By Joe Coopersmith

Oilers to Watch

«  C Leon Draisaitl ranks second on the Oilers in goals, assists, and points and ranks eighth in the NHL in scoring with 32-48-80 in 60 appearances and has totaled 7-10-17 in 15 career outings vs. CBJ.

«  C Connor McDavid leads the NHL in assists and ranks third in points while sitting one point shy of his fourth-straight 100-point campaign with 23-76-99 in 58 outings and has totaled 9-20-29 in 15 career games against the Blue Jackets.

«  G Stuart Skinner has won four-straight games (1.47 GAA and .952 SV%) and ranks fourth-T in the league in wins in 2023-24 with a 29-13-2 record, 2.60 GAA and .906 SV% in 45 contests.

All-Time Series

«  Columbus has gone 25-35-6 in 66 all-time meetings vs. the Oilers, including 16-13-4 at home.

«  CBJ have won three of the past four meetings in the series dating back to Apr. 24, 2022 (3-1-0).

«  The club is 7-3-0 in the last 10 meetings at Nationwide Arena dating back to Mar. 5, 2013 and 12-5-0 in the last 17 home contests since Nov. 16, 2009.

«  The winning team has recorded four or more goals in 10 of the past 11 games of the series.

«  The Jackets have recorded a power play goal in each of the last three outings at Nationwide Arena (3-of-11; 27.3 pct.).

«  The teams have combined for 63-plus shots on goal in five of the past six games of the series.

«  Columbus owns two of the eight shutouts in the all-time series with Steve Mason recording the last Blue Jackets shutout with 19 saves in a 1-0 win at Edmonton on Feb. 26, 2009.

«  The Blue Jackets have notched three of the four hat tricks (MR: Tomas Vanek on Mar. 27, 2018 at Edmonton) and all three penalty shot attempts (MR: Rick Nash on Mar. 25, 2012 at Columbus).

This Season (CBJ, 0-1-0)

«  Jan. 23, 2024 – at EDM 4, CBJ 1

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

Player Notables vs. Oilers

«  D Adam Boqvist – 1-5-6 and two multi-point efforts with points in four of five career GP, including assists in both career home contests against the club (0-3-3).

«  LW Johnny Gaudreau – 16-23-39 in 44 career GP, including assists in five of his last six games against Edmonton (1-10-11) and points in eighth of the last 10 overall (3-12-15) as well as 11-17-28 in 22 contests at home with points in his past five home games vs. Edmonton (3-9-12).

«  C Boone Jenner – 4-5-9 in 16 career GP, including goals in two of his last three games against the Oilers (2-1-3).

«  RW Kirill Marchenko – 3-0-3 in 3 career GP with two goals in his lone career home outing vs. the club on Feb. 25, 2023.

«  C Jack Roslovic – 3-3-6 in 11 career GP, including goals in each of his past two home appearances vs. Edmonton (3-2-5).

«  D Damon Severson – 3-5-8 in 16 career GP, including points in each of his last four home appearances against the Oilers (2-3-5).

«  D Zach Werenski – 1-5-6 in 9 career GP, including points in his past three outings vs. the club (1-2-3).

BLUE JACKETS TEAM NOTES

• The Blue Jackets have won two of the past three games after downing the Chicago Blackhawks 5-2 on Saturday and the defending Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights 6-3 on Monday before falling 5-3 to the Penguins at Pittsburgh on Tuesday.
• The club is 5-5-0 in the last 10 games dating back to Feb. 17.
• CBJ play four games in six days this week from Mar. 4-9.  It’s part of a stretch of 11 games in 19 days, including three back-to-back sets, from Feb. 20-Mar. 9.
• The game against Buffalo on Feb. 23 kicked off a stretch of 9-of-13 games played at Nationwide Arena through Mar. 17.
• CBJ have scored at least two goals in 41 of the last 51 games dating back to Nov. 6.  The club has averaged 4.67 goals over its last three outings (14 goals total).
• The team allowed a power play goal for just the second time in the last eight games after allowing two Penguins PP goals on Tuesday.   CBJ rank seventh in the league in penalty kill percentage since Feb. 21 (85.7 pct.), having killed off 18 of the past 21 opponent power play opportunities over that span.
• Columbus has recorded 395 shots on goal over the last 12 contests and ranks fourth in the NHL in shots-on-goal per game since returning from the NHL break on Feb. 10 (32.9).
• The Blue Jackets have played in 24 one-goal games this season, ranking tied for the 16th-most in the NHL.
• CBJ have had 15 of their games decided after regulation this season, tied for the ninth-most in the league.
• CBJ scored seven even strength goals over the back-to-back set against Vegas and Pittsburgh and rank seventh in the NHL with 137 goals scored at 5-on-5 play this season.
• Columbus ranks 10th in the league with 60 first period goals.
• CBJ rank fifth in the league in blocks-per-60 minutes (17.37) and blocked shots (1,091) in 2023-24.
• Blue Jackets blueliners recorded 1-3-4 stat lines against both the Golden Knights and Penguins and have combined for 13-39-52 in the last 24 contests as well as 21-84-105 over the past 47 contests.  They rank fifth-T among NHL defensive units in assists and eighth-T in points with 26-115-141 in 62 games this season.  The club also leads the league in assists percentage (37.8 pct.) and ranks second in points percentage (28.8 pct.) recorded by its defense.
• CBJ’s rookie class has combined for 29-37-66 in 62 games this season.  They lead the league among teams’ rookies in goals and rank third in points and fifth in assists.  The Blue Jackets are one of two teams in the league (Minnesota) to have two rookies with 26 or more points in 2023-24 (Dmitri Voronkov-30, Adam Fantilli-27).

BLUE JACKETS PLAYER NOTES

• D Jake Bean, who has collected assists in two consecutive contests (0-2-2), has registered 4-8-12 in 59 games this season.
• RW Yegor Chinakhov notched his 16^th goal of the campaign on Monday and has collected 5-5-10 in his last 15 contests played.  He has also registered 6-6-12 with three multi-point efforts in his last 18 games and has totaled 13-11-24 over his last 33 contests.
• LW Justin Danforth, who tied his career high with his 10th goal of the season against the Golden Knights on Monday, has also set single-season career highs in assists, points and games played with 10-10-20 in 62 contests in 2023-24.
• 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 10th in points with 12-15-27 in 49 outings.
• LW Johnny Gaudreau collected a point for the third-straight game (2-1-3) with a goal on Tuesday and has registered points in 11 of his last 15 games (3-13-16).  The winger, who leads the club in assists, points, multi-assists and multi-point outings with 10-35-45, nine multi-assist and 11 multi-point efforts in 62 contests, ranks 15th-T in the NHL in assists since Jan. 13 with 32-17-20 in 20 games.  He has also recorded 9-30-39 with 10 multi-point outings in his last 45 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 two games shy of tying Artemi Panarin for seventh.
• D Erik Gudbranson notched his fourth goal of the campaign on Monday and has set now set single-season career highs in assists and points with 4-14-18 in 58 appearances.
• C Boone Jenner has posted points in three of his past four (1-2-3) and eight of his last 12 games (6-5-11). The forward, who is the franchise’s all-time leader in games played, skated in his 700^th career game at Madison Square Garden on Feb. 28.  He also ranks third on the franchise’s all-time lists in goals and points with 189-169-358 in 704 contests.  The CBJ captain, who skated in his first NHL All-Star Game in his 11^th NHL season on Feb. 3, leads the club in goals with 19-10-29 in 47 outings and sits one goal shy of his third consecutive – and fourth career – 20-goal campaign.
• RW Kirill Marchenko has registered 2-5-7 in the last 11 contests after collecting an assist on Monday.  He has recorded 17-15-32 in 59 appearances this season and has already set single-season career highs in assists and points after posting 21-4-25 in 59 games during his 2022-23 rookie campaign.
• G Elvis Merzlikins, who missed Monday and Tuesday’s games with an upper body injury, has stopped 90-of-96 shots faced (.938 SV%) while allowing two goals in each of his last three contests against the Rangers (twice) and Blackhawks (2-1-0; 2.02 GAA).
• LW Alex Nylander tied his career long with a three-game points streak (4-2-6) from Feb. 29-Mar. 4, including notching his first career NHL hat trick with three goals on Monday (4-2-6).
• D Andrew Peeke tallied his third career multi-point outing – and second of the campaign – on Tuesday with 1-1-2 and as now collected 1-7-8 in 22 appearances this season.
• D Ivan Provorov registered an assist on Monday and ranks second on the club in blocked shots and time on ice and third in assists with 5-22-27 and 114 blocked shots, while averaging 22:17 TOI in 62 appearances this season.
• F Jack Roslovic recorded a multi-point effort for the second time (1-3-4) in the last three games with 1-1-2 on Tuesday.  The forward, who has collected assists in seven of the last ten games (2-9-11), has registered points in eight of the past 11 contests (3-9-12) to lead the club in assists and points since Feb. 13.
• C Cole Sillinger had his career-best four-game points streak (3-1-4) snapped on Tuesday.  The stretch included a career-high three-game goal streak from Feb. 28-Mar. 2.  He has also posted 3-2-5 in the last eight contests.  With 11-13-24 in 57 games this season, he sits two assists from tying his single-season career high set in his rookie campaign in 2021-22 (16-15-31 in 79 GP).
• F Alexandre Texier has recorded points in three consecutive outings (1-3-4), including collecting his third multi-assist and fifth multi-point outing of the campaign with two assists on Monday.  He has picked up 1-5-6 in the past six games and has set new single-season career highs in assists and points with 9-13-22 in 58 games.
• F Dmitri Voronkov leads NHL rookies in shots on goal, ranks second in goals and third-T in points since Jan. 15 with 9-1-10 in 19 contests.  He sits one goal behind the NHL rookie leaders in goals (Chicago’s Connor Bedard and Minnesota’s Marco Rossi) and ranks fifth in points with 16-14-30 in 56 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 stretched his assists streak to four-straight games (0-5-5) after picking up his 200^th career assist at Pittsburgh on Tuesday.  He became the third player – and first defenseman – to record 200 career assists as a Blue Jacket, joining Rick Nash (258) and David Vyborny (204).  He has collected 3-8-11 in the last 13 games and has posted points in 11 of the past 16 outings (3-10-13).  He ranks 10th-T among NHL blueliners in assists-per-game (.68) as well as leads the team in TOI and ranks second in assists and points with 4-34-38 on 24:17 TOI in 50 contests this season.  The 26-year-old has reached the 30-assist mark for the fourth time in his career with his 34 helpers the third-most in his career, trailing only 36 in 2016-17 and 37 in 2021-22.

BLUE JACKETS MILESTONES

• D Ivan Provorov is six games from 600 for his NHL career (70-174-244, 594 GP).
• F Jack Roslovic is five assists from 100 for his CBJ career (50-95-145, 245 GP).
• D Damon Severson is six games from 700 for his NHL career (64-218-282, 694 GP).
• D Zach Werenski (83-200-283, 466 GP) is five assists from surpassing RW David Vyborny (113-204-317, 543 GP) for second-most in franchise history.

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 (13 games)
• F Kent Johnson (shoulder injury on Feb. 28); out indefinitely (2 games)
• G Elvis Merzlikins (upper body injury); day-to-day (2 games)

TOTAL MAN GAMES LOST: 199

COURTESY BLUE JACKETS COMMUNICATIONS