By Carey Van Lue

Devils to Watch

«  LW Jesper Bratt leads the club in points and ranks second in goals and assists with 8-15-23 in 17 appearances, including 1-3-4 in the past four contests.

«  D Dougie Hamilton, who had his three-game assist streak (0-4-4) snapped on Wednesday, leads club blueliners with 5-9-14 in 17 outings.

«  C Jack Hughes leads the NHL in points-per-game (1.83) after racking up 6-16-22 with seven multi-point efforts in just 12 games this season.

All-Time Series

«  Columbus has gone 27-17-3 in 47 all-time games against New Jersey, including 11-9-3 on the road.

«  The Devils won all three games in the 2022-23 season series after Columbus won 15 of the previous 18 from Mar. 5, 2017-Mar. 1, 2022 (15-2-1).

«  CBJ are 10-4-1 in the last 15 contests at the Prudential Center with New Jersey winning the three most home games.

«  The winning team has scored four or more goals in four of the last five games of the series.

«  Five of the past eight games in the series have been decided by a single goal.

«  Columbus owns four of the seven shutouts in the all-time series with Elvis Merzlikins turning aside all 41 shots faced in a 5-0 win at CBJ on Jan. 18, 2020 in the most recent instance.

«  CBJ have also recorded the lone hat trick in the series (Foligno; Feb. 25, 2016) and all four penalty shot attempts (MR: Atkinson goal; Dec. 20, 2018).

This Season (CBJ, 0-0-0)

«  Nov. 24, 2023 – at New Jersey (3 p.m. ET)

«  Dec. 16, 2023 – at COLUMBUS (7 p.m. ET)

«  Dec. 27, 2023 – at New Jersey (3 p.m. ET)

«  Jan. 19, 2024 – at COLUMBUS (7 p.m. ET

Player Notables vs. Devils

«  D Adam Boqvist – 1-3-4 in 5 career GP, collecting two multi-point efforts in his last three games against the club.

«  RW Yegor Chinakhov – 2-0-2 in 3 career GP with goals in each of his past two contests vs. New Jersey.

«  LW Johnny Gaudreau – 7-16-23 in 16 career GP with points in 12 of his appearances (seven multi-point outings).

«  C Boone Jenner – 10-8-18 in 32 career GP, including 3-2-5 in his last seven outings against the Devils.

«  F Patrik Laine – 5-5-10 in 14 career GP, including 2-5-7 with two multi-point efforts in his past eight contests.

«  LW Eric Robinson – 0-4-4 in 8 career GP, including two assists in his past three outings.

«  D Zach Werenski – 3-4-7 in 18 career GP, including 2-3-5 in the last nine games.

BLUE JACKETS TEAM NOTES

• The Blue Jackets scored a season-high seven goals in a 7-3 victory over the Blackhawks on Wednesday.  The club previously scored five goals on two occasions.
• CBJ have played nine one-goal games this season, including in six of the last nine.  Another four contests have been two goal finishes thanks to the addition of empty net goals (Oct. 12 vs. PHI, Oct. 20 vs. CGY, Nov. 2 vs. TBL and Nov. 14 vs. PIT).
• Columbus closes out a stretch of six-of-eight games against Metropolitan Division opponents from Nov. 12-26 on Friday at New Jersey and Sunday at Carolina.
• The club killed off all four Chicago power play chances on Wednesday and now has allowed power play goals in just two of the past 13 games (Thu. vs. ARI) and (Sun. vs. PHI), killing off 32-of-34 opponent power play chances (94.1 pct.).
• CBJ rank third in the NHL in penalty kill percentage this season at 88.1 pct. (52-of-59) and lead the League in penalty kill percentage since Oct. 20 (91.7 pct.), killing off 44-of-48 opponent power play chances over the last 17 games.
• The Blue Jackets scored three first period goals on Wednesday and rank fifth-T in the NHL with 23 first period goals this season.
• Columbus has combined for 169 blocked shots over the past nine games (since Nov. 6) and ranks second in the NHL in blocked shots (378) and blocked shots-per-60 minutes (18.65).
• Blue Jackets blueliners tied a single-game club record with eight points (1-7-8) in Wednesday’s win over the Blackhawks.  They have combined for 4-12-16 over the past four contests and rank third among NHL defensive units in assists and points (tied) with 9-44-53 in 20 games this season.
• CBJ rookie class has posted 8-14-22 in 20 games this season, ranking second among teams’ rookies in assists and third in goals and points, trailing only Anaheim and Chicago in scoring (25).
• CBJ are 10-7-1 in games played on the day after American Thanksgiving, including posting wins in six of the past seven Black Friday contests. It’s the third-straight Black Friday contest for the club, most recently falling 3-2 to the NY Islanders last Nov. 25. The club’s last Black Friday road game was played in 2016, downing Tampa Bay 5-3 on Nov. 25.
• The team plays its second of eight Friday games of the season when it visits the Devils. CBJ, who won 3-1 over Calgary on Oct. 20 in the first game, plays on three-straight Fridays (Dec. 1 vs. Ottawa, Dec. 8 vs. St. Louis).

