By Melville Van Buren

OCT. 12, 2023 II NATIONWIDE ARENA II VS. PHILADELPHIA FLYERS

II BROADCAST INFORMATION

TV:  Bally Sports Ohio           Jeff Rimer (play-by-play), Jody Shelley (analyst), Dave Maetzold (reporter)
Radio:  97.1 The Fan              Bob McElligott (play-by-play), Dylan Tyrer (host)

Flyers to Watch

«  RW Travis Konecny led the team in goals and points in 2022-23, finishing with 31-30-61 in 60 outings.

«  RW Owen Tippett led Philadelphia in power play goals and ranked second in goals last season, posting 27-22-49 and eight PPG in 77 games.

«  G Carter Hart owns an 84-84-26 record with a 2.96 goals-against average and .906 save percentage in 201 career games since making his NHL debut in 2018-19.

All-Time Series

«  Columbus has gone 25-16-6 in 47 all-time meetings vs. Philadelphia, including 15-4-4 at home.

«  CBJ won the two games at Nationwide Arena in the 2022-23 series, scoring five goals in each game (5-2 win on Nov. 10, 2022 and 5-4 OT win on Nov. 15, 2022).

«  The Blue Jackets have recorded points in five of the last seven games in the series overall (4-2-1).

«  Ten of the last 15 meetings at Nationwide Arena have been decided after regulation (seven in overtime and three in shootout).

«  The winning team has recorded four or more goals in six-straight games and 14 of the last 16 in the series since Mar. 15, 2018.

«  Columbus owns three of the five shutouts in the all-time series with Sergei Bobrovsky earning the most recent one with 36 saves in a 1-0 win at Columbus on Mar. 25, 2017.

«  Neither team has recorded a penalty shot in the all-time series while Cam Atkinson posted the lone hat trick while with Columbus in a 5-3 win at Philadelphia on Mar. 15, 2018.

This Season (CBJ, 0-0-0)

«  Oct. 12, 2023 – at COLUMBUS (7 p.m. ET)

«  Nov. 19, 2023 – at Philadelphia (5:30 p.m. ET)

«  Jan. 4, 2024 – at Philadelphia (7 p.m. ET)

«  Apr. 6, 2024 – at COLUMBUS (7 p.m. ET)

Player Notables vs. Flyers

«  LW Johnny Gaudreau – 6-16-22 in 17 career games vs. the Flyers, including points in seven-straight games against the club (2-7-9) and assists in five consecutive (1-6-7).

«  C Boone Jenner – 13-5-18 in 30 career games vs. Philadelphia, including multiple points in each of his last three contests (4-2-6) and points in his last three home games (4-1-5).

«  F Patrik Laine – 4-5-9 in 13 career games vs. the Flyers, including assists in each of his last two contests against the club (0-2-2) and 3-2-5 in his last seven overall.

«  D Zach Werenski – 3-8-11 in 18 career games vs. Philadelphia, including 1-2-3 in his last three appearances against the Flyers.

II BLUE JACKETS OPENING NIGHT INFO

«  The Blue Jackets CBJ invite fans to the Opening Night Plaza Party, presented by Nationwide with the party starting at 3:30 p.m.

«  The party includes a “blue carpet” arrival of the Blue Jackets with players arriving expected to arrive between 4-5 p.m.

«  Fans are welcome to join the Union Blue March to Nationwide Arena starting at 6 p.m. at the corner of Front and Vine Streets.

«  The club will hold an Opening Night ceremony featuring individual player introductions and more.

II BLUE JACKETS TEAM NOTES

• The Blue Jackets kick off their 23^rd NHL season with a four-game homestand (Oct. 12 vs. Philadelphia, Oct. 14 vs. NY Rangers, Oct. 16 vs. Detroit and Oct. 20 vs. Calgary).
• The four-game homestand is the longest homestand at the start of the season in franchise history, surpassing a three-game homestand to start the 2016-17 campaign.
• CBJ have gone 9-11-2 in season-opening games, including a 3-3-0 mark in the past six.
• Thursday’s contest against the Flyers marks the 15^th time that the club will kick off a campaign at home.  The team has rotated between starting at home and on the road in each of the last seven home openers.
• The Blue Jackets play five of their first six games of the season at home and six of nine overall in the month of October.
• The club made a change behind the bench following the 2022-23 season with Pascal Vincent being named head coach on Sept. 17, 2023.  Vincent served the last two years as the club’s associate coach.  He previously served as head coach of the AHL’s Manitoba Moose from 2016-21 and of the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles (2000-08) and Montreal Juniors (2008-11) in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.
• Columbus finished the 2023 preseason with a 4-3-1 record, going 3-1-0 at home and 1-2-1 on the road.  The club scored 27 goals (3.38 goals-for) in the eight games and allowed 25 (3.13 goals-against).
• The club finished 3-of-20 (15.0 pct.) on the power play in the preseason while finishing 19-of-25 on the penalty kill (76.0 pct).
• CBJ completed their 22^nd NHL season with a 25-48-9 record (59 pts./.360 pts. Pct.) in 2022-23.  The team finished eighth in the Metropolitan Division and 16^th in the Eastern Conference.

II BLUE JACKETS PLAYER NOTES

• CBJ acquired a pair of veteran blueliners over the summer, adding Ivan Provorov in a three-team trade from the Flyers on June 6 and Damon Severson from the New Jersey Devils on June 9.  Provorov was selected seventh overall in the 2015 NHL Draft and notched 65-152-217 in 532 career games with the club while Severson registered 58-205-263 in 647 career games with New Jersey after being selected in the second round, 30^th overall, in the 2012 NHL Draft.
• The Blue Jackets selected C Adam Fantilli third overall in the 2023 NHL Draft.  Fantilli, who turns 19-years-old on opening night, became the third freshman in NCAA history to win the Hobey Baker Award as the NCAA’s top collegiate player, joining Paul Kariya (1993) and Jack Eichel (2015) after leading all players in goals and points with 30-35-65 in 36 games at the University of Michigan in 2022-23.
• Seven-time NHL All-Star LW Johnny Gaudreau led the club in assists and points and finished third-T in goals with 21-53-74 in 80 games in his first season with the Blue Jackets in 2022-23.
• C Boone Jenner led the Blue Jackets in goals and ranked second-T in power play goals with 26-19-45 and seven PPG in 68 contests last season.
• LW Patrik Laine led the Blue Jackets in power play goals and points-per-game and ranked second in goals and points despite missing 27 games due to injury in 2022-23 as he finished with 22-30-52 and eight PPG in 55 outings (.95 points-per-game).
• RW Kirill Marchenko set franchise records for most goals and power play goals (tied) by a rookie with 21-4-25 and seven PPG in 59 appearances in 2022-23.  He finished tied for the NHL lead among rookies in PPG and third in goals.
• C Kent Johnson led CBJ rookies in assists and points with 16-24-40 in 79 appearances last season, posting the third-most points and fourth-most goals (tied) and assists by a rookie in club history.
• D Adam Boqvist set single-season career highs in assists and points with 5-19-24 in 46 games in 2022-23.

II BLUE JACKETS MILESTONES

• D Adam Boqvist is two games from 100 for his CBJ career (16-30-46, 98 GP).
• C Liam Foudy is 11 games from 100 for his NHL career (7-12-19, 89 GP).
• C/LW Patrik Laine is two goals from 200 for his NHL career (198-181-379, 462 GP).
• C Jack Roslovic is 10 points from 200 for his NHL career (71-119-190, 386 GP).
• D Andrew Peeke is five games away from his 200^th NHL game (9-25-34, 195 GP).

II OhioHEALTH INJURY REPORT

• RW Yegor Chinakhov (back strain) is on the Injured/Non Roster List (Week-to-Week)
• RW Jordan Dumais (upper body) is on the Injured/Non-Roster List (Day-to-Day)
• RW Mathieu Olivier (leg) is on Injured Reserve (Day-to-Day)
• G Daniil Tarasov (knee) is on the Injured/Non Roster List (Week-to-Week)

TOTAL MAN GAMES LOST: 0

COURTESY BLUE JACKETS COMMUNICATIONS