By Joe Coopersmith

Avalanche to Watch

«  C Nathan MacKinnon ranks second in the NHL in points, third in assists and fifth in goals with 42-75-117 in 69 contests this season and has notched 4-15-19 in 17 career games against the Blue Jackets.

«  D Cale Makar ranks second among NHL blueliners in goals (tied), assists and points with 17-58-75 in 64 games in 2023-24 and has tallied 3-5-8 in 4 career games against Columbus.

«  RW Mikko Rantanen, who ranks sixth in the NHL in points, eighth-T in assists, and 11th in goals with 37-56-93 in 69 appearances this season, has tallied 4-7-11 in 10 career games vs. Columbus, including 3-2-5 in his past two games against the club.

All-Time Series

«  Columbus has gone 22-37-6 in 65 all-time meetings vs. Colorado, including 11-20-2 on the road.

«  CBJ have won two of the last three games at Ball Arena and have recorded points nine of the last 14 road games of the series (8-5-1), which includes a 6-3 loss on Nov. 4, 2022 in the 2023 Global Series in Tampere, Finland.

«  The teams have rotated two-game season series sweeps dating back to the 2018-19 season with Columbus winning both games in 2018-19 and 2021-22 and Colorado winning the 2019-20 and 2022-23 series.

«  The winning team has recorded four or more goals in four-straight meetings as well as eight of the last nine meetings since Mar. 8, 2018 with six of them scoring five-plus goals in a victory.

«  The teams have combined for nine goals in three of the last four games played at Colorado (including Nov. 4, 2022 contest at Tampere).

«  CBJ have scored a power play goal in three of the last four road games of the series (3-of-13; 23.1 pct.).

«  The Blue Jackets have killed off 18-of-21 Avalanche power play chances over the last seven games in the series (85.7 pct.).

«  Columbus owns three shutouts in the all-time series with the club’s most recent instance a 2-0 victory on Mar. 1, 2012 (Mason-33 saves).

«  The Blue Jackets have notched one hat trick in the all-time series with the lone hat trick for Columbus recorded by Rick Nash in a 6-1 win at Colorado on Jan. 2, 2009.

This Season (CBJ, 0-0-0)

«  Mar. 22, 2024 – at Colorado (9 p.m. ET)

«  Apr. 1, 2024 – at COLUMBUS (7 p.m. ET)

Player Notables vs. Avalanche

«  D Jake Bean – 2-0-2 in 4 career GP with both goals recorded in his lone road career game at Ball Arena on Nov. 3, 2021.

«  LW Johnny Gaudreau – 8-10-18 in 23 career GP, including 3-4-7 in his past six road contests at Colorado.

«  C Boone Jenner – 7-6-13 in 16 career GP, including points in each of his past five appearances vs. the Avalanche (2-3-5) and eight of his last 11 (4-6-10), as well as points in his past two-straight contests at Colorado (1-1-2).

«  C Cole Sillinger – 3-1-4 in 4 career GP, including 2-1-3 in his lone game at Ball Arena on Nov. 3, 2021.

«  D Zach Werenski – 2-5-7 in 12 career GP, recording assists in his last two games against the Avalanche (0-2-2) as well as 1-2-3 in his past four road games vs. Colorado.

BLUE JACKETS TEAM NOTES

• Columbus moved to 4-4-2 in its last 10 games and 7-8-2 in the past 17 since Feb. 17 after kicking off a five-game road trip with a 4-3 overtime loss at Detroit on Tuesday.
• After playing four games in six days in each of the past two weeks, the Blue Jackets play just three times this week, including their 12^th of 13 back-to-back sets at Colorado on Friday and Vegas on Saturday.
• The club, which closed out a stretch of nine-of-13 games played at Nationwide Arena from Feb. 23-Mar. 17, plays nine of its final 14 games of the season on the road.  It includes a season-high (tied) five-game road trip to Detroit (Mar. 19), Colorado (Mar. 22), Vegas (Mar. 23), Arizona (Mar. 26) and Pittsburgh (Mar. 28).
• CBJ killed off two of Detroit’s three power play chances on Tuesday and have allowed just two power play goals over the last six contests (14-of-16; 87.5 pct.).  The team ranks sixth-T in the league in penalty kill percentage since Feb. 21 (85.0 pct.), having killed off 34 of the past 40 opponent power play opportunities over the past 15 games.
• Columbus, which has posted 164 shots on goal over the past five games (32.8 avg.), has recorded 626 shots on goal over the last 19 contests and ranks seventh-T in the NHL in shots-on-goal per game since returning from the NHL break on Feb. 10 (33.0).
• CBJ, who have had two of their last three games decided after regulation, have seen 17 of their games decided after regulation this season, tied for the seventh-most in the league.
• The Blue Jackets scored three even strength goals on Tuesday and rank 10th-T in the NHL with 148 goals scored at 5-on-5 play this season.
• Columbus ranks seventh-T in the league with 67 first period goals after scoring twice in the first period against Detroit on Tuesday.
• CBJ rank seventh in the league in blocked shots (1,191) and blocks-per-60 minutes (17.04) in 2023-24.
• Blue Jackets blueliners collected 1-3-4 in Tuesday’s contest and have combined for 14-49-63 in the last 31 contests since Jan. 1 as well as 22-94-116 over the past 54 games.  They rank eighth among NHL defensive units in assists and 12th in points with 27-126-153 in 69 games this season.  The club also leads the league in assists percentage (38.5 pct.) and ranks second in points percentage (29.0 pct.) recorded by its defense.
• CBJ’s rookie class has combined for 30-37-67 in 69 games this season to lead the league among teams’ rookies in goals (tied, Chicago) and rank fourth in points and sixth 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 429-of-469 shots faced (.915 SV%) over the last 14 games since Feb. 23, allowing three goals or less in nine of those outings.

