By Joe Coopersmith

Penguins to Watch

«  C Sidney Crosby, who leads the Penguins in goals, assists, and points with 35-43-78 in 72 games this season after picking up two assists on Thursday, has notched 20-39-59 in 41 career games against CBJ including 3-3-6 in three outings in 2023-24.

«  D Erik Karlsson ranks second on the team in assists and leads Pens blueliners in goals and points with 8-38-46 in 72 contests and has collected 10-17-27 in 27 career outings vs. the Blue Jackets.

«  C Evgeni Malkin, who notched two goals on Thursday, ranks second on Pittsburgh in points with 21-34-55 in 72 games and has registered 18-29-47 in 37 career outings against Columbus.

All-Time Series

«  Columbus has gone 15-29-9 in 53 all-time meetings vs. Pittsburgh, including 11-11-4 at home.

«  Pittsburgh have won the last three-straight in the series dating back to Nov. 14, 2023 and 11 of the past 12 (1-9-2).

«  The winning team has scored four or more goals in 11 of the past 15 games of the series overall and eight of the last 10 at Nationwide Arena.

«  The teams combined for 70 or more shots in seven of the last 10 meetings with the teams averaging 70.5 shots combined over that stretch.

«  Nick Foligno (Apr. 4, 2015), Scott Hartnell (Dec. 22, 2016) and Gustav Nyquist (Nov. 29, 2019) own the Blue Jackets’ hat tricks in the all-time series.

This Season (CBJ, 0-3-0)

«  Nov. 14, 2023 – PIT 5, at CBJ 3

«  Mar. 5, 2024 – at PIT 5, CBJ 3

«  Mar. 28, 2024 – at PIT 3, CBJ 2

«  Mar. 30, 2024 – at COLUMBUS (7 p.m. ET)

Player Notables vs. Penguins

«  LW Johnny Gaudreau – 9-6-15 in 20 career GP, including points in seven of his last 11 games against the club overall (5-3-8) as well as 5-3-8 in 10 career home appearances against the Pens.

«  C Cole Sillinger – 1-2-3 in 9 career GP, including 1-1-2 in his most recent meeting vs Pittsburgh on Thursday.

«  C Alexandre Texier – 1-2-3 in 7 career GP, collecting all his career points in each of the three outings of the 2023-24 season series after registering an assist on Thursday.

«  D Zach Werenski – 2-6-8 in 17 career GP, including assists in three of his last five against the Penguins (0-3-3), points in six of his past nine games against the club overall (1-5-6) as well as 1-4-5 in his last seven appearances at home.

BLUE JACKETS HONORING RIMER

• The Blue Jackets will honor longtime broadcaster Jeff Rimer with a pregame ceremony on Saturday prior to the game against the Penguins.
• The club will recognize his six-decade career, which includes the past 41 years as the play-by-play voice of the Washington Capitals, Florida Panthers and Blue Jackets.
• Rimer, who spent the past 20 years as the club’s TV play-by-play broadcaster, announced last fall he is retiring after the 2023-24 season.
• Rimer will call his 2,540^th career game against the Penguins at Nationwide Arena.

BLUE JACKETS TEAM NOTES

• The Blue Jackets fell to 4-8-2 in its last 14 games and 7-12-2 in the past 21 since Feb. 17 after falling 3-2 to Pittsburgh on Thursday.
• The club went 0-4-1 after finishing out its five-game road trip on Thursday vs. the Penguins.
• The Blue Jackets will play five of their last nine games of the season at home, including a four-game homestand that begins Saturday.
• The home-and-home set against the Penguins on Mar. 28-30 is the second of the season against a team for the club (1-1-0 vs. NYR from Feb. 25-28).
• The Blue Jackets have scored the first goal of the game in all five games on the road trip and seven of the last eight outings of the season.  CBJ have scored first 40 times this season, tied for the ninth-most in the NHL.
• Columbus scored at least one first period goal in four of the five games of the road trip (5 total) and ranks eighth-T in the league with 70 first period goals this season.
• CBJ scored on both of their powerplays at Arizona on Tuesday. It was the third time this season the club has recorded multiple power play goals in a single game (MR: Dec. 1 vs. OTT).
• Columbus has recorded 719 shots on goal over the last 23 contests and ranks 13th in the NHL in shots-on-goal per game since returning from the NHL break on Feb. 10 (31.3).
• CBJ have seen 17 of their games decided after regulation this season, tied for the ninth-most in the league.
• The Blue Jackets rank 13th-T in the NHL with 153 goals scored at 5-on-5 play this season.
• CBJ rank sixth in the league in blocks-per-60 minutes (17.10) and total blocked shots (1,264) and in 2023-24.
• Blue Jackets blueliners collected 4-7-11 during the five-game road trip and have combined for 17-54-71 in the last 35 contests since Jan. 1.  They rank 11^th among NHL defensive units in assists and 12th in points with 30-130-160 in 73 games this season.  The club also leads the league in assists percentage (38.2 pct.) and points percentage (29.3 pct.) recorded by its defense.
• CBJ’s rookie class has combined for 30-37-67 in 73 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 PLAYER NOTES

• RW Yegor Chinakhov, who has missed the last eight 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 in points with 12-15-27 in 49 outings despite missing the last 24 games due to the injury.
• LW Johnny Gaudreau registered assists on both Blue Jackets goals at Arizona on Tuesday.  The forward, who has collected assists in five of the past eight outings (1-8-9), has also registered points in 16 of his last 26 games (4-21-25) and has recorded the primary assist on 15 of his last 18 assists overall dating back to Feb. 10.  He leads the club in assists, points, multi-assists and multi-point outings with 11-43-54, 12 multi-assist and 14 multi-point efforts in 73 contests and has collected 40 or more assists for the ninth time in his career.  He has also recorded 10-38-48 with 13 multi-point outings in his last 56 contests after collecting 1-5-6 in the first 17 games of the season.  In his second season with the club, he is already tied with Artemi Panarin for seventh-T all-time in multi-assist outings (26).
• D Erik Gudbranson has set single-season career highs in assists, points, and blocked shots with 5-15-20 and 153 blocked shots in 69