By Joe Coopersmith

Sabres to Watch

«  D Rasmus Dahlin, who skated in his second NHL All-Star Game on Feb. 3, ranks second on the Sabres in assists and points and ranks second-T among NHL blueliners in goals and eighth-T in points with 14-29-43 in 55 appearances.

«  G Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen has posted a 15-14-2 record with a 2.52 GAA, .911 SV% and four shutouts in 32 outings, including a 9-6-0 record with a 1.82 GAA, .933 SV% and three shutouts in his last 15 appearances since Dec. 30.

«  C Casey Mittelstadt leads the team in assists and points with 13-31-44 in 56 contests and has registered 3-5-8 in 10 career games against the Blue Jackets.

All-Time Series

«  Columbus has gone 25-14-4 in 43 all-time meetings vs. the Sabres, including 11-7-1 at home.

«  The Jackets have recorded points in 10 of their last 12 against the Sabres overall since Mar. 31, 2019 (7-2-3) and 16 of the past 21 dating back to Apr. 8, 2016 (13-5-3).

«  CBJ have won six of the past nine games played at Nationwide Arena dating back to Mar. 10, 2017 (6-3-0).

«  Columbus has won six of the nine season series dating back to 2013-14 with each team winning a game so far in the 2023-24 series.

«  The winning team has recorded four or more goals in 12 of the last 14 meetings of the series.

«  The clubs have combined for all three hat tricks in the all-time series over the past five meetings with Eric Robinson (Feb. 28, 2023) and Kirill Marchenko (Dec. 19, 2023) recording the feat for the Jackets.

«  Each team has recorded three shutouts in the all-time series with CBJ’s Sergei Bobrovsky (38 saves) earning the most recent shutout in the series in a 4-0 win at Buffalo on Mar. 31, 2019.

This Season (CBJ, 1-0-1)

«  Dec. 19, 2023 – CBJ 9, at BUF 4

«  Dec. 30, 2023 – at BUF 3, CBJ 2 (OT)

«  Feb. 23, 2024 – at COLUMBUS (7 p.m. ET)

Player Notables vs. Sabres

«  RW Yegor Chinakhov – 0-5-5 in 6 career GP, registering assists in each of his last four games against the Sabres (0-5-5).

«  LW Johnny Gaudreau – 10-10-20 with points in 12 of 18 career GP, with points in eight of nine career home contests (6-5-11), including points in his last two at Nationwide Arena (1-1-2).

«  C Boone Jenner – 6-7-13 in 22 career GP, including assists in each of his last five games (2-6-8) and points in his past six outings (3-6-9).

«  D Ivan Provorov – 5-11-16 in 27 career GP, including 2-8-10 in his last 13 contests vs. Buffalo overall and 0-3-3 in his last five home outings.

«  D Damon Severson – 2-12-14 in 30 career GP, including points in his last three games (1-3-4) and four of his last five at home (1-3-4).

«  C Cole Sillinger – 1-2-3 in 7 career GP, with all three points being collected in the team’s two meetings this season.

«  F Alexandre Texier – 1-3-4 in 4 career GP, registering 1-1-2 in his lone home game against Buffalo on Oct. 7, 2019.

«  D Zach Werenski – 1-11-12 in 16 career GP, registering points in his last five appearances against the club (1-5-6) and nine of his past 11 (1-9-10) as well as points in his last two home games (1-1-2).

BLUE JACKETS TEAM NOTES

• The Blue Jackets completed their annual California road trip 2-1-0 after downing San Jose 4-3 on Feb. 17, falling 5-1 at Los Angeles on Tuesday and earning a 7-4 victory at Anaheim on Wednesday.  It was the eighth time the club picked up at least four points on the trip (MR: 2-0-1 from Mar. 27-31, 2018).
• The back-to-back set at Los Angeles and Anaheim closed out a stretch of nine of 10 games played on the road with the team finishing 4-4-1 away from Nationwide Arena over a month’s span from Jan. 23-Feb. 21.
• CBJ play three of the next four at home and 9-of-13 at Nationwide Arena through Mar. 17.
• The team scored 12 goals on the three-game California road trip, wrapping up the trip with the 7-4 victory at Anaheim on Wednesday.  The seven goals scored and 11 goals combined were tied for the second-most in a Blue Jackets game this season, trailing only a 9-4 (13 goals) CBJ victory at Buffalo on Dec. 19.
• The club has scored at least two goals in 36 of the last 44 games dating back to Nov. 6.
• Columbus has recorded 177 shots on goal over the last five contests (35.4 avg).
• The Blue Jackets have played in 23 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 seventh-most in the league.
• CBJ scored six of their seven goals at even strength in Wednesday’s victory and rank sixth-T in the NHL with 122 goals scored at 5-on-5 play this season.
• Columbus, which scored five first period goals on the California trip, including three on Wednesday, ranks 10th-T in the league with 55 first period goals.
• CBJ rank fifth in the league in blocks-per-60 minutes (17.15) and seventh in blocked shots (957) in 2023-24.
• Blue Jackets blueliners picked up 4-5-9 on the California road trip, including 2-2-4 in Wednesday’s victory, and have now combined for 10-25-35 in the last 16 contests as well as 18-70-88 over the past 39 contests.  They rank sixth among NHL defensive units in assists and 11th in points with 23-102-125 in 54 games this season.  The club also leads the league in assists percentage (37.9 pct.) and ranks second in points percentage (28.9 pct.) recorded by its defense.
• CBJ’s rookie class has combined for 27-36-63 in 55 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 (Adam Fantilli-27, Dmitri Voronkov-27).

