By Joe Coopersmith
Kings to Watch
« D Drew Doughty, who leads the Kings blueliners with 11-18-29 in 53 outings, has registered 8-22-30 in 36 career appearances against CBJ, including the OT winner in the first meeting of the season series on Dec. 5.
« RW Adrian Kempe leads the club in scoring and ranks second in goals and points with 19-28-47 in 53 contests.
« C Anze Kopitar has registered points in three consecutive contests (2-1-3), ranks second on the team in assists (tied) and points and third-T in goals with 17-28-45 in 53 games this season and has totaled 20-20-40 in 44 career games vs. the Blue Jackets.
All-Time Series
« Columbus has gone 27-31-8 in 66 all-time games against Los Angeles, including 10-20-3 on the road.
« CBJ have recorded points in six of the last eight contests in the series (4-2-2) dating back to Dec. 13, 2018.
« The home team has registered points in five consecutive games of the series (3-0-2) and 12 of the past 14 meetings dating back to Dec. 8, 2015.
« The winning team has scored four or more goals in nine of the past 11 meetings, including three-straight.
« The Blue Jackets have killed off all 16 Kings power play chances over the past eight games of the series overall since Dec. 13, 2018.
« 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.
« Tyler Wright (Oct. 27, 2002) and Ray Whitney (Feb. 27, 2003) have recorded the Blue Jackets’ hat tricks in the all-time series.
This Season (CBJ, 0-0-1)
« Dec. 5, 2023 – LAK 4, at CBJ 3 (OT)
« Feb. 20, 2024 – at Los Angeles (10:30 p.m. ET)
Player Notables vs. Kings
« LW Johnny Gaudreau – 12-24-36 in 31 GP, has recorded points in seven of his last eight games vs. LA (5-8-13) and nine of the past 11 (6-9-15) as well as points in three of his last four outings at the Kings (2-4-6).
« RW Kirill Marchenko – 3-0-3 in 3 career GP, with a goal in all three games against the Kings.
« D Ivan Provorov – 2-5-7 in 13 career GP, including 1-3-4 in his past five appearances against the club.
« C Jack Roslovic – 3-5-8 in 10 career GP, including two multi-point efforts in his last five meetings (2-4-6).
« D Zach Werenski – 2-4-6 in 11 career GP, including points in three of his last four road contests against the team (1-2-3).
BLUE JACKETS TEAM NOTES
- CBJ kicked off their annual California road trip with a 4-3 victory at San Jose on Saturday. The club closes out the trip with its eighth of 13 back-to-back sets of the season at Los Angeles (Tuesday) and Anaheim (Wednesday).
- The back-to-back set also closes out a stretch of nine of 10 games played on the road over a month’s span from Jan. 23-Feb. 21.
- C Boone Jenner‘s game-winning goal with 12.9 seconds remaining at San Jose on Saturday was the second latest go-ahead goal in club history, trailing only the GWG scored by Patrik Laine with eight seconds remaining in a 2-1 win at Montreal on Feb. 12, 2022.
- The club has scored at least two goals in 35 of the last 42 games played dating back to Nov. 6 and has averaged 3.50 goals in the first two contests of its four-game road trip.
- Columbus has recorded 116 shots on goal over the last three contests (38.7 avg), including recording 40 at Ottawa on Feb. 13 and 41 at San Jose on Feb. 17.
- The Blue Jackets have played in 23 one-goal games this season, ranking tied for the 10th-most in the NHL.
- CBJ have had 15 of their games decided after regulation this season, tied for the sixth-most in the league.
- CBJ rank 10th in the NHL with 115 goals scored at 5-on-5 play this season after scoring all four of their goals on Saturday at even-strength.
- Columbus, which scored two goals in the opening period on Saturday at San Jose, ranks 12th-T in the league with 51 first period goals.
- CBJ have combined for 730 blocked shots over the past 42 games since Nov. 6. The team ranks fifth in the league in blocks-per-60 minutes (17.45) and sixth in blocked shots (939) in 2023-24.
- Blue Jackets blueliners picked up 1-3-4 in Saturday’s victory and have now combined for 7-23-30 in the last 14 contests as well as 15-68-83 over the past 37 contests. They rank fifth among NHL defensive units in assists and 10th in points with 20-100-120 in 53 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 27-36-63 in 53 games this season. They lead the league among teams’ rookies in goals and rank third in points and fourth in assists. The Blue Jackets are one of two teams in the league (Minnesota) to have two rookies with 25 or more points in 2023-24 (Fantilli-27, Voronkov-27).
