By Joe “Big Head” Coopersmith

Lightning to Watch

«  D Victor Hedman, who ranks fourth among NHL blueliners in assists and points with 9-42-51 in 50 games this season, has registered 4-22-26 in 36 career outings against CBJ.

«  RW Nikita Kucherov, who leads the NHL in assists and points and is third-T in goals with 33-54-87 in 51 appearances in 2023-24, has totaled 13-22-35 in 25 career contests against the Blue Jackets.

«  C Brayden Point ranks second on the Lightning in goals and points with 25-29-54 in 52 games this season and has tallied 13-24-27 in 24 career appearances vs. Columbus.

All-Time Series

«  Columbus has gone 15-25-7 in all-time games against the Lightning, including 10-11-3 at home.

«  CBJ have recorded points in six of the last nine contests of the series at Nationwide Arena dating back to Feb. 10, 2020 (4-3-2).

«  The winning team has scored four or more goals in eight-straight meetings and 10 of the last 11 games of the series.

«  Tampa Bay owns six of eight shutouts in the all-time series with Mark Denis (Jan. 4, 2004) and Sergei Bobrovsky (Dec. 3, 2013) recording CBJ’s shutouts.

«  Neither team has recorded a hat trick in the all-time series.  It’s one of two all-time series that the Blue Jackets or their opponent has yet to record a hat trick (Seattle).

This Season (CBJ, 1-0-0)

«  Nov 2, 2023 – at Columbus 4, Tampa Bay 2

«  Feb. 10, 2024 – at COLUMBUS (7 p.m. ET)

«  April. 9, 2024 – at Tampa (7 p.m. ET)

Player Notables vs. Lightning

«  LW Johnny Gaudreau – 7-10-17 in 17 career GP, recording goals in each of his last four home contests (6-1-7) and points in each of his last six home games (6-3-9) and seven of eight in his career (6-4-10).

«  D Erik Gudbranson – 3-5-8 in 32 career GP, including points in four of his past five contests vs. the Lightning (1-3-4).

«  C Boone Jenner – 4-6-10 in 26 career GP, including assists in his last two home games vs. the club (1-2-3).

«  RW Kirill Marchenko – 3-0-3 in 3 career GP, scoring goals in all three of his contests against Tampa Bay.

«  G Elvis Merzlikins – 4-5-2 with 2.78 GAA and .914 SV% in 11 career GP, including a 3-1-1 record with a 2.25 GAA and .923 SV% in five career home outings.

«  F Jack Roslovic – 5-6-11 in 18 career GP, including 4-3-7 with points in four of his last seven home contests.

«  D Damon Severson – 4-8-12 in 23 career GP, registering points in each of his last four games (1-3-4) and six of his past eight overall (2-5-7) as well as points in his last three home appearances (1-2-3).

«  D Zach Werenski – 4-7-11 in 19 career GP, including 3-5-8 with points in seven of his last eight games against the club.

BLUE JACKETS TEAM NOTES

• The Blue Jackets completed a five-game road trip before the NHL All-Star and midseason break with five out of 10 points (2-2-1), including their first shutout of the season with a 1-0 win at St. Louis on Jan. 30 in the last game before the breaks.
• Columbus is currently in a stretch of nine of 10 games on the road over a month’s span from Jan. 23-Feb. 21 with the lone game played at Nationwide Arena against Tampa Bay on Saturday.
• After scoring one goal to begin the road trip, the club has recorded 12 goals over the last four contests (3.00 goals/game).  The club has scored at least two goals in 32 of the last 39 games played dating back to Nov. 6.
• The Blue Jackets have played in 22 one-goal games this season after the 1-0 victory at the Blues on Jan. 30.  The 22 one-goal games tied for the sixth-most in the NHL.
• Columbus has played past regulation eight times (3-5) over the last 17 games.  CBJ have had 15 of their games decided after regulation this season, tied for the fourth-most in the NHL.
• CBJ rank 10th in the NHL with 107 goals scored at 5-on-5 play this season.
• Columbus ranks 11th-T in the league with 48 first period goals and a +2 first period goal differential.
• The club has combined for 691 blocked shots over the past 39 games since Nov. 6.  CBJ rank fourth in the league in blocks-per-60 minutes (17.72) and fifth in blocked shots (900) in 2023-24.
• Blue Jackets blueliners collected 2-7-9 over the five-game road trip from Jan. 23-30 and have combined for 6-17-22 in the last 11 contests as well as 14-61-76 over the past 34 contests.  They rank sixth among NHL defensive units in assists and ninth-T in points with 19-93-112 in 50 games this season.  The club also leads the league in assists percentage (39.1 pct.) and ranks second in points percentage (29.2 pct.) recorded by its defense.
• CBJ’s rookie class has combined for 25-36-61 in 50 games this season.  They lead the league among teams’ rookies in goals and rank second in 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-25).

BLUE JACKETS PLAYER NOTES

• RW Yegor Chinakhov has collected points in three of his last four contests (3-2-5), including notching his second multi-goal game of the campaign with both CBJ goals on Jan. 28 against Seattle.  He has picked up points in five of the last seven games (4-3-7) and has totaled 12-7-19 over the last 22 contests.
• LW Johnny Gaudreau has collected assists in three-straight games (0-3-3) and six of his past eight games (0-7-7) after registering three assists during the club’s five-game road trip from Jan. 23-30 (7-25-32, 50 GP).  He has recorded 3-14-17 in the last 20 games and 6-20-25 with six multi-point outings in his last 33 contests after collecting 1-5-6 in the first 17 games of the season.
• RW Kirill Marchenko scored his team-leading 15^th goal of the season on Jan. 27 vs. Vancouver.  He has recorded 15-10-25 in 48 contests this season and has already set single-season career highs in assists and points 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 94 blocked shots, while averaging 22:41 TOI in 50 appearances this season.
• D Damon Severson has registered assists in three of his past four outings (1-3-4).  He has posted 5-6-11 over his last 19 outings, including notching his third multi-point effort of the campaign on Jan. 25 vs. Calgary (1-1-2).  He leads club defensemen in goals with 6-10-16 in 35 appearances this season.
• C Cole Sillinger has notched 7-3-10 with two multi-point efforts over the past 18 contests.
• C Alexandre Texier notched shorthanded goals in two-straight games at Calgary (Jan. 25) and Vancouver (Jan. 27) to become the fourth player in Blue Jackets history to score shorthanded goals in back-to-back games on Jan. 25 at Calgary and Jan. 27 at Vancouver, joining Cam Atkinson (2020-21), R.J. Umberger (2010-11) and Rick Nash (2009-10, 2008-09).
• LW Dmitri Voronkov has notched a goal in four of the past seven contests (5-0-5).  He ranks third-T among NHL rookies in goals and seventh-T in points and ninth-T assists with 12-13-25 in 44 games this season.
• D Zach Werenski surpassed F Nick Foligno (142-192-334, 599 GP) for the third-most assists in franchise history with an assist at St. Louis on Jan. 30. He has registered assists in three of his past four games (0-3-3).  He ranks fifth-T among NHL blueliners in assists-per-game (.71) as well as leads the team in assists and TOI and ranks second in points with 1-27-28 on 24:18 TOI in 38 contests this season.  The 26-year-old is three assists shy of registering his fourth career 30-assist campaign (MR: career-high 37 in 2021-22).

BLUE JACKETS MILESTONES

• D Adam Boqvist is six games from 200 for his NHL career (22-60-82, 194 GP).
• D Zach Werenski is seven assists from 200 for his NHL career (80-193-273, 454 GP).

OhioHEALTH INJURY REPORT

• F Patrik Laine (clavicle fracture-Dec. 14; NHL Player Assistance Program-Jan. 28); 17 games
• D Adam Boqvist (upper body) is on Injured Reserve retroactive to Jan. 25 (At least through All-Star break); 3 games
• C Adam Fantilli (calf laceration on Jan. 28); expected to miss 8 weeks; 1 game

TOTAL MAN GAMES LOST: 180

COURTESY BLUE JACKETS COMMUNICATIONS