BLUE JACKETS PLAYER NOTES

• RW Yegor Chinakhov notched a goal on Wednesday and has collected 4-4-8 in his last eight contests played.  He has also picked up 5-5-10 with three multi-point efforts in his last 11 games and has totaled 13-9-22 over his last 26 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 collected his team-leading third three-point outing with 1-2-3 at Anaheim on Wednesday.  He has registered points in seven of his last eight games (1-10-11), including a season-high six-game assists/points streak (0-8-8) from Jan. 27-Feb. 17.  It was 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 assists, points, multi-assists and multi-point outings with 8-32-40, eight multi-assist and 10 multi-point efforts, ranks 10th-T in the NHL in assists since Jan. 13 with 1-14-15 in 13 games.  He has also recorded 4-21-24 in the last 25 games and 7-27-34 with nine multi-point outings in his last 38 contests after collecting 1-5-6 in the first 17 games of the season.  In his second season with the club, he already ranks eighth-T all-time in multi-assist outings (22) and is four games shy of tying Artemi Panarin for seventh.
• D Erik Gudbranson has set single-season career highs in assists and points (tied, 20221-22) with 3-14-17 in 51 games this season.
• C Boone Jenner, who skated in his first NHL All-Star Game in his 11^th NHL season on Feb. 3, has registered points in a season-high five consecutive outings (5-3-8) after posting his second three-point outing of the campaign with 1-2-3 on Wednesday.  The streak is one game shy of tying his career long, accomplished twice (MR: 4-3-7 from Jan. 8-21, 2022).  He leads the club in goals with 18-8-26 in 40 outings and sits two goals shy of his third consecutive – and fourth career – 20-goal campaign.
• C Sean Kuraly notched his fifth career multi-goal game and second multi-point of the season with two goals at Anaheim on Wednesday.
• RW Kirill Marchenko has recorded 16-12-28 in 53 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 101 blocked shots, while averaging 22:32 TOI in 55 appearances this season.
• F Jack Roslovic collected his second multi-assist and multi-point game with two assists at Anaheim on Wednesday.  The forward, who also stretched his points streak to four consecutive games (1-4-5), pushed his assists streak to three-straight (0-4-4), one game shy of tying his career long (1-5-6, Jan. 31-Feb. 7, 2021).
• F Alexandre Texier collected his second multi-assist and fourth multi-point outing of the campaign with two assists at Anaheim.  With 8-10-18 in 53 games this season, he is one assist (11, 2020-21) and two points (20, 2021-22) from tying his single-season career highs.
• LW Dmitri Voronkov, who has posted goals in two of his last four games, leads NHL rookies in goals and goals-per-game since Jan. 15 with 7-0-7 and .58 goals-per-game in 12 contests.  He also ranks third 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 49 appearances in 2023-24.
• D Zach Werenski, set a new franchise record for blueliners with his fifth career multi-goal game (Seth Jones, 4) after recording two goals at Anaheim on Wednesday.  He has now collected points in five of the last six games (3-3-6) and seven of the past nine (3-5-8).  He ranks 10th among NHL blueliners in assists-per-game (.67) as well as leads the team in TOI and ranks second in assists and points with 4-29-33 on 24:18 TOI in 43 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 one game from 200 for his NHL career (23-60-83, 199 GP).
• C Boone Jenner is three games from 700 for his NHL career (188-167-355, 697 GP).
• C Sean Kuraly is five games from 200 for his CBJ career (34-31-65, 195 GP).
• D Ivan Provorov is 13 games from 600 for his NHL career (69-172-241, 587 GP).
• C Cole Sillinger is seven games from 200 for his NHL career (27-35-62, 193 GP).
• D Zach Werenski is five assists from 200 for his NHL career (83-195-278, 459 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; 6 games

TOTAL MAN GAMES LOST: 186

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