By Carey Van Lue
Maple Leafs to Watch
« C Auston Matthews, who notched 2-2-4 on Tuesday and has posted goals in three-straight (5-2-7) and four of the past five contests (7-2-9), is tied for the NHL lead in goals with 21-11-32 in 26 games this season.
« RW William Nylander has tallied 13-23-36 with points in 23 of 26 appearances this season, leading the club in assists and points and ranking second in goals.
« C John Tavares, who has registered 8-18-26 in 26 contests in 2023-24, has posted 17-20-37 in 33 career games against the Jackets along the way to reaching the 1,000 point milestone on Monday at the NY Islanders.
All-Time Series
« Columbus has gone 17-18-1 in 36 all-time meetings vs. the Maple Leafs, including 10-8-1 on the road.
« After starting 0-3-1 in the all-time series at Toronto, CBJ have earned wins in 10 of the last 15 visits to the Maple Leafs.
« The winning team has scored four or more goals in 11 of the past 12 meetings dating back to Feb. 14, 2018 with the lone exception a 3-0 Maple Leafs victory on Feb. 10, 2023.
« Each of the six games at Toronto has seen the winning team score four or more goals.
« The road team is 6-2-1 in the last nine meetings of the series.
« Five of the last seven games in the series have been decided by a single goal.
« The Blue Jackets own two of the three shutouts in the all-time series with the most recent CBJ feat recorded by Sergei Bobrovsky (35 saves) in a 5-0 victory at Nationwide Arena on Apr. 8, 2015.
« Both teams have registered a hat trick in the series with Tyler Wright scoring three for the Jackets in a 4-3 OTW at Nationwide Arena on Oct. 27, 2002.
This Season (CBJ, 0-0-0)
« Dec. 14, 2023 – at Toronto (7 p.m. ET)
« Dec. 23, 2023 – at COLUMBUS (7 p.m. ET)
« Dec. 29, 2024 – at COLUMBUS (7 p.m. ET)
Player Notables vs. Maple Leafs
« LW Johnny Gaudreau – 6-10-16 in 24 career GP, recording 1-4-5 in his past six outings vs. the Maple Leafs overall and points in three of his last four at Toronto (1-3-4).
« LW Kent Johnson – 1-2-3 in 3 career GP, registering assists in both career games at Scotiabank Arena (1-2-3).
« C Sean Kuraly – 4-3-7 in 16 career GP, notching goals in two of his past three at Scotiabank Arena.
« F Patrik Laine – 9-1-10 in 12 career GP, recording 4-0-4 in his last six appearances against the team.
« D Zach Werenski – 0-10-10 in 12 career GP, including assists in each of his last four games against the club (0-5-5) and his past two at Toronto (0-2-2).
BLUE JACKETS TEAM NOTES
- The Blue Jackets move to 5-5-1 in the last 11 games overall and 4-2-1 in the past six at Nationwide Arena following a 5-2 loss to the Panthers on Sunday.
- The team is playing its first game in three days, marking just the second time that CBJ have had three days in between games this season after having a three-day break between games on Oct. 16 at Detroit and Oct. 20 vs. Calgary.
- CBJ played 30 games in the first 60 days of the season. Following Sunday’s game against the Panthers, the club plays just eight times over the final 21 days of the month of December.
- The Blue Jackets have scored the first goal of the game in eight of the last 11 and 10 of the past 14 games this season.
- CBJ have played 12 one-goal games this season with another five contests as two goal finishes thanks to the addition of empty net goals (MR: Nov. 29 vs. Montreal).
- The team is currently in a stretch of nine-of-13 games played at home from Nov. 27-Dec. 23. The four road games are all one-game trips (Dec. 3 at Boston, Dec. 7 at NY Islanders, Dec. 14 at Toronto and Dec. 19 at Buffalo).
- CBJ killed off 1-of-2 Panthers power play chances on Sunday and have denied their opponents a power play goal in 17 of the last 23 games, killing off 53-of-60 opponent power play chances since Oct. 28 (88.3 pct.).
- The Blue Jackets rank sixth in the NHL in penalty kill percentage this season at 85.9 pct. (73-of-85) and rank third in the league in penalty kill percentage since Oct. 20 (87.8 pct.), killing off 65-of-74 opponent power play chances over the last 27 games.
- CBJ scored a power play goal on Friday and are now 4-for-12 on the man advantage over the last six games (33.3 pct.).
