By Joe Coopersmith

Canadiens to Watch

«  RW Cole Caufield ranks second on Montreal in goals and points with 19-32-51 in 64 contests and has recorded 3-3-6 in six career games against the Blue Jackets.

«  D Mike Matheson ranks 10^th-T among NHL blueliners in points and 11^th-T in assists with 9-37-46 in 64 outings.

«  C Nick Suzuki, who leads the Canadiens in goals and points and ranks second in assists, has recorded three- consecutive 20-goal and 60-point seasons with 25-36-61 in 64 appearances in 2023-24 and has totaled 4-11-15 in 11 career appearances vs. CBJ.

All-Time Series

«  Columbus has gone 20-15-5 in 40 all-time meetings vs. Montreal, including 10-8-4 on the road.

«  Montreal has won the last four contests in the series (CBJ; 0-3-1) following a six-game Blue Jackets win streak from Nov. 19, 2019-Nov. 17, 2022 and eight-game points streak from Mar. 28-2019-Nov. 17, 2022 (7-0-1).

«  CBJ have recorded points in five of the last six games played at Bell Centre (3-1-2) dating back to Nov. 12, 2019.

«  The winning team has scored four or more goals in three-straight and eight of the last 10 games of the series.

«  The winning team has won by multiple goals in five of the last six games of the series.

«  Seven of the past 10 games played at Montreal have been decided by a single goal.

«  The Blue Jackets own four of the five shutouts in the all-time series but the Canadiens earned the most recent one with Carey Price turning aside all 26 shots in a 1-0 OT win at Montreal on Feb. 28, 2017.

«  Each team has recorded a hat trick in the series with Cam Atkinson netting three in a 5-2 CBJ win at Columbus on Jan. 25, 2016 and Rafael Harvey-Pinard recording the feat in a 8-2 Canadiens home win on Mar. 25, 2023.

This Season (CBJ, 0-1-1)

«  Oct. 26, 2023 – at MTL 4, CBJ 3 (OT)

«  Nov. 29, 2023 – MTL 4, at CBJ 2

«  Mar. 12, 2024 – at Montreal (7 p.m. ET)

Player Notables vs. Canadiens

«  RW Yegor Chinakhov – 2-1-3 in 4 career GP, including points in each of his last two contests against the club (1-1-2).

«  C Johnny Gaudreau – 6-17-23 in 28 career GP, including 3-5-8 in his past 11 appearances against Montreal

«  C Cole Sillinger – 3-2-5 in 7 career GP, including 1-1-2 in three career outings at Bell Centre.

BLUE JACKETS TEAM NOTES

• Columbus is 3-2-0 in its last five games and 6-6-0 in the past 12 since Feb. 17 after falling to Nashville 2-1 on Saturday.
• Tuesday’s game at Montreal kicks off a stretch of four games in six days through Mar. 17.  It’s the second-straight week of four games over a six day period for the club (2-2-0 last week).
• The club is in a stretch of 9-of-13 games played at Nationwide Arena from Feb. 23-Mar. 17.  CBJ will then hit the road for a five-game road trip from Mar. 19-28.
• The Blue Jackets rank sixth-T in the NHL in goals-per-game during the month of March, averaging 3.80 goals over the past five contests (19 goals total).  CBJ have scored at least two goals in 42 of the last 53 games dating back to Nov. 6.
• The team has killed off all opponent power play chances in seven of the last 10 games after denying the Predators on all three attempts on Saturday.  CBJ rank fifth-T in the league in penalty kill percentage since Feb. 21 (85.2 pct.), having killed off 23 of the past 27 opponent power play opportunities over that span.
• Columbus has recorded 462 shots on goal over the last 14 contests and ranks eighth 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 11 even strength goals over their last four games and rank eighth in the NHL with 141 goals scored at 5-on-5 play this season.
• Columbus, which recorded three first period goals for the fourth time this season vs. Edmonton on Mar. 7, ranks eighth-T in the league with 63 first period goals.
• CBJ rank fifth in the league in blocks-per-60 minutes (17.19) and blocked shots (1,114) in 2023-24.
• Blue Jackets blueliners have combined for 13-41-54 in the last 26 contests since Jan. 1 as well as 21-86-107 over the past 49 contests.  They rank sixth-T among NHL defensive units in assists and 11th in points with 26-117-143 in 64 games this season.  The club also leads the league in assists percentage (37.7 pct.) and ranks second in points percentage (28.6 pct.) recorded by its defense.
• CBJ’s rookie class has combined for 30-37-67 in 64 games this season to lead the league among teams’ rookies in goals and rank third-T 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 netminders have combined to stop 292-of-315 shots faced (.927 SV%) over the past nine games since Feb. 23.