BLUE JACKETS PLAYER NOTES
- RW Yegor Chinakhov has collected points in four of his last six contests played (3-4-7) after collecting two assists at San Jose for his second multi-assist and seventh multi-point effort of the campaign. He has also picked up 4-5-9 with three multi-point efforts in his last nine games and has totaled 12-9-21 over his last 24 contests.
- C Adam Fantilli, who suffered a calf laceration on Jan. 28 and is expected to miss eight weeks, ranks fourth-T among NHL rookies in goals and points with 12-15-27 in 49 outings.
- LW Johnny Gaudreau registered two assists on Saturday to stretch his assists streak to six consecutive games (0-8-8), now tied for the second-longest assists streak in CBJ history (8, R.J. Umberger from Nov. 10-26, 2010) and two from tying his career long (8, Feb. 15-29, 2016 with CGY). The winger, who leads the club in points, multi-assists and multi-point outings with 7-30-37, seven multi-assist and nine multi-point efforts, ranks 10th-T in the NHL in assists since Jan. 13 with 0-12-12 in 11 games. He has also recorded 3-19-21 in the last 23 games and 6-25-31 with eight multi-point outings in his last 36 contests after collecting 1-5-6 in the first 17 games of the season. In his second season with the club, he already ranks 10th all-time in multi-assist outings (21).
- D Erik Gudbranson registered two assists against the Sharks for his sixth career multi-assist (third of season) and 10th career multi-point (third of season) outing. He has set single-season career highs in assists and points (tied, 20221-22) with 3-14-17 in 49 games this season.
- C Boone Jenner, who skated in his first NHL All-Star Game in his 11th NHL season on Feb. 3, has registered goals in three-straight games (4-0-4) for the second time this season (4-0-4 from Nov. 19-24) and is one goal from tying his career long (2x, MR: 4-1-5 from Mar. 12-19, 2018). He leads the club in goals with 17-5-22 in 38 outings and sits three goals shy of his third consecutive – and fourth overall – 20-goal campaign.
- RW Kirill Marchenko, who has collected points in three-straight games (1-2-3) after notching a goal on Saturday, has recorded 16-12-28 in 51 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 4-20-24 and 99 blocked shots, while averaging 22:35 TOI in 53 appearances this season.
- F Jack Roslovic has collected points in each of the last two games (1-1-2).
- D Damon Severson leads club defensemen in goals with 6-10-16 in 38 appearances this season.
- LW Dmitri Voronkov, who has posted goals in two consecutive games, leads NHL rookies and ranks 15th-T in the league in goals since Jan. 15 with 7-0-7 in the last 10 games. He is also tied for second among league rookies in goals and fourth-T in points and is already tied for the seventh-most goals by a CBJ rookie in a season in franchise history with 14-13-27 in 47 appearances in 2023-24.
- D Zach Werenski has registered points in four-straight outings (1-3-4) and six of his past seven games (1-5-6) after notching a goal on Saturday. He ranks seventh-T among NHL blueliners in assists-per-game (.71) as well as leads the team in TOI and ranks second in assists and points with 2-29-31 on 24:25 TOI in 41 contests this season. The 26-year-old is one assist shy of registering his fourth career 30-assist campaign (MR: career-high 37 in 2021-22) and five assists shy from becoming the third player – and first defenseman – to record 200 career assists as a Blue Jacket.
BLUE JACKETS MILESTONES
- D Adam Boqvist is three games from 200 for his NHL career (22-60-82, 196 GP).
- C Boone Jenner is five games from 700 for his NHL career (187-164-351, 695 GP).
- C Sean Kuraly is seven games from 200 for his CBJ career (32-31-63, 193 GP).
- C Cole Sillinger is nine games from 200 for his NHL career (27-34-61, 191 GP).
- D Zach Werenski is five assists from 200 for his NHL career (81-195-276, 457 GP).
OhioHEALTH INJURY REPORT
- F Patrik Laine (clavicle fracture-Dec. 14; NHL Player Assistance Program-Jan. 28); 17 games (for injury)
- C Adam Fantilli (calf laceration on Jan. 28); expected to miss 8 weeks; 4 games
TOTAL MAN GAMES LOST: 184
COURTESY BLUE JACKETS COMMUNICATIONS
