By Carey Van Lue

Kings to Watch

«  D Vladislav Gavrikov spent four seasons with the Blue Jackets (15-58-73in 256 GP) after being selected 159^th overall I the 2015 NHL Draft and has 2-4-6 in 21 appearances in his first full campaign with Los Angeles.

«  C Anze Kopitar, who is tied for second on the club in scoring (10-10-20, 21 GP) became the Kings’ all-time leader in assists with his 758^th career helper on Sunday and has totaled 20-19-39 in 43 career games vs. CBJ.

«  G Cam Talbot ranks second among NHL netminders in GAA (min. 8 GP) and third in wins and SV% with a 11-4-1 record, 1.96 GAA and .930 SV% in 16 contests this season.

All-Time Series

«  Columbus has gone 27-31-7 in 65 all-time games against Los Angeles, including 17-11-4 at home.

«  CBJ have recorded points in five of the last seven contests in the series (4-2-1) dating back to Dec. 13, 2018.

«  The Blue Jackets have recorded points in four-straight home games of the series (3-0-1) and eight of the last 11 at Nationwide Arena since Mar. 8, 2012 (6-3-2).

«  The winning team has scored four or more goals in eight of the past 10 meetings.

«  Columbus has recorded a power play goal in six of the last nine home games of the series since Jan. 21, 2014 (7-of-22; 31.8 pct.), including finishing 2-of-3 on the man advantage in the most recent game in Ohio on Dec. 11, 2022.

«  The Blue Jackets have killed off all 14 Kings power play chances over the past seven games of the series overall as well as all 10 opportunities in the last five home contests and 18-of-19 over the past nine at home (94.7 pct.).

«  CBJ have recorded four of the nine shutouts in the all-time series, including the most recent one by Curtis Sanford (31 saves) in a 1-0 victory at Los Angeles on Jan. 7, 2012.

«  Columbus owns two of the six hat tricks with Tyler Wright (Oct. 27, 2002) and Ray Whitney (Feb. 27, 2003) each recording three goal games for the Blue Jackets.

This Season (CBJ, 0-0-0)

«  Dec. 5, 2023 – at COLUMBUS (7 p.m. ET)

«  Feb. 20, 2024 – at Los Angeles (10:30 p.m. ET)

Player Notables vs. Kings

«  LW Johnny Gaudreau – 11-23-34 in 30 GP, has recorded points in six of his last seven games vs. LA (4-7-11) and eight of the past 10 (5-8-13) and has registered points in 12 of 15 career home outings (5-14-19), including points in each of his last four home contests (2-4-6) after notching 1-2-3 in the most recent meeting at Nationwide Arena on Dec. 11, 2022.

«  C Boone Jenner – 2-3-5 in 15 career GP, including goals in two of his last three home contests against the Kings.

«  F Patrik Laine – 6-4-10 in 15 career GP, including goals in each of his last three home appearances (3-3-6).

«  RW Kirill Marchenko – 2-0-2 in 2 career GP, with a goal in both games against the club in 2022-23.

«  D Ivan Provorov – 2-5-7 in 12 career GP, including assists in two-straight home games (0-3-3) and three of his past four home contests (0-4-4).

«  D Zach Werenski – 2-4-6 in 10 career GP, including 1-2-3 in his last four home appearances.

BLUE JACKETS TEAM NOTES

• The Blue Jackets fell to 4-3-0 in the last seven games overall following a 3-1 loss at Boston on Sunday.
• The team, which plays three of its next four contests at home, is 3-1-0 in the past four games at Nationwide Arena.
• CBJ have played 11 one-goal games this season.  Another five contests have been two goal finishes thanks to the addition of empty net goals (MR: Nov. 29 vs. Montreal).
• The Blue Jackets have scored the first goal of the game in six of the last seven and nine of the past 12 outings.
• CBJ play nine games in 15 days from Nov. 26-Dec. 10.
• The team is in a stretch of nine-of-13 games played at home from Nov. 27-Dec. 23.
• Sunday’s game at Boston kicked off a stretch of playing a team from each division over a span of six days this week. The team also faces Los Angeles (Pacific) on Tuesday, at the NY Islanders (Metropolitan) on Thursday and vs. St. Louis (Central) on Friday.
• The team has allowed a power play goal in two-straight games from Dec. 1-3 (8-of-11) for just the second time this season (5-of-8 from Oct. 14-16).  CBJ have allowed power play goals in just four of the past 19 games, killing off 46-of-51 opponent power play chances since Oct. 28 (90.2 pct.).
• CBJ rank fourth in the NHL in penalty kill percentage this season at 86.8 pct. (66-of-76) and lead the league in penalty kill percentage since Oct. 20 (89.2 pct.), killing off 58-of-65 opponent power play chances over the last 23 games.
• CBJ scored on both power play attempts on Friday, marking the 10th time in franchise history that the club finished 100 pct. on the power play in a game with multiple attempts (all 2-for-2; MR: Nov. 20, 2022 vs. Florida).  The club is 3-of-12 on the man advantage over the last four contests (25.0 pct.).
• Columbus is tied for second in the NHL in even-strength goals with 55, trailing only Vancouver (57).
• The Blue Jackets rank fourth in the NHL with 28 first period goals and sixth in first period goal differential (+7).
• Columbus has combined for 286 blocked shots over the past 15 games since Nov. 6 and ranks second in the NHL in blocked shots (495) and third in blocked shots-per-60 minutes (18.84).
• Blue Jackets blueliners have combined for 5-19-24 over the past 10 contests.  They rank third-T among NHL defensive units in assists and sixth in points with 10-51-61 in 26 games this season.  The club also leads the League in assists percentage (41.8 pct.) and points percentage (31.1 pct.) recorded by its defense.
• CBJ’s rookie class have combined for 11-16-27 in 26 games this season to rank second-T among teams’ rookies in goals and third in assists and points.  Columbus is one of three teams (Anaheim and Minnesota) to have two rookies with 10 or more points in 2023-24 (Fantilli-11, Voronkov-12).
• The Blue Jackets play their third of 16 Tuesday games of the season when they host the Kings.

BLUE JACKETS PLAYER NOTES

• RW Yegor Chinakhov has notched goals in two of his last four games and has totaled 2-2-4 in the last seven contests.
• 2023 third overall pick C Adam Fantilli notched his fifth goal of the season on Friday and ranks fifth-T among League rookies in goals and ninth-T in points with 5-6-11 in 26 appearances.
• LW Johnny Gaudreau has registered 2-5-7 in his last nine contests, including his second multi-assist and third multi-point outing of the season with two assists on Friday vs. Ottawa.
• D Erik Gudbranson leads the team and ranks sixth in the NHL in blocked shots this season (64).
• C Boone Jenner has notched goals in two-straight games and has registered points in seven of his last nine contests (6-3-9).  He leads the club in goals and even-strength goals and ranks second in points, while ranking sixth-T in the NHL in even-strength goals and 11^th-T in goals with 13-5-18 in 26 contests.  His four game-opening goals are tied with nine others for the most in the NHL.
• F Patrik Laine has recorded points in three of his last four games (2-1-3).
• RW Kirill Marchenko has recorded 3-1-4 in his past seven games.  He ranks second on the club in goals and has totaled 7-3-10 in his past 17 appearances.  With 7-6-13 in 24 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.
• G Elvis Merzlikins, who turned aside a season-high 41 shots in a 4-2 victory over Ottawa on Friday, is 3-2-0 with a 2.42 GAA and .937 SV% in his past five games dating back to Nov. 22.  He ranks fourth-T in the NHL in SV% since Nov. 12 (min. 6 GP) with a .921 SV% in nine contests.
• D Ivan Provorov ranks second on the team in assists and blocked shots and time on ice and third in points with 2-13-15 and 54 blocked shots on 23:01 TOI in 26 contests.
• LW Dmitri Voronkov has registered points in three of his last four games (2-1-3). He ranks fifth-T among NHL rookies in goals and seventh-T in assists and points with 5-7-12 in 20 games this season.  He also ranks second-T among League rookies in points, fourth-T in goals and fifth-T in assists since Nov. 1 with 4-6-10 in 17 contests.
• D Zach Werenski has collected assists in three consecutive games (0-4-4) after posting an assist on Sunday.  He leads the club in assists, points and time on ice with 1-18-19 and 23:46 TOI in 24 contests this season.  He ranks fifth-T among league blueliners in assists and second-T among all NHL skaters in even-strength assists (15), trailing only Vancouver’s Filip Hronek (17).

BLUE JACKETS MILESTONES

• LW Johnny Gaudreau is four points from 700 for his NHL career (234-462-696, 708 GP).
• F Kent Johnson is two games from 100 for his NHL career (17-29-46, 98 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 Long-Term Injured Reserve retroactive to Oct. 12 (Week-to-Week); 26 games
• F Jack Roslovic (fractured ankle) is on Injured Reserve on Nov. 13 (4-to-6 Weeks); 11 games
• D Damon Severson (oblique) injured on Nov. 19 (Approx. 6 Weeks); 7 games
• C Cole Sillinger (upper body) (Day-to-Day); 2 games

TOTAL MAN GAMES LOST: 67

COURTESY BLUE JACKETS COMMUNICATIONS