By Joe Coopersmith

Golden Knights to Watch

«  C Jack Eichel, who has recorded points in three-straight contests (2-1-3), is tied for second on the Golden Knights in scoring with 22-31-53 in 50 appearances and has totaled 9-11-20 in 19 career outings against CBJ.

«  C William Karlsson, a former Jacket, ranks second on the Knights in goals and ranks fourth in points with 24-22-46 in 57 outings and 4-4-8 in 11 career appearances against the Blue Jackets.

«  Former Blue Jacket RW Jonathan Marchessault, who has recorded points in two-straight games (1-1-2), leads the Golden Knights in goals and points with 38-22-60 in 69 contests and has tallied 4-9-13 in 14 appearances vs. Columbus.

All-Time Series

«  Columbus has gone 6-4-1 in 11 all-time meetings vs. Vegas, including 2-3-0 on the road.

«  CBJ have recorded points in three of the last four games of the series (2-1-1) after earning a 6-3 win in the 2023-24 series opener on Mar. 4.

«  The home team has recorded points in five-straight meetings of the series (4-0-1) dating back to Nov. 20, 2021.

«  CBJ have killed off all Vegas power play chances in eight of the 11 series meetings (23-of-28; 82.1 pct.), including 11-of-13 on the road (84.6 pct.), including all six attempts in the last two games at T-Mobile Arena.

«  The winning team has scored four or more goals in three of the last four games of the series.

«  The Blue Jackets own both of the shutouts in the series with Sergei Bobrovsky turning aside 28 shots in a 1-0 win at Columbus on Dec. 17, 2018 and Elvis Merzlikins stopping 27 shots in a 3-0 win at Vegas on Jan. 11, 2020.

«  Columbus owns two of the three hat tricks in the all-time series with Alex Nylander notching the most recent with his first career hat trick in a 6-3 CBJ win at Nationwide Arena on Mar. 4, 2024.

This Season (CBJ, 1-0-0)

«  Mar. 4, 2024 – at CBJ 6, VGK 3

«  Mar. 23, 2024 – at Vegas (10:30 p.m. ET)

Player Notables vs. Golden Knights

«  LW Johnny Gaudreau – 5-8-13 in 17 career GP, including 2-3-5 in his last six games against the club.

«  RW Kirill Marchenko – 1-2-3 in 2 career GP, recording assists in both appearances against the Golden Knights.

«  LW Alex Nylander – 3-1-4 in 4 career GP, including his first career hat trick in the Blue Jackets most recent game vs. Vegas on Mar. 4, 2024 (3-0-3).

«  C Cole Sillinger – 3-1-4 in 5 career GP, notching his first career hat trick against Vegas on Mar. 3, 2013 (3-0-3).

«  LW Alexandre Texier – 1-2-3 in 2 career GP, including a multi-point effort in Columbus’ last contest against Vegas on Mar. 4, 2024 (0-2-2).

«  D Zach Werenski – 1-5-6 in 9 career GP, including assists in his last three games against the Golden Knights (0-4-4).

