By Bert Leeson
Canucks to Watch
« All-Star G Thatcher Demko stopped all 31 shots faced for his fifth shutout of the season on Monday to registere his seventh-straight victory and is tied for the league lead for shutouts and ranks second in wins, and third-T in save percentage (min. 20 GP) with a 25-8-1 record, 2.40 GAA and .922 SV% in 34 outings this season.
« All-Star D Quinn Hughes ranks third in the NHL in assists while leading league blueliners in assists and points and ranking second-T in goals with 12-47-59 in 48 contests.
« All-Star C J.T. Miller leads the club in scoring and ranks second in assists and third in goals and power play goals while also ranking fifth among all NHL players in points and seventh assists with 21-43-64 and eight PPG in 48 outings.
All-Time Series
« Columbus has gone 25-31-10 in 66 all-time games against Vancouver, including 11-16-5 on the road.
« The Blue Jackets have won six of the last eight games vs. the Canucks overall since Mar. 24, 2019, including a 4-3 shootout win at Nationwide Arena on Jan. 15, 2024.
« CBJ have picked up points in six of the last eight games played at Rogers Arena (5-2-1).
« The winning team has recorded four or more goals in five-straight meetings (including SO goals) and nine of the past 11 since Jan. 12, 2018.
« Four of the last six games in the series have been decided by a single goal.
« The teams have combined for 60-plus shots in seven of the last nine games in the series since Dec. 11, 2018.
« CBJ’s two shutouts in the all-time series were both recorded by Sergei Bobrovsky on Mar. 26, 2013 (34 saves in 1-0 SO win at Vancouver) and Mar. 24, 2019 (21 saves in 5-0 win at Vancouver).
« The Canucks own both hat tricks in the all-time series while the Blue Jackets have been awarded three of the four penalty shot attempts.
This Season (CBJ, 1-0-0)
« Jan. 15, 2024 – at Columbus 4, Vancouver 3 (SO)
« Jan. 27, 2024 – at Vancouver (10 p.m. ET)
Player Notables vs. Canucks
« D Adam Boqvist – 1-3-4 in 6 career GP, including assists in his last two contests (0-2-2) and points in each of his last three games against the club (1-2-3).
« RW Yegor Chinakhov – 1-2-3 in three career GP, collecting his points in each of his past two appearances vs. Vancouver.
« LW Johnny Gaudreau – 14-33-47 with 12 multi-point efforts in 44 career GP, including assists in his last four outings (3 multi-point efforts; 2-5-7), points in his last five games (3-5-8) and in 16 of his past 18 contests overall (7-17-24) as well as posting points in eight of his past nine road games (3-7-10; with two multi-point games).
« RW Kirill Marchenko – 2-0-2 in 2 career GP, scoring his two goals in the team’s last game at Vancouver on Jan. 27, 2023.
« G Elvis Merzlikins – 4-1-0 with a 2.54 GAA and .924 SV% in 5 career GP, including a 1-1-0 record with a 2.52 GAA and .924 SV% in two appearances at Rogers Arena.
« C Jack Roslovic – 3-2-5 in 11 career GP, collecting all of his points in five of his last seven contests vs. the Canucks.
« D Zach Werenski – 3-3-6 in 11 career GP, including points in each of his last two contests against the team (1-1-2).
BLUE JACKETS TEAM NOTES
- The Blue Jackets evened their record to 1-1-0 on this current five-game road trip following a 5-2 victory at Calgary on Thursday. The team began the trip with a 4-1 loss at Edmonton, which has won 15-straight, on Tuesday.
- Columbus kicked off a stretch of nine of 10 games on the road over a month’s span from Jan. 23-Feb. 21 on Tuesday. It includes the team’s first of two five-game road trips of the campaign from Jan. 23-30 (also Mar. 19-28).
- CBJ play their seventh of 13 back-to-back sets of the season on Saturday at Vancouver and Sunday at Seattle with the club 5-5-2 in back-to-back sets this season (2-4-0 in 1st game; 3-1-2 in 2nd game).
- The Blue Jackets have played in 20 one-goal games this season, including eight of the last 17. The 20 one-goal games are tied for the 12th-most in the NHL.
- Columbus has played past regulation seven times (3-4) over the last 14 games, including six times (2-4) over an eight-game stretch from Dec. 21-Jan. 6. The last time the club played in at least six overtimes/shootouts over an eight-game stretch was when it played six-in-seven from Mar. 11-25, 2021. CBJ have had 14 of their games decided after regulation this season, tied for the fifth-most in the NHL.
- CBJ rank eighth in the NHL with 102 goals scored at 5-on-5 play this season.
- Columbus scored two goals in the first period on Thursday and ranks seventh in the NHL with 48 first period goals.
- The club has combined for 641 blocked shots over the past 36 games since Nov. 6 and ranks fourth in the league in blocks-per-60 minutes (17.81) and fifth in blocked shots (850) in 2023-24.
- Blue Jackets blueliners collected 1-3-4 on Thursday and have combined for 5-12-17 over the last eight contests and 13-57-70 over the past 31 contests. They rank fourth among NHL defensive units in assists and 10th in points with 18-89-107 in 46 games this season. The club also leads the league in assists percentage (39.0 pct.) and ranks second in points percentage (29.2 pct.) recorded by its defense.
- CBJ’s rookie class registered 2-1-3 on Thursday and has combined for 24-36-60 in 47 games this season. They lead the league among teams’ rookies in goals and rank second points and fourth in assists. The Blue Jackets are one of two teams in the league (Minnesota) to have two rookies with 20 or more points in 2023-24 (Fantilli-27, Voronkov-24).
BLUE JACKETS PLAYER NOTES
- D Adam Boqvist has collected 0-5-5 in his past eight games and has recorded 0-7-7 in 20 outings this season.
- RW Yegor Chinakhov posted his fifth multi-point game this season on Thursday (1-1-2). He has collected 2-2-4 in the last four games and has registered 10-6-16 over the last 19 contests. He has also tallied 11-7-18 with 11 even-strength goals in the past 25 outings since Nov. 27.
- C Adam Fantilli registered his fourth multi-point effort of the campaign on Thursday (1-1-2) and has collected 3-5-8 in the last 13 games and 4-7-11 in the past 16 contests. The 2023 third overall pick ranks third among NHL rookies in goals, fourth in points and sixth-T in assists with 12-15-27 in 47 appearances this season.
- LW Johnny Gaudreau has collected points in three of his past five games (0-4-4), including his team-leading seventh multi-point effort with two helpers against the Canucks on Jan. 15. He has recorded 3-11-14 in the last 17 games and 6-17-23 with six multi-point outings in his last 30 contests after collecting 1-5-6 in the first 17 games of the season.
- C Kent Johnson collected an assist on CBJ’s lone goal on Tuesday against the Oilers and has posted 5-7-12 with three multi-point efforts in his last 20 games overall since Dec. 7.
- RW Kirill Marchenko, who leads the team in goals, has collected 14-10-24 in 45 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.
- D Ivan Provorov ranks second on the club in blocked shots and time on ice and third in assists with 4-19-23 and 90 blocked shots, while averaging 22:45 TOI in 47 appearances this season.
- D Damon Severson registered his third-multi point effort on Thursday with 1-1-2 and has posted 5-4-9 over his last 16 outings. He leads club defensemen in goals with 6-9-14 in 32 appearances this season.
- C Cole Sillinger has collected points in two of his past three games (1-1-2) and now has notched 7-3-10 with two multi-point efforts over the past 15 contests.
- C Alexandre Texier registered the team’s first shorthanded goal of the season on Thursday and now has 7-7-14 in 45 appearances in 2023-24.
- LW Dmitri Voronkov posted a power play goal on Thursday and has notched a goal in two-straight (2-0-2) and three of the past four contests (4-0-4). He has also posted 8-6-13 over the past 24 games. He ranks fourth among NHL rookies in goals, sixth-T in points and eighth-T in assists with 11-13-24 in 41 games this season.
- D Zach Werenski registered an assist on Thursday after missing the past 10 games due to an ankle injury. He leads the team in assists and TOI, while ranking third in points as well as ranks sixth among NHL blueliners in assists-per-game (.71) with 1-25-26 on 24:06 TOI in 35 contests this season.
BLUE JACKETS MILESTONES
- D Adam Boqvist is six games from 200 for his NHL career (22-60-82, 194 GP).
- F Justin Danforth is two games from 100 for his NHL career (21-14-35, 98 GP).
- D Zach Werenski is two points from surpassing F Nick Foligno (142-192-334, 599 GP) for the third-most assists in franchise history and nine assists from 200 for his NHL career (80-191-271, 451 GP).
OhioHEALTH INJURY REPORT
- F Patrik Laine (clavicle fracture) is on Injured Reserve retroactive to Dec. 14 (Approx. 6 Weeks); 16 games
TOTAL MAN GAMES LOST: 175
COURTESY BLUE JACKETS COMMUNICATIONS