BLUE JACKETS PLAYER NOTES

• D Jake Bean, who has collected assists in two of his last three games (0-2-2), has collected 4-8-12 in 60 games this season.
• RW Yegor Chinakhov has collected 5-5-10 in his last 17 contests played.  He has also registered 6-6-12 with three multi-point efforts in his last 20 games and has totaled 13-11-24 over his last 35 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 sixth-T among NHL rookies in goals, ninth-T in assists and 10th in points with 12-15-27 in 49 outings despite missing the last 15 games due to the injury.
• LW Johnny Gaudreau has registered points in 11 of his last 17 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 64 contests.  He has also recorded 9-30-39 with 10 multi-point outings in his last 47 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 four outings (1-1-2) and has set single-season career highs in assists and points with 4-15-19 in 60 appearances.
• C Boone Jenner has posted points in eight of his last 14 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 706 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 49 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 13 contests.  He has recorded 17-15-32 in 61 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 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) dating back to Feb. 25.
• LW Alex Nylander, who has recorded 5-2-7 in his first eight games with the Blue Jackets, has registered points in four of his last six games (5-2-7), including his first career hat trick on Mar. 4 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, who collected an assist on Saturday, ranks second on the club in blocked shots and time on ice and third in assists with 5-23-28 and 115 blocked shots, while averaging 22:11 TOI in 64 appearances this season.
• C Cole Sillinger has recorded points in five of the last seven outings (3-2-5) and has also posted 3-4-7 in the last 11 contests.  With 11-14-25 in 59 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 47-of-49 shots faced (.959 SV%) in a 2-1 loss to Nashville on Saturday, tying his single-game career high for saves in the process (47-of-50 on Nov. 20, 2022 vs. Florida).  He has turned aside 203-of-217 shots faced (.935 SV%), while allowing three goals or less in each of his last six starts to rank fourth in the NHL in save percentage and 10^th in goals-against average (2.42) since Feb. 21 (min. 5 GP).
• F Alexandre Texier scored CBJ’s lone goal on Saturday to stretch his points streak to a career-high five consecutive games (2-4-6).  HE has 10-14-24 in 60 games and has set single-season career highs in assists, points and games played.  The 24-year-old also sits one goal shy of tying his career high set in 2021-22.
• F Dmitri Voronkov leads NHL rookies in goals (tied) and shots on goal and ranks third-T in points since Jan. 15 with 10-1-11 in 21 contests.  He is tied for second among NHL rookies in goals (Chicago’s Connor Bedard; 19) and ranks fifth-T in points with 16-14-30 in 57 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 has collected assists in four of his last six games (0-5-5).  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 at Pittsburgh on Mar. 5.  He has collected 3-8-11 in the last 15 games and has posted points in 11 of the past 18 outings (3-10-13).  He ranks 12th among NHL blueliners in assists-per-game (.65) as well as leads the team in TOI and ranks second in assists and points with 4-34-38 on 24:15 TOI in 52 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 four games from 600 for his NHL career (70-175-245, 596 GP).
• D Damon Severson is four games from 700 for his NHL career (64-218-282, 696 GP).
• D Zach Werenski (83-200-283, 468 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 (15 games)
• F Kent Johnson (shoulder injury on Feb. 28); out indefinitely (6 games)
• LW Justin Danforth (concussion); day-to-day (1 game)

TOTAL MAN GAMES LOST: 204

COURTESY BLUE JACKETS COMMUNICATIONS