BLUE JACKETS PLAYER NOTES

• RW Yegor Chinakhov, who has missed the last four games with an upper body injury, has collected 5-5-10 in his last 18 contests played.  He has also registered 6-6-12 with three multi-point efforts in his last 21 games and has totaled 13-11-24 over his last 36 contests.
• C Adam Fantilli, who suffered a calf laceration on Jan. 28 and is expected to miss eight weeks, ranks seventh-T among NHL rookies in goals and 10th-T assists and 11^th-T in points with 12-15-27 in 49 outings despite missing the last 20 games due to the injury.
• LW Johnny Gaudreau has registered points in 14 of his last 22 games (4-18-22) and has recorded the primary assist on 13 of his last 15 assists overall dating back to Feb. 10 after picking up a secondary helper against the Red Wings on Tuesday.  The winger leads the club in assists, points, multi-assists and multi-point outings with 11-40-51, 11 multi-assist and 13 multi-point efforts in 69 contests and has collected 40 or more assists in ninth time in his career.  He has also recorded 10-35-45 with 12 multi-point outings in his last 52 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 (25) and is one games shy of tying Artemi Panarin for seventh.
• D Erik Gudbranson has set single-season career highs in assists, points and blocked shots with 4-15-19 and 143 blocked shots in 65 appearances.
• C Boone Jenner has recorded 2-1-3 in the last four games and has posted 8-6-14 in the last 19 contests.  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 191-170-361 in 711 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 21-11-32 in 54 outings and became the fourth player to record four 20-goal seasons on March 14 vs. Ottawa, including in each of his past three campaigns.
• RW Kirill Marchenko has registered 3-5-8 in the last 17 contests after scoring a goal on Tuesday vs. Detroit.  He has recorded 18-15-33 in 65 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.
• LW Alex Nylander notched his second career three-point outing, with both coming in a seven-game span, after tallying 2-1-3 against San Jose on Mar. 16.  He has recorded 8-3-11 in his first 13 games with the club after being held off the scoresheet in the past two contests.  He is the first player in franchise history and the first player in the NHL since Vancouver’s Elias Pettersson (10 G in 11 GP in 2018-19) to record at least eight goals in his first 11 games with a team.
• D Ivan Provorov has tied his single-season career high in assists with 24 (also 2016-17 and 2018-19 with Philadelphia).  He ranks second on the club in blocked shots and time on ice and third in assists with 5-24-29 and 125 blocked shots, while averaging 22:10 TOI in 69 appearances this season.
• D Damon Severson has tallied assists in two of his past three contests (0-2-2) and has collected 6-15-21 in 54 appearances this season.
• C Cole Sillinger has posted 3-4-7 in the last 16 contests.  With 11-14-25 in 63 games this season, he is 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 has allowed two goals in three of his last four starts, compiling a 2.05 GAA and .940 SV% (156-of-166) since Mar. 7.  The stretch included stopping 39-of-41 shots faced in a win over San Jose on Mar. 16 and set a new career best with a shutout streak of 101:44 before allowing a second period goal.  The streak started in the third period of the Nashville game on Mar. 9.  He has stopped 283-of-303 shots faced (.934 SV%), while allowing three goals or less in six of his last seven starts to rank second-T in the NHL in save percentage and eighth in goals-against average (2.30) since Feb. 21 (min. 7 GP).
• F Alexandre Texier notched a goal on Tuesday at Detroit and has picked up 3-4-7 in the last 10 games, including a career-high five-game points streak (2-4-6) from Mar. 2-9.  He has posted 11-14-25 in 65 games and has set single-season career highs in goals (tied, 2021-22), assists, points and games played.
• F Dmitri Voronkov leads NHL rookies in power play goals and shots on goal and ranks second-T in goals since Jan. 15 with 10-1-11, four PPG and 69 shots on goal in 26 contests.  He is tied for third among NHL rookies in goals (Chicago’s Connor Bedard; 21) and ranks seventh in points with 17-14-31 in 63 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 registered his second game of three or more points this season by collecting points on all three CBJ goals on Tuesday (1-2-3).  He has collected assists in three of the past four games (1-4-5) and seven of the last 11 contests (1-9-10).  He has also registered 4-12-16 in the last 20 games and has posted points in 14 of the past 23 outings (4-14-18).  He ranks 11th among NHL blueliners in assists-per-game (.67) as well as leads the team in TOI and ranks second in assists and points with 5-38-43 on 24:23 TOI in 57 contests this season.  The 26-year-old has reached the 40-point plateau for the fifth time in his career and 30-aassist mark for the fourth time while setting a single-season career high in assists (37, 2021-22).  He became the third player – and first defenseman – to record 200 career assists as a Blue Jacket (84-204-288, 473 GP), joining Rick Nash (258) and David Vyborny (204) with an assist at Pittsburgh on Mar. 5.

BLUE JACKETS MILESTONES

• LW Johnny Gaudreau is eight assists from 500 for his NHL career (242-492-734, 751 GP).
• C Boone Jenner is nine goals from 200 for his NHL career (191-170-361, 711 GP).
• D Zach Werenski (84-204-288, 473 GP) is one assist 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 (20 games)
• F Kent Johnson (shoulder injury on Feb. 28); out rest of season (11 games)
• LW Justin Danforth (concussion on Mar. 7); out indefinitely (6 games)
• RW Yegor Chinakhov (upper body injury on Mar. 12); is day-to-day (4 games)
• C Sean Kuraly (lower body injury on Mar. 12); is week-to-week (4 games)
• D Adam Boqvist (upper body injury on Mar. 14); out indefinitely (3 games)

TOTAL MAN GAMES LOST: 231

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