BLUE JACKETS TEAM NOTES

• Columbus fell to 4-5-2 in its last 11 games and 7-9-2 in the past 18 since Feb. 17 after falling 6-1 at Colorado on Friday.  The club kicked 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 team, 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 Colorado’s three power play chances on Friday and have allowed just three power play goals over the last seven contests (16-of-19; 84.2 pct.).  The team ranks 11th in the league in penalty kill percentage since Feb. 21 (83.7 pct.), having killed off 36 of the past 43 opponent power play opportunities over the past 16 games.
• Columbus, which has posted 188 shots on goal over the past six games (31.3 avg.), has recorded 650 shots on goal over the last 20 contests and ranks ninth-T in the NHL in shots-on-goal per game since returning from the NHL break on Feb. 10 (32.5).
• CBJ, who have had two of their last four 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 rank 11th-T in the NHL with 149 goals scored at 5-on-5 play this season.
• Columbus has scored three first period goals on the current road trip and ranks seventh-T in the league with 68 first period goals this season.
• CBJ rank sixth in the league in blocked shots (1,215) and seventh in blocks-per-60 minutes (17.14) in 2023-24.
• Blue Jackets blueliners have collected 2-3-5 in the first two games of the road trip and have combined for 15-49-64 in the last 32 contests since Jan. 1 as well as 23-94-117 over the past 55 games.  They rank ninth-T among NHL defensive units in assists and 11th-T in points with 28-126-154 in 70 games this season.  The club also leads the league in assists percentage (38.3 pct.) and points percentage (tied, 29.1 pct.) recorded by its defense.
• CBJ’s rookie class has combined for 30-37-67 in 70 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).
• The Blue Jackets have scored the first goal of the game in each of the first two contests of the road trip and four of the last five outings of the season.

BLUE JACKETS PLAYER NOTES

• RW Yegor Chinakhov, who has missed the last five 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, 10th-T in assists and 11^th-T in points with 12-15-27 in 49 outings despite missing the last 21 games due to the injury.
• LW Johnny Gaudreau, who has collected assists in four of the past five outings (1-6-7), has registered points in 15 of his last 23 games (4-19-23) and has recorded the primary assist on 14 of his last 16 assists overall dating back to Feb. 10 after picking up the primary assist on the Blue Jackets’ lone goal at Colorado on Friday.  The winger leads the club in assists, points, multi-assists and multi-point outings with 11-41-52, 11 multi-assist and 13 multi-point efforts in 70 contests and has collected 40 or more assists in ninth time in his career.  He has also recorded 10-36-46 with 12 multi-point outings in his last 53 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 147 blocked shots in 66 appearances.
• C Boone Jenner has recorded 2-2-4 in the last five games and has posted 8-7-15 in the last 20 contests after collecting an assist on Friday.  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 191-171-362 in 712 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 21-12-33 in 55 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 18 contests, including scoring a goal on Tuesday at Detroit.  He ranks second on the team in goals with 18-15-33 in 66 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 14 games with the club after being held off the scoresheet in the past three 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 127 blocked shots, while averaging 22:08 TOI in 70 appearances this season.
• D Damon Severson has tallied points in three of his last four contests (1-2-3) after notching the club’s lone goal on Friday.  He leads Blue Jackets defensemen in goals with 7-15-22 in 55 appearances this season.
• C Cole Sillinger has posted 11-14-25 in 64 games this season and 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 in the NHL in save percentage and seventh 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 11 games.  The stretch includes a career-high five-game points streak from Mar. 2-9 (2-4-6).  He has posted 11-14-25 in 66 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 27 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 64 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 at Detroit on Tuesday (1-2-3).  He has collected assists in three of the past five games (1-4-5) and seven of the last 12 contests (1-9-10).  He has also registered 4-12-16 in the last 21 games and has posted points in 14 of the past 24 outings (4-14-18).  He ranks 11th among NHL blueliners in assists-per-game (.66) as well as leads the team in TOI and ranks second in assists and points with 5-38-43 on 24:21 TOI in 58 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 seven assists from 500 for his NHL career (242-493-735, 752 GP).
• C Boone Jenner is nine goals from 200 for his NHL career (191-171-362, 712 GP).
• D Zach Werenski (84-204-288, 474 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 (21 games)
• F Kent Johnson (shoulder injury on Feb. 28); out rest of season (12 games)
• LW Justin Danforth (concussion on Mar. 7); out indefinitely (7 games)
• RW Yegor Chinakhov (upper body injury on Mar. 12); is day-to-day (5 games)
• C Sean Kuraly (lower body injury on Mar. 12); is week-to-week (5 games)
• D Adam Boqvist (upper body injury on Mar. 14); out indefinitely (4 games)

TOTAL MAN GAMES LOST: 237

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