- Columbus scored both of its goals at even-strength on Sunday and is now fourth in the NHL with 64 goals scored at 5-on-5 play this season.
- The Blue Jackets rank fifth-T in the NHL with 32 first period goals and sixth-T in first period goal differential (+7).
- Columbus has combined for 349 blocked shots over the past 19 games since Nov. 6 and rank second in the NHL in blocked shots (558) and rank third in blocked shots-per-60 minutes (18.43).
- Blue Jackets blueliners have combined for 5-24-29 over the past 14 contests. They rank sixth among NHL defensive units in assists and ninth-T in points with 10-56-66 in 30 games this season. The club also leads the League in assists percentage (39.4 pct.) and ranks sixth-T in points percentage (28.8 pct.) recorded by its defense.
- CBJ’s rookie class has combined for 15-21-36 in 30 games this season and leads the league among teams’ rookies in goals (tied) and ranks second in points and third in assists. Columbus is the only team in the league to have two rookies with 14 or more points in 2023-24 (Fantilli-16, Voronkov-15).
- The Blue Jackets play their seventh of 16 Thursday games this season when they visit the Maple Leafs.
BLUE JACKETS PLAYER NOTES
- RW Emil Bemstrom has recorded 1-2-3 in his past three outings, including notching his second multi-point effort of the season and 11th of his career with 1-1-2 last Thursday at the Islanders.
- RW Yegor Chinakhov is riding a two-game goal streak (3-1-4) for the second time this season and his career (2-1-3 from Nov. 27-29). The stretch includes his second career two-goal game and first career three-point effort with 2-1-3 on Friday against the Blues. He has tallied 5-2-7 in the past eight outings.
- C Adam Fantilli has posted points in three of the past four games (3-2-5), including his first career two-goal/three-point game with 2-1-3 last Thursday at the Islanders. The 2023 third overall pick, who has registered points in four of the last six games (4-2-6), ranks second-T among NHL rookies in points and third-T in goals with 8-8-16 in 30 appearances this season.
- LW Johnny Gaudreau has registered 3-6-9 with three multi-point outings in his last 13 contests.
- F Patrik Laine has recorded points in four of his last five games played (2-2-4).
- RW Kirill Marchenko has collected assists in two-straight games (1-2-3) and has recorded 5-3-8 in his past 11 games. He ranks second on the club in goals and third in assists with 9-8-17 in 28 contests this season and has already set a new career high in assists after posting 21-4-24 in 59 contests during his 2022-23 rookie campaign.
- LW Dmitri Voronkov has registered points in two-straight games (1-2-3), including his first career multi-point game with two assists on Friday. He has recorded points in five of his last eight games (3-3-6) and ranks fifth-T among NHL rookies in points and seventh-T in assists with 6-9-15 in 24 games this season.
- D Zach Werenski, has collected assists in five of his last seven games (0-6-6). He leads the club in assists, points and time on ice with 1-20-21 and 24:14 TOI in 28 contests this season. He ranks seventh among league blueliners in assists and second-T among all NHL skaters in even-strength assists (17), trailing only Vancouver’s Filip Hronek (18).
BLUE JACKETS MILESTONES
- LW Johnny Gaudreau is two points from 700 for his NHL career (235-463-698, 712 GP) and 11 points from 100 for his Blue Jackets career (25-64-89, 110 GP).
- RW Patrik Laine is 16 assists from 200 and 13 points from 400 for his NHL career (203-184-387, 479 GP).
- G Spencer Martin is one game from 50 for his NHL career (16-24-6, 49 GP).
- D Zach Werenski is 14 assists from 200 for his NHL career (80-186-266, 444 GP).
OhioHEALTH INJURY REPORT
- F Jack Roslovic (fractured ankle) is on Injured Reserve on Nov. 13 (4-to-6 Weeks); 15 games
- D Damon Severson (oblique) is on Injured Reserve retroactive to Nov. 19 (Approx. 6 Weeks); 11 games
- G Elvis Merzlikins (illness) is on Injured Reserve retroactive to Dec. 5 (1 Week); 3 games
- D Adam Boqvist (shoulder strain) is on Injured Reserve retroactive to Dec. 5 (Approx. 4 Weeks); 3 games
- C Boone Jenner (fractured jaw) is on Injured Reserve retroactive to Dec. 9 (Approx. 6 Weeks); 2 games
TOTAL MAN GAMES LOST: 94
COURTESY CBJ COMMUNICATIONS
