Hartnell-Brandon Dubinsky-Brandon Saad
Kerby Reichel-William Karlsson-Nick Foligno
Matt Calvert-Gregory Campbell-Josh Anderson

Ryan Murray-Seth Jones
Jack Johnson-Cody Goloubef
Fedor Tyutin-Dalton Prout

Joonas Korpisalo
Anton Forsberg

Matchup to watch: Bruins offense vs. league-worst defense

A healthy David Krejci looks to get on the scoresheet against the league’s worst defense in the Columbus Blue Jackets. (Photo by Joe Makarski, Bruins Daily)

Missing a solid goaltender like Sergei Bobrovsky is never easy. Adding to that another defensive loss in David Savard and now you see why that the Blue Jackets have allowed the most goals (155, an average of 3.23 per game) in the NHL.

The Bruins, ranked third in the NHL in average goals per game (2.98) and fourth in overall goals (137), come into tonight with a healthy Krejci and David Pastrnak for the second game in a row. Whether Pastrnak plays on one of the scoring lines, however, remains to be seen especially given his performance on Thursday night against the Canucks that caused Claude Julien to move him down to the third and fourth lines.

Sure, the Blue Jackets have a promising defensive pair in Ryan Murray and former Predator Seth Jones — first round picks in 2012 and 2013, respectively. But injuries to the goaltending and defense have forced Tortorella to move some pieces around on the back end. We’ll see if the Bruins offense can take advantage of that tonight.

Storyline to watch: The David Pastrnak conundrum

David Pastrnak is coming off one of his worst games of his young NHL career on Thursday night. (Photo by Joe Makarski, Bruins Daily)

Despite playing a little over seven minutes in the win against the Canadiens, David Pastrnak made the most of his ice time tallying a goal and an assist in the 4-1 triumph. Just 48 hours later, Pastrnak, despite assisting on Jimmy Hayes’ second period goal, had one of the worst games of his young career as he committed seven turnovers. That caused Julien to move him down the lineup after starting the game with Krejci and Loui Eriksson on the second line.

“In Dave Pastrnak’s case, I know he had an assist tonight, but you know I think he had about four or five giveaways there, unforced errors,” Julien said about Pastrnak during his postgame press conference on Thursday. “He’s playing against top lines, and we need players to be better in those areas, so I tried to put a little bit more experience to play against that.”

For someone coming off two injuries this season, most recently an upper body ailment, Pastrnak has had his share of rough nights both on and off the ice. Against a team like the Blue Jackets, the 2014 first rounder has an opportunity to shake off Thursday’s performance and perhaps build some confidence.

Whichever line he skates on tonight, Pastrnak needs to take advantage of his opportunity.