By Joe Coopersmith

Coyotes to Watch

«  C Logan Colley ranks fifth among NHL rookies in assists and points and sixth in goals with 13-21-34 in 71 games this season.

«  D Sean Durzi leads club blueliners with 8-25-33 in 65 outings and has collected 0-2-2 in four career games against the Blue Jackets.

«  RW Clayton Keller leads the Coyotes in goals, assists and points with 30-32-62 in 67 contests and has totaled 2-6-8 in 11 career games against the Blue Jackets.

All-Time Series

«  Columbus has gone 29-30-7 in 66 all-time meetings vs. Arizona, including 13-15-5 on the road.

«  CBJ have recorded points in 11 of the past 15 games of the series dating back to the 2015-16 season (10-4-1) but the Coyotes have won the past three contests in the series (CBJ; 0-2-1).

«  The Blue Jackets have recorded points in seven consecutive games played at Arizona dating back to Dec. 17, 2015 (6-0-1).

«  The winning team has scored four or more goals in six of the past nine meetings of the series.

«  Each of the last two meetings have seen Arizona win 3-2, including in overtime in the first meeting between the clubs at Mullett Arena on Feb. 19, 2023.

«  CBJ are 11-of-39 (28.2 pct.) on the power play with PPGs in eight of the last 12 meetings dating back to Dec. 5, 2016.  The team has scored a power play goal in five consecutive road games of the series (6-of-14; 42.9 pct.).

«  The Blue Jackets own seven of the 12 shutouts all-time, including the two-most recent ones by Curtis McElhinney (Jan. 2, 2014) and Sergei Bobrovsky (Dec. 9, 2017).

«  Each team has recorded a hat trick in the series with Bryan Berard (Jan. 8, 2016) and Matt Calvert (Feb. 25, 2011) recording the feats for Columbus.

This Season (CBJ, 0-1-0)

«  Nov. 16, 2023 – ARI 3, at CBJ 2

«  Mar. 26, 2024 – at Arizona (10 p.m. ET)

Player Notables vs. Coyotes

«  D Jake Bean – 1-3-4 in 4 GP with points in his first three contests.

«  LW Johnny Gaudreau – 12-18-30 in 30 career GP, including goals in three of his past four games (4-4-8) and points in six of the last seven (6-5-11) after being held off the scoresheet in the first meeting of the season series as well as points in 10 of his 13 career road games against the Coyotes (3-11-14).

«  C Boone Jenner – 8-5-13 in 17 career GP, recording goals in three of his past five games against the club (4-0-4).

«  D Damon Severson – 3-8-11 in 16 career GP, including multiple points in each of his past two contests (3-1-4) and points in last three contests (3-2-5) after notching two goals in the first game of the season series.

«  D Zach Werenski – 3-6-9 in 11 career GP, recording assists in each of his last four games (2-4-6).

BLUE JACKETS TEAM NOTES

• Columbus moved to 4-6-2 in its last 12 games and 7-10-2 in the past 19 since Feb. 17 after falling 4-2 at Vegas on Saturday.  The club is 0-2-1 in its first three games of a season-high (tied) five-game road trip.
• 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.
• CBJ rank 11th in the league in penalty kill percentage since Feb. 21 (82.2 pct.), having killed off 37 of the past 45 opponent power play opportunities over the past 17 games.
• Columbus, which has posted 210 shots on goal over the past seven games (30.0 avg.), has recorded 673 shots on goal over the last 21 contests and ranks 10th in the NHL in shots-on-goal per game since returning from the NHL break on Feb. 10 (32.0).
• CBJ have seen 17 of their games decided after regulation this season, tied for the seventh-most in the league.
• The Blue Jackets rank 12th in the NHL with 151 goals scored at 5-on-5 play this season.
• Columbus has scored at least one first period goal in the first three games of the current road trip (4 total) and ranks seventh-T in the league with 69 first period goals this season.
• CBJ rank fifth in the league in blocked shots (1,237) and seventh in blocks-per-60 minutes (17.20) in 2023-24.
• Blue Jackets blueliners have collected 3-4-7 in the first three games of the road trip and have combined for 16-50-66 in the last 33 contests since Jan. 1 as well as 24-95-119 over the past 56 games.  They rank 10th among NHL defensive units in assists and 12th in points with 29-127-156 in 71 games this season.  The club also leads the league in assists percentage (38.3 pct.) and points percentage (29.2 pct.) recorded by its defense.
• CBJ’s rookie class has combined for 30-37-67 in 71 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 three contests of the road trip and five of the last six 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, 11th-T in assists and 12^th-T in points with 12-15-27 in 49 outings despite missing the last 22 games due to the injury.
• LW Johnny Gaudreau, who has collected assists in four of the past six outings (1-6-7), has registered points in 15 of his last 24 games (4-19-23) and has recorded the primary assist on 14 of his last 16 assists overall dating back to Feb. 10.  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 71 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 54 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, who scored CBJ’s first goal at Vegas on Saturday, has set single-season career highs in assists, points and blocked shots with 5-15-20 and 148 blocked shots in 67 appearances.  He sits one goal shy of tying his single-season career high set with Calgary in 2021-22.
• C Boone Jenner has recorded 2-2-4 in the last six games and has posted 8-7-15 in the last 21 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 191-171-362 in 713 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 56 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 19 contests.  He ranks second on the team in goals with 18-15-33 in 67 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 has recorded 8-3-11 in his first 15 games with the club after being held off the scoresheet in the past four 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 132 blocked shots, while averaging 22:06 TOI in 71 appearances this season.
• D Damon Severson has tallied points in three of his last five contests (1-2-3), including notching the club’s lone goal at Colorado on Friday.  He leads Blue Jackets defensemen in goals with 7-15-22 in 56 appearances this season.
• C Cole Sillinger has posted 11-14-25 in 65 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 five starts, compiling a 2.38 GAA and .934 SV% (199-of-213) in six games since Mar. 7, including stopping 43-of-47 shots at Vegas on Saturday.  He has stopped 326-of-350 shots faced (.931 SV%), while allowing three goals or less in six of his last eight starts to rank fourth in the NHL in save percentage and eighth in goals-against average (2.47) since Feb. 21 (min. 9 GP).
• F Alexandre Texier has picked up 3-4-7 in the last 12 games.  He has posted 11-14-25 in 67 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 28 contests.  He ranks fourth among NHL rookies in goals (Chicago’s Connor Bedard; 21) and ranks seventh-T 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 has collected assists in four of the past six games (1-5-6) and eight of the last 13 contests (1-10-11) after picking up an assist at Vegas on Saturday.  He has also registered 4-13-17 in the last 22 games and has posted points in 15 of the past 25 outings (4-15-19).  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 5-39-44 on 24:21 TOI in 59 contests this season.  His 39 helpers are the third-most by a defenseman in a single season in franchise history, trailing only James Wisniewski (44, 2023-14) and Seth Jones (41, 2017-18).  The 26-year-old has reached the 40-point plateau for the fifth time in his career and 30-assist 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, 753 GP).
• C Boone Jenner is nine goals from 200 for his NHL career (191-171-362, 713 GP).

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 (22 games)
• F Kent Johnson (shoulder injury on Feb. 28); out rest of season (13 games)
• LW Justin Danforth (concussion on Mar. 7); out indefinitely (8 games)
• RW Yegor Chinakhov (upper body injury on Mar. 12); is day-to-day (6 games)
• C Sean Kuraly (lower body injury on Mar. 12); is week-to-week (6 games)
• D Adam Boqvist (upper body injury on Mar. 14); out indefinitely (5 games)

TOTAL MAN GAMES LOST: 243

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