By Joe Coopersmith

Rangers to Watch

«  D Adam Fox ranks seventh among league blueliners in assists (tied) and points with 9-38-47 in 49 appearances and has collected 0-14-14 in 12 career games against CBJ.

«  LW Artemi Panarin ranks fifth-T in the NHL in points and seventh-T in goals with 33-46-79 in 59 outings and has posted points in five of the last six games (2-9-11) after recording a goal against the Blue Jackets on Sunday.

«  G Igor Shesterkin ranks sixth in the NHL in wins with a 25-12-1 record and 2.70 GAA and .909 SV% in 38 games in 2023-24 and has posted a 4-2-0 record with a 2.06 GAA and .928 SV% in six career games against the Blue Jackets.

All-Time Series

«  Columbus has gone 23-21-6 in 50 all-time meetings vs. New York, including 10-7-5 on the road.

«  CBJ have recorded points in eight of their last 11 games at Madison Square Garden since Jan. 31, 2017 (7-3-1).

«  The Blue Jackets have collected at least five points in the season series for the fourth time in franchise history, recording a franchise-high seven points in 2018-19 (3-0-1) and six points in 2016-17 (3-2-0) and 2017-18 (3-1-0).

«  The winning team has won by multiple goals in 10 of the last 11 meetings, including two of the first three of the season series.

«  The winning team has also recorded four or more goals (including SO goals) in nine of the last 10 games of the series dating back to Oct. 29, 2021.

«  CBJ have recorded a power play goal in three of the last five games of the series (3-of-11; 27.3 pct.).

«  Columbus owns three of the five shutouts in the all-time series but the Rangers’ Igor Shesterkin has picked up the last two (31 saves in 4-0 win at NYR on Oct. 29, 2021 and 20 saves in 6-0 win at CBJ on Apr. 8, 2023).

«  The Blue Jackets have recorded the two most recent hat tricks (Artemi Panarin in 5-3 win at NYR on Mar. 20, 2018 and Boone Jenner in 5-3 win at CBJ on Oct. 14, 2023) and penalty shot attempt (Brandon Saad, unsuccessful in 5-2 win at NYR on Feb. 26, 2017).

This Season (CBJ, 2-0-1)

«  Oct. 14, 2023 – at CBJ 5, NYR 3

«  Nov. 12, 2023 – at NYR 4, CBJ 3 (SO)

«  Feb. 25, 2023 – at CBJ 4, NYR 2

«  Feb. 28, 2023 – at NY Rangers (7 p.m. ET)

Player Notables vs. Rangers

«  LW Johnny Gaudreau – 9-12-21 in 20 career GP, including 3-5-8 in nine career outings at Madison Square Garden.

«  RW Kirill Marchenko – 2-2-5 in 6 career GP, including 1-2-3 in three games of the 2023-24 season series after posting 1-1-2 on Sunday.

«  D Ivan Provorov – 3-8-11 in 33 career GP, including 1-2-3 in the first three meetings of the season series.

«  F Jack Roslovic – 2-5-7 in 15 career GP, including 1-5-6 in his last six games against the club.

«  C Dmitri Voronkov – 1-2-3 in 2 career GP, recording points in both career outings after collecting 1-1-2 in Sunday’s contest.

«  D Zach Werenski – 3-12-15 in 21 career GP, including points in four of his past five outings vs. New York overall (1-5-6).

BLUE JACKETS TEAM NOTES

• CBJ split a two-game homestand, falling to Buffalo, 2-1, on Feb. 23 and defeating the NY Rangers, 4-2, on Sunday.
• Last Friday’s game against Buffalo kicked off a stretch of three-of-four and 9-of-13 at Nationwide Arena through Mar. 17.
• The Blue Jackets snapped the Rangers’ 10-game win streak on Sunday, marking the second time in franchise history the club snapped a double-digit win streak (Minnesota, 12-0-0 in 2016-17).
• Columbus plays its ninth of 13 back-to-back sets of the season when it visits New York on Wednesday and hosts Carolina on Thursday.  The club is 6-7-3 in back-to-back sets in 2023-24 (2-5-1 in 1^st game, 4-2-2 in 2^nd game).
• Wednesday’s contest begins a stretch of five games in seven days for the club, including two back-to-back sets (also Mar. 4 vs. Vegas/Mar. 5 at Pittsburgh).
• The club has scored at least two goals in 37 of the last 46 games dating back to Nov. 6.
• Columbus, which posted 41 shots on goal on Sunday, has recorded 243 shots on goal over the last seven contests. The club ranks second in the NHL in the shots-on-goal per game since returning from the NHL break on Feb. 10 (34.7), trailing only Philadelphia (35.1).
• The Blue Jackets have played in 24 one-goal games this season, ranking tied for the 12th-most in the NHL.
• CBJ have had 15 of their games decided after regulation this season, tied for the eighth-most in the league.
• CBJ rank ninth-T in the NHL with 125 goals scored at 5-on-5 play this season.
• Columbus ranks 11th-T in the league with 56 first period goals.
• CBJ rank fifth in the league in blocks-per-60 minutes (17.22) and sixth in blocked shots (995) in 2023-24.
• Blue Jackets blueliners picked up 1-1-2 in Sunday’s win and have now combined for 11-27-38 in the last 18 contests as well as 19-72-91 over the past 41 contests.  They rank seventh-T among NHL defensive units in assists and 11th-T in points with 24-104-128 in 57 games this season.  The club also leads the league in assists percentage (37.4 pct.) and ranks second in points percentage (28.7 pct.) recorded by its defense.
• CBJ’s rookie class has combined for 29-37-66 in 57 games this season.  They lead the league among teams’ rookies in goals and rank third in points and fourth-T 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 (Dmitri Voronkov-30, Adam Fantilli-27).
• The Blue Jackets play their final Wednesday game of the season, having earned points in three of their first four Wednesday games (2-1-1; 2-0-0 on the road).

BLUE JACKETS PLAYER NOTES

• RW Yegor Chinakhov picked up an assist on Sunday and has collected 4-5-9 in his last 10 contests played.  He has also registered 5-6-11 with three multi-point efforts in his last 13 games and has totaled 12-11-23 over his last 28 contests.
• C Adam Fantilli, who suffered a calf laceration on Jan. 28 and is expected to miss eight weeks, ranks fifth-T among NHL rookies in goals and seventh-T in points with 12-15-27 in 49 outings.
• LW Johnny Gaudreau collected his fourth multi-assist effort in the last seven games (1-9-10) with two assists on Sunday.  He has registered points in eight of his last 10 games (1-12-13).  The winger, who leads the club in assists, points, multi-assists and multi-point outings with 8-34-42, nine multi-assist and 11 multi-point efforts in 57 contests, ranks 11th-T in the NHL in assists since Jan. 13 with 1-16-17 in 15 games.  He has also recorded 7-29-36 with 10 multi-point outings in his last 40 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 all-time in multi-assist outings (23) and is three 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 53 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 posted points in five of his last seven games (5-3-8).  He leads the club in goals with 18-8-26 in 42 outings and sits two goals shy of his third consecutive – and fourth career – 20-goal campaign.  The club’s all-time leader in games played, who is slated to skate in his 700^th career NHL game at New York, ranks third on the all-time lists in assists and points with 188-167-355 in 699 games.
• RW Kirill Marchenko has collected assists in two-straight games (1-2-3) after notching his sixth multi-point effort of the season with 1-1-2 on Sunday.  He has also registered points in five of his last seven games (2-4-6).  He has recorded 17-14-31 in 55 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, who has registered points in back-to-back games (1-1-2), ranks second on the club in blocked shots and time on ice and third in assists with 5-21-26 and 105 blocked shots, while averaging 22:29 TOI in 57 appearances this season.
• F Jack Roslovic has collected assists in four of the last five games (1-5-6) and points in five of the past six contests (2-5-7) after registering his third multi-point effort of the campaign with 1-1-2 on Sunday.
• LW Dmitri Voronkov has posted goals in two-straight games (2-1-3) and four of the last six games (4-1-5) after recording his third multi-point effort with 1-1-2 on Sunday.  He ranks eighth in the NHL in goals-per-game (min. 5 GP) as well as leads NHL rookies in goals, goals-per-game and shots on goal and ranks second in points since Jan. 15 with 9-1-10 and .64 goals-per-game in 14 contests.  He sits one goal behind the NHL rookie leaders in goals (Chicago’s Connor Bedard and Minnesota’s Marco Rossi) and ranks fourth in points with 16-14-30 in 51 appearances.  He’s also one goal shy of tying Rick Nash (17, 2002-03) for the third-most goals by a rookie in franchise history.
• 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 Feb. 21.  He has collected 3-3-6 in the last eight games (3-3-6) and has posted points in seven of the past 11 outings (3-5-8).  He ranks 11th-T among NHL blueliners in assists-per-game (.64) as well as leads the team in TOI and ranks second in assists and points with 4-29-33 on 24:17 TOI in 45 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

• C Boone Jenner is one game from 700 for his NHL career (188-167-355, 699 GP).
• C Sean Kuraly is three games from 200 for his CBJ career (34-31-65, 197 GP).
• D Ivan Provorov is 11 games from 600 for his NHL career (70-173-243, 589 GP).
• C Cole Sillinger is five games from 200 for his NHL career (27-35-62, 195 GP).
• D Zach Werenski is five assists from 200 for his NHL career (83-195-278, 461 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; 8 games

TOTAL MAN GAMES LOST: 188

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