BLUE JACKETS PLAYER NOTES

• RW Justin Danforth, who ranks second-T on the club in goals (5), has collected 2-1-3 in his last six games.
• 2023 third overall pick C Adam Fantilli, who collected an assist on Wednesday, ranks fourth-T among League rookies in points, fifth-T in goals and sixth-T in assists with 4-6-10 in 20 appearances.  At 19-years and 41 days he become the third-youngest player in franchise history at the time of his 10th career NHL point, behind only Rick Nash (18 years, 202 days) and Cole Sillinger (18 years, 301 days).
• LW Johnny Gaudreau collected an assist in his 100th career game with the Blue Jackets (23-59-82 in 100 GP) on Wednesday.  His 59 assists and 82 points are the third-most among all players through the benchmark contest with the franchise behind Artemi Panarin (32-71-103) and Ray Whitney (32-64-96).
• D Erik Gudbranson, who notched a goal on Wednesday, has posted 2-6-8 in 20 contests, including two multi-assist efforts in four contests from Nov. 2-12 (0-5-5).  He had collected three multi-assist outings in his first 722 career games.  He leads the team and ranks fifth in the NHL in blocked shots this season (51).
• C Boone Jenner scored his second multi-goal game of the campaign with his team-leading ninth and 10^th goals on Wednesday.  With 10-3-13 in 20 games, he has scored at least 10 goals through his first 20 games of a season for the second time in his career (also 2021-22: 10).  Just two other Blue Jackets players in the past decade have had a double-digit goal total through their first 20 games of a season: Cam Atkinson (13 in 2018-19) and Nick Foligno (10 in 2014-15).
• C Sean Kuraly, who is tied for second on the team in goals (5), collected an assist on Sunday and has recorded points in five of the last seven games (2-3-5) and 3-3-6 in the past eight outings.
• RW Kirill Marchenko picked up his second multi-point game of the campaign with 1-1-2 on Wednesday and has totaled 5-3-8 in his past 11 appearances.  With 5-6-11 in 18 contests this season, he has already set a new career high in assists after posting 21-4-24 in 59 contests during his 2022-23 rookie campaign.
• D Ivan Provorov has registered points in four-straight games (1-3-4), including his first goal as a Blue Jacket on Saturday at Washington.  He ranks second on the team in assists, points (tied) and time on ice with 1-12-13 on 23:15 TOI in 20 outings.
• F Alexandre Texier, who missed Wednesday’s game due to illness, has recorded points in six of his past eight outings (4-3-7).
• LW Dmitri Voronkov tallied a goal on Wednesday and has collected 1-4-5 in the last eight games and has posted 3-6-9 in his first 14 NHL games.  He ranks sixth-T among NHL rookies in assists and eighth-T in points.
• D Zach Werenski finished with four assists and a +5 rating in Wednesday’s win, setting a club record for assists by a defenseman in single game and tying the franchise mark for most points (4th time, 2nd by Wereneski) and highest plus/minus rating (5th time).  With 10 assists in 11 November games, he has tied the Blue Jackets benchmark for most assists by a defenseman in a single month, tying Seth Jones (Feb. 2021), James Wisniewski (Jan. 2014), Ryan Murray (Jan. 2014) and Ron Hainsey (Dec. 2006).
• CBJ have three rookies on the team with 19-year-olds C Adam Fantilli (2023 third overall pick) and D David Jiricek (2022 sixth round pick) as well as 23-year-old F Dmitri Voronkov (2019 fourth round pick, 114^th overall).

BLUE JACKETS MILESTONES

• LW Johnny Gaudreau is nine points from 700 for his NHL career (233-458-691, 702 GP).
• D Andrew Peeke is one game away from his 200^th NHL game (9-26-35, 199 GP).

OhioHEALTH INJURY REPORT

• G Daniil Tarasov (knee) is on the Injured/Non Roster List on Oct. 9 (Week-to-Week); 20 games
• F Jack Roslovic (fractured ankle) is on Injured Reserve on Nov. 13 (4-to-6 Weeks); 5 games
• D Damon Severson (oblique) injured on Nov. 19 (Approx. 6 Weeks); 1 game

TOTAL MAN GAMES LOST: 45

COURTESY BLUE JACKETS COMMUNICATIONS