By Joe Coopersmith

Senators to Watch

«  RW Claude Giroux, who has notched 12-24-36 in 38 career appearances against CBJ, ranks second on Ottawa in assists and points and third in goals with 16-27-43 in 48 outings.

«  C Tim Stutzle leads the Senators in assists and points with 11-36-47 in 48 games played and has totaled 4-1-5 in seven career games against the Blue Jackets.

«  LW Brady Tkachuk skated in his fourth NHL All-Star Game on Feb. 3 and leads the team in goals and power play goals (tied) with 22-19-41 and five power play goals in 48 appearances.

All-Time Series

«  Columbus has gone 18-17-4 in 39 all-time meetings vs. Ottawa, including 7-10-2 on the road.

«  CBJ have won two-straight in the series and have picked up points in 11 of the last 14 meetings dating back to Mar. 17, 2018 (9-3-2).

«  The club has also recorded points in four of the last six games played at Ottawa (3-2-1) but the Senators have won the last two in regulation at Canadian Tire Centre.

«  The Blue Jackets and Senators have each recorded three shutouts in the all-time series with now Senators goaltender Joonas Korpisalo earning the most recent one while with CBJ with 25 saves in a 1-0 win at Nationwide Arena on Nov. 25, 2019.

«  The winning team has scored four or more goals in four-straight and seven of the last nine meetings overall as well as five-straight games at Canadian Tire Centre.

«  CBJ have scored a power play goal in three-straight meetings (4-of-6; 66.7 pct.) and four of the past five games of the series (5-of-11; 45.5 pct.).

This Season (CBJ, 1-0-0)

«  Dec. 1, 2023 – at CBJ 4, OTT 2

«  Feb. 13, 2024 – at Ottawa (7 p.m. ET)

«  Mar. 14, 2024 – at COLUMBUS (7 p.m. ET)

Player Notables vs. Senators

«  C Johnny Gaudreau – 6-19-25 in 27 career GP, including multiple assists in his last two outings (0-4-4) and 3-9-12 in his past 12 appearances against Ottawa overall.

«  C Boone Jenner – 6-4-10 in 21 career GP, including goals in each of his last two appearances against the club.

«  RW Kirill Marchenko – 1-2-3 in 4 career GP, including an assist in his last game at Ottawa on Mar. 4, 2023.

«  G Elvis Merzlikins – 2-2-1, 2.65 GAA & .923 SV% in 7 career GP after stopping 41-of-43 shots in the 4-2 victory in the first game of the season series.

«  D Ivan Provorov – 3-7-10 in 19 career GP, including an assist in the first meeting of the season series on Dec. 1.

«  D Zach Werenski – 4-10-14 in 14 career GP, including multiple assists in his past two games played (0-4-4) and assists in each of his last five games overall (0-7-7) as well as seven of his last eight (2-8-10).

BLUE JACKETS TEAM NOTES

• The Blue Jackets fell 4-2 to Tampa Bay in their first game back from the NHL All-Star and midseason breaks on Saturday.
• 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 this past Saturday.  Tuesday’s game at Ottawa kicks off a four-game road trip that sees the team also play three games in California (San Jose, Los Angeles, Anaheim) from Feb. 17-21.
• The club has scored at least two goals in 33 of the last 40 games played dating back to Nov. 6.
• The Blue Jackets have played in 22 one-goal games this season, ranking tied for the 11th-most in the NHL.
• 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 108 goals scored at 5-on-5 play this season.
• Columbus ranks 13th-T in the league with 48 first period goals.
• The club has combined for 705 blocked shots over the past 40 games since Nov. 6.  CBJ rank fifth in the league in blocked shots (914) and blocks-per-60 minutes (17.64) in 2023-24.
• Blue Jackets blueliners have combined for 6-18-23 in the last 12 contests as well as 14-62-77 over the past 35 contests.  They rank sixth among NHL defensive units in assists and 11th in points with 19-94-113 in 51 games this season.  The club also leads the league in assists percentage (38.8 pct.) and ranks second in points percentage (29.0 pct.) recorded by its defense.
• CBJ’s rookie class has combined for 25-36-61 in 51 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, who left the second period of Saturday’s game with an upper body injury, has collected points in three of his last five contests (3-2-5).  He has picked up points in five of the last eight games (4-3-7) and has totaled 12-7-19 over the last 23 contests.
• C Adam Fantilli, who suffered a calf laceration on Jan. 28 and is expected to miss eight weeks, ranks third-T among NHL rookies in goals and fourth in points with 12-15-27 in 49 outings.
• LW Johnny Gaudreau has collected assists in four-straight games (0-5-5) and seven of his past nine games (0-9-9) after registering his team-leading sixth multi-assist and eighth multi-point effort of the campaign with two primary assists against the Lightning.  He has recorded 3-16-19 in the last 21 games and 6-22-27 with seven multi-point outings in his last 34 contests after collecting 1-5-6 in the first 17 games of the season.  In his second season with the club, he already ranks 10^th-T all-time in multi-assist outings (20).
• RW Kirill Marchenko, who collected an assist on Saturday against the Lightning, has recorded 15-11-26 in 49 contests this season and has already set single-season career highs in assists and points after posting 21-4-25 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 96 blocked shots, while averaging 22:36 TOI in 51 appearances this season.
• D Damon Severson has registered 1-3-4 in his last five games and 5-6-11 over his last 20 outings.  He leads club defensemen in goals with 6-10-16 in 36 appearances this season.
• C Cole Sillinger has notched 7-3-10 with two multi-point efforts over the past 19 contests.
• LW Dmitri Voronkov has notched 5-0-5 in the last eight games.  He ranks third-T among NHL rookies in goals, seventh-T in points and 10th in assists with 12-13-25 in 45 games this season.
• D Zach Werenski has registered assists in four of his past five games (0-4-4) and sits six assists shy from becoming the third player – and first defenseman – to record 200 career assists as a Blue Jacket.  He ranks sixth-T among NHL blueliners in assists-per-game (.72) as well as leads the team in assists and TOI and ranks second in points with 1-28-29 on 24:21 TOI in 39 contests this season.  The 26-year-old is two assists shy of registering his fourth career 30-assist campaign (MR: career-high 37 in 2021-22).

BLUE JACKETS MILESTONES

• D Adam Boqvist is five games from 200 for his NHL career (22-60-82, 195 GP).
• C Boone Jenner is seven games from 700 for his NHL career (185-164-349 GP).
• C Sean Kuraly is nine games from 200 for his CBJ career (32-31-63, 191 GP).
• C Cole Sillinger is 11 games from 200 for his NHL career (27-34-61, 189 GP).
• D Zach Werenski is six assists from 200 for his NHL career (80-194-274, 455 GP).

OhioHEALTH INJURY REPORT

• F Patrik Laine (clavicle fracture-Dec. 14; NHL Player Assistance Program-Jan. 28); 17 games
• C Adam Fantilli (calf laceration on Jan. 28); expected to miss 8 weeks; 2 games
• RW Yegor Chinakhov (upper body injury on Feb. 10)

TOTAL MAN GAMES LOST: 181

COURTESY BLUE JACKETS COMMUNICATIONS