By Carey Van Lue

OCT. 14, 2023 II NATIONWIDE ARENA II VS. NEW YORK RANGERS

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)

Rangers to Watch

«  LW Artemi Panarin, who led New York in assists and points in 2022-23 with 29-63-92 in 82 contests, collected 1-1-2 in the club’s season opener on Thursday at Buffalo.

«  D Adam Fox finished fourth-T among NHL blueliners in assists and eighth in points in 2022-23 with 12-60-72 in 82 contests.

«  G Igor Shesterkin, who stopped 24-of-25 shots in a 5-1 win on Thursday at Buffalo, ranked third-T in the NHL in wins in 2022-23, finishing with a 37-13-8 record, 2.48 GAA and .916 SV% in 58 contests.

All-Time Series

«  Columbus has gone 21-21-5 in 47 all-time meetings vs. New York, including 11-14-1 at home.

«  The Rangers won both games at Nationwide Arena in 2022-23 and have captured victories in five of the last six in Ohio after the Blue Jackets posted points in four-straight (3-0-1) from Oct. 13, 2017-Jan. 13, 2019.

«  The winning team has recorded four or more goals in six of the last seven games of the series dating back to Oct. 29, 2021.

«  Columbus owns three of the five shutouts in the all-time series but the Rangers’ Igor Shesterkin has picked up the last two in the series (31 saves in 4-0 win at NYR on Oct. 29, 2021 and 20 saves in 6-0 win at CBJ on Apr. 8, 2023).

«  The Blue Jackets have recorded the most recent hat trick (Artemi Panarin in 5-3 win at NYR on Mar. 20, 2018) and penalty shot attempt (Brandon Saad, unsuccessful in 5-2 win at NYR on Feb. 26, 2017).

This Season (CBJ, 0-0-0)

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

«  Nov. 12, 2023 – at NY Rangers (7 p.m. ET)

«  Feb. 25, 2023 – at COLUMBUS (6 p.m. ET)

«  Feb. 28, 2023 – at NY Rangers (7 p.m. ET)

Player Notables vs. Rangers

«  LW Johnny Gaudreau – 9-8-17 in 17 career contests, including five career multi-point efforts.

«  F Patrik Laine – 4-3-7 in 11 career outings, including 0-2-2 in his last two home contests against the club.

«  D Damon Severson – 4-12-16 in 37 career appearances, including 1-1-2 in his last four home games.

BLUE JACKETS TEAM NOTES

• The Blue Jackets kicked off their 23^rd NHL season with a 4-2 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday.
• The club continues a four-game homestand (Oct. 12 vs. Philadelphia, Oct. 14 vs. NY Rangers, Oct. 16 vs. Detroit and Oct. 20 vs. Calgary) to start the season.  It’s the longest homestand at the start of a campaign in franchise history, surpassing a three-game homestand to start the 2016-17 campaign.
• 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.
• CBJ play their first three games of the season against Eastern Conference foes (two vs. Metropolitan Division) before playing three consecutive against the Western Conference from October 20-24.
• 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.

BLUE JACKETS PLAYER NOTES

• G Elvis Merzlikins turned aside 33-of-35 shots against the Flyers (.943 SV%).  He made 30 or more saves on 12 occasions in 2022-23.
• Making his NHL debut on his 19^th birthday, C Adam Fantilli became the 18^th teenager in franchise history to make his NHL debut and the eighth to record a point after picking up an assist in the first period on Thursday.  Fantilli, who was selected third overall in the 2023 NHL Draft, 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.
• C Boone Jenner, who collected an assist in Thursday’s opener, 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/C Patrik Laine set an NHL record by scoring a goal in Thursday’s season opener.  With his goal, Laine has recorded a point in eight consecutive season-opening games, the longest streak to begin a career and surpassing Mats Sundin (7; 1990-91 to 1996-97), Joe Sakic (7, 1988-89 to 1994-95) and Wayne Gretzky (1979-80 to 1985-86). The forward 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 assisted on both Blue Jackets goals on Thursday to record his first career multi-assist and seventh career multi-point game.  He finished tied for the NHL lead among rookies in power play goals and third in goals while setting franchise rookie records in both categories with 21-4-25 and seven PPG in 59 appearances in 2022-23.
• D Jake Bean, who missed the final 68 games of the 2022-23 season due to a shoulder injury, scored Columbus’ first goal on Thursday.  It was his first goal in almost a year, last scoring on Oct. 20, 2022 vs. Nashville.
• 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 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.

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 one goal from 200 for his NHL career (199-181-380, 463 GP).
• C Jack Roslovic is 10 points from 200 for his NHL career (71-119-190, 387 GP).
• D Andrew Peeke is four games away from his 200^th NHL game (9-25-34, 196 GP).

OhioHEALTH INJURY REPORT

• RW Yegor Chinakhov (back strain) is on the Injured/Non Roster List (Week-to-Week); 1 game
• 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); 1 game
• G Daniil Tarasov (knee) is on the Injured/Non Roster List (Week-to-Week); 1 game
• D Zach Werenski (quad contusion) is on Injured Reserve (1-to-2 Weeks)

TOTAL MAN GAMES LOST: 3

COURTESY BLUE JACKETS COMMUNICATIONS