Devils to Watch

«  D Dougie Hamilton, who has collected points in seven-straight games (5-9-14), ranks second among NHL blueliners in goals, fourth in points and sixth in assists with 15-37-52 in 52 games this season.

«  C Jack Hughes sits tied for third in the NHL in goals and ninth in points and has already set single-season career highs in goals, assists and points with 35-32-67 in 50 contests in 2022-23.

«  G Vitek Vanecek ranks fourth-T in the League in goals-against average and seventh in wins with a 22-5-3 record, 2.32 GAA, .916 save percentage and two shutouts in 34 appearances.

All-Time Series

«  Columbus is 27-15-3 in 45 all-time meetings vs. New Jersey, including 16-7-0 at home.

«  The club has won 15 of the last 19 games of the series dating back to Mar. 5, 2017 (15-3-1), outscoring the Devils 59-36 over that stretch.

«  The Blue Jackets have won the last seven home games in the series since Feb. 10, 2018, outscoring the Devils 30-10.  The club has scored four-plus goals in each of the last five home victories.

«  CBJ have recorded power play goals in two of the last three meetings (2-of-8; 25.0 pct.) and three of the past five (3-of-14; 21.4 pct.).

«  Columbus owns four of the seven shutouts in the all-time series with Elvis Merzlikins registering the most recent one with 41 saves in a 5-0 win on Jan. 18, 2020 at Nationwide Arena.

«  The Blue Jackets own the lone hat trick in the series when Nick Foligno notched one on Feb. 25, 2016 in a 6-1 win in Columbus.

This Season (CBJ, 0-1-0)

«  Oct. 30, 2022 – at NJD 7, CBJ 1

«  Feb. 14, 2023 – at COLUMBUS (7 p.m. ET)

«  Apr. 6, 2023 – at New Jersey (7 p.m. ET)

Player Notables vs. New Jersey

«  LW Johnny Gaudreau – 6-16-22 in 14 GP with points in all but three of his contests, including points in eight consecutive games played against the club (6-12-18) prior to the clubs’ first meeting of the season on October 30 and points in six of his seven career home appearances (5-8-13) and each of the last four-straight (4-6-10).

«  C Boone Jenner – 10-7-17 in 30 career GP, including 2-1-3 in his last three contests overall and 3-5-8 with three multi-point efforts in his last seven home contests.

«  G Joonas Korpisalo – 5-2-0, 1.85 GAA and .934 SV% in 7 career GP, including wins in four of his last five appearances since Jan. 15, 2019 and a 4-0-0 record with a 1.50 GAA and .944 SV% in four career home contests.

«  LW Patrik Laine – 5-4-9 in 13 GP, including assists in each of his last two home contests (1-2-3).

BLUE JACKETS TEAM NOTES

• The Blue Jackets kicked off the post NHL All-Star break splitting a home-and-home series against the Toronto Maple Leafs, falling 3-0 at Nationwide Arena on Friday and earning a 4-3 victory at Scotiabank Arena on Saturday.
• Columbus is 3-3-2 in its last eight games overall, including 1-1-1 at home since January 21.
• Trailing 2-0 in Toronto on Saturday, the Blue Jackets earned their eighth comeback victory of the campaign (fourth multi-goal comeback win).
• CBJ close out a stretch of four-straight games against the Eastern Conference on Tuesday.  The club will then play six-straight against the Western Conference from February 16-26, including four consecutive contests against the Central Division.
• The club has killed off 27-of-33 opponent power plays over the last 13 games dating back to January 12 (81.8 pct.).
• The Jackets have scored on 5-of-22 chances (22.7 pct.) over their last eight contests dating back to January 21.
• Columbus blueliners have registered 6-16-22 in the last 14 contests and 22-57-79 in 53 games this season.
• CBJ rookies combined for 2-2-4 and scored the game-winning goal on Saturday.  They have combined for 19-15-34 over the last 22 games and lead all NHL teams in goals and rank second in points with 32-33-65 in 53 contests in 2022-23.  It’s the fourth-most goals scored by team rookies in franchise history, trailing only 2017-18 (37), 2019-20 (35) and 2000-01 (33).  RW Kirill Marchenko (14) and C Kent Johnson (11) are the third pair of rookie teammates to score double digit goals in a single season in club history, joining C Serge Aubin (13) and RW David Vyborny (13) in 2000-01 and C Pierre-Luc Dubois (20) and LW Sonny Milano (14) in 2017-18.

BLUE JACKETS PLAYER NOTES

• LW Johnny Gaudreau skated in his seventh career NHL All-Star – and first representing the Blue Jackets – on February 4.  He has collected points in seven of his last nine games (2-7-9) after collecting an assist on Saturday.  He leads the team in assists and points with 14-36-50 in 53 contests this season and set the franchise record for fewest games played to record 50 career points, surpassing the mark set by Ray Whitney (56 GP).
• C Boone Jenner registered his sixth multi-point effort of the campaign with 1-1-2 on Saturday and has notched 4-2-6 in his last eight contests.
• C Kent Johnson collected his fifth multi-point outing of the season on Saturday (1-1-2) and has 3-4-7 in the past eight contests.  He ranks fourth-T among NHL rookies in points, fifth-T in goals and seventh in points-per-game (min. 20 GP) with 11-15-26 in 50 contests (.52 Pt/GP).
• LW Patrik Laine has tallied 2-7-9 in his last nine outings.  He has collected 5-10-15 in his last 14 contests to raise his season totals to 14-17-31 in 38 contests.
• RW Kirill Marchenko recorded his third multi-point effort of the campaign with 1-1-2, picking up his first career assist in the victory.  He ranks second among NHL rookie goal scorers in 2022-23 with 14-1-15 in 30 games and leads League rookies in goals and ranks third-T in points since making his NHL debut on December 6.  He was the third player in NHL history to have each of his first 13 (or more) career regular-season points come solely in the form of goals, joining Joe Malone (16-0-16 in 1917-18 w/ MTL) and John McKinnon (13-0-13 in 1926-27 w/ PIR).
• RW Mathieu Olivier has registered assists in two of the last three games and has set career highs in assists, points and games played this season with 3-6-9 in 48 games.
• D Andrew Peeke recorded eight hits and eight blocked shots in Saturday’s victory, tying his career high in both categories (second time for both).  He ranks 13^th in the NHL with 111 blocked shots in 2022-23.
• C Jack Roslovic collected an assist on Saturday and has picked up 3-19-22 in 32 outings since December 1 after totaling 1-5-6 in his first 18 games of the campaign.

BLUE JACKETS MILESTONES

• D Gavin Bayreuther is seven games from 100 for his NHL career (5-15-20, 93 GP).
• D Erik Gudbranson in seven games from 700 for his NHL career (28-76-104, 693 GP).
• C Sean Kuraly is two games from 400 for his NHL career (48-64-112, 398 GP).
• LW Patrik Laine is 10 goals from 200 for his NHL career (190-168-258, 445 GP).
• RW Mathieu Olivier is four games from 100 for his NHL career (6-10-16, 96 GP).

OhioHEALTH INJURY REPORT

• D Jake Bean (shoulder) is on Injured Reserve (Nov. 17); out 4-to-6 months (38 games)
• RW Yegor Chinakhov (ankle) is on Injured Reserve (Dec. 20); 4 weeks (22 games)
• C/RW Justin Danforth (torn labrum) is on Injured Reserve (Oct. 25); 6 months (47 games)
• RW Carson Meyer (oblique strain) is on Injured Reserve (Jan. 10); 6-to-8 weeks (13 games)
• LW Gustav Nyquist (shoulder) is on Injured Reserve (Jan. 25); expected to miss rest of reg. season (5 games)
• LW Jakub Voracek (upper body) is on Injured Reserve (Nov. 4); out indefinitely (42 games)
• D Zach Werenski (shoulder separation/torn labrum) is on Injured Reserve (Nov. 10); expected to miss rest or reg. season (40 games)

TOTAL MAN GAMES LOST: 361

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