By Joe Coopersmith

Predators to Watch

«  LW Filip Forsberg, who has recorded points in seven-straight games (7-5-12), leads the Predators in goals and points and ranks third in assists with 33-34-67 in 64 appearances this season and has collected 12-9-21 in 24 career contests vs. Columbus.

«  D Roman Josi, who leads the club in assists and ranks second in points with 15-47-62 in 64 games this season, has totaled 4-14-18 in 32 career games against the Blue Jackets.

«  G Juuse Saros has earned points in his last eight-straight games (7-0-1; 1.75 GAA and .940 SV%) and ranks sixth in the league in wins in 2023-24 with a 27-21-3 record with a 2.83 GAA and .907 SV% in 51 contests.

All-Time Series

«  Columbus has gone 31-55-13 in 99 all-time meetings vs. the Predators, including 22-20-6 at home.

«  CBJ have won the past three meetings at Nationwide Arena dating back to May. 5, 2021 and are 5-1-1 in the last seven home contests dating back to Jan. 10, 2019.

«  The club has recorded points in four of the last six meetings of the series since May 3, 2021 (3-2-1).

«  The winning team has recorded four or more goals in five of the last six contests of the series.

«  The Blue Jackets have killed off all eight Predators power play chances over the last two games.

«  The teams have combined for 63-plus shots on goal in four-straight and seven of the last nine contests of the series.

«  Columbus has recorded five shutouts in the all-time series with Elvis Merzlikins recording the last Blue Jackets shutout after making 32 saves in a 3-0 win at Nationwide Arena on Feb. 18, 2021.

«  The Blue Jackets have notched three of the six hat tricks (MR: Filip Forsberg on Nov. 30, 2021 at Nashville) and fourth of five penalty shot attempts (MR: Cam Atkinson on Mar. 30, 2019 at Nashville).

This Season (CBJ, 0-0-0)

«  Mar. 9, 2024 – at COLUMBUS (12:30 p.m. ET)

«  Apr. 13, 2024 – at Nashville (8 p.m. ET)

Player Notables vs. Predators

«  RW Yegor Chinakhov – 0-2-2 in 3 career GP, collecting a multi-assist game in his most recent outing on Oct. 20, 2022.

«  LW Johnny Gaudreau – 5-23-28 in 23 career GP, with points in three of his last four outings (2-3-5).

«  C Boone Jenner – 9-3-12 in 22 career GP, including 4-1-5 in his last five home games.

BLUE JACKETS TEAM NOTES

• The Blue Jackets have won three of the past four games after downing the Edmonton Oilers 4-2 on Thursday.
• The club is also 6-5-0 in the last 11 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 42 of the last 52 games dating back to Nov. 6.  The club has averaged 4.00 goals over its last four outings (18 goals total).
• The team allowed a power play goal for just the third in the last nine games after allowing an Edmonton power play goal on Thursday.  CBJ rank eighth in the league in penalty kill percentage since Feb. 21 (83.3 pct.), having killed off 20 of the past 24 opponent power play opportunities over that span.
• Columbus has recorded 429 shots on goal over the last 13 contests and ranks fifth in the NHL in shots-on-goal per game since returning from the NHL break on Feb. 10 (33.0).
• CBJ have had 15 of their games decided after regulation this season, tied for the 10th-most in the league.
• CBJ have scored 10 even strength goals over their last three games and rank fourth-T in the NHL with 140 goals scored at 5-on-5 play this season.
• Columbus recorded three first period goals for the fourth time this season on Thursday and ranks seventh-T in the league with 63 first period goals.
• CBJ rank fifth in the league in blocks-per-60 minutes (17.27) and blocked shots (1,102) in 2023-24.
• Blue Jackets blueliners have combined for 13-40-53 in the last 25 contests as well as 21-85-106 over the past 48 contests.  They rank sixth among NHL defensive units in assists and 10th in points with 26-116-142 in 63 games this season.  The club also leads the league in assists percentage (37.5 pct.) and ranks second in points percentage (28.5 pct.) recorded by its defense.
• CBJ’s rookie class has combined for 30-37-67 in 63 games this season to 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-31, Adam Fantilli-27).

BLUE JACKETS PLAYER NOTES

• D Jake Bean, who has collected assists in each of his last two games (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 16 contests played.  He has also registered 6-6-12 with three multi-point efforts in his last 19 games and has totaled 13-11-24 over his last 34 contests.
• LW Justin Danforth, who has recorded points in two of the past three games (1-1-2), has set single-season career highs in goals (tied, 2021-22), assists, points and games played with 10-11-21 in 63 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, eighth-T in assists and 10th in points with 12-15-27 in 49 outings.
• LW Johnny Gaudreau had his three-game points streak (2-1-3) snapped on Thursday and has registered points in 11 of his last 16 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 63 contests, ranks 19th-T in the NHL in assists since Jan. 13 with 3-17-20 in 21 games.  He has also recorded 9-30-39 with 10 multi-point outings in his last 46 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 picked up points in two of the last three outings (1-1-2) and has set single-season career highs in assists and points with 4-15-19 in 59 appearances.
• C Boone Jenner has posted points in three of his past five (1-2-3) and eight of his last 13 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 705 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 48 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 12 contests, including an assist on Monday.  He has recorded 17-15-32 in 60 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 and served as a backup on Thursday, has stopped 90-of-96 shots faced (.938 SV%) while allowing two goals in each of his last three contests played against the Rangers (twice) and Blackhawks (2-1-0; 2.02 GAA).
• LW Alex Nylander has registered points in four of his last five games (5-2-7), including his first career hat trick on Monday vs. Vegas.  He is the second player in Blue Jackets history to record five goals in his first seven games with the club, joining Antoine Vermette (2009).
• D Ivan Provorov ranks second on the club in blocked shots and time on ice and third in assists with 5-22-27 and 115 blocked shots, while averaging 22:14 TOI in 63 appearances this season.
• C Cole Sillinger has recorded points in five of the last six outings (3-2-5) and has also posted 3-4-7 in the last 10 contests.  With 11-14-25 in 58 games this season, he sits one assist from tying his single-season career high set in his rookie campaign in 2021-22 (16-15-31 in 79 GP).
• G Daniil Tarasov stopped 29-of-31 shots (.935 SV%) in Thursday’s over the Oilers  and improved to 3-2-0 with a 2.49 GAA and .929 SV% over his last five starts since Feb. 21.
• F Alexandre Texier has tied his career bests by recording assists in three-straight games (0-4-4) and points in four consecutive appearances (1-4-5).  He has picked up 1-6-7 in the past seven games and has set new single-season career highs in assists and points with 9-13-23 in 59 games.
• F Dmitri Voronkov leads NHL rookies in goals (tied) and shots on goal and ranks second-T in points since Jan. 15 with 10-1-11 in 20 contests.  He is tied for the NHL rookie lead 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 tied with Rick Nash (17, 2002-03) for the third-most goals by a rookie in franchise history, trailing only Kirill Marchenko (21, 2022-23) and Pierre-Luc Dubois (20, 2017-18).
• D Zach Werenski had his four-game assists streak (0-5-5) snapped on Thursday.  He had became the third player – and first defenseman – to record 200 career assists as a Blue Jacket, joining Rick Nash (258) and David Vyborny (204) with an assist in Tuesday’s game at Pittsburgh.  He has collected 3-8-11 in the last 14 games and has posted points in 11 of the past 17 outings (3-10-13).  He ranks 10th-T among NHL blueliners in assists-per-game (.67) as well as leads the team in TOI and ranks second in assists and points with 4-34-38 on 24:15 TOI in 51 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 five games from 600 for his NHL career (70-174-244, 595 GP).
• D Damon Severson is six games from 700 for his NHL career (64-218-282, 695 GP).
• D Zach Werenski (83-200-283, 467 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 (14 games)
• F Kent Johnson (shoulder injury on Feb. 28); out indefinitely (5 games)

TOTAL MAN GAMES LOST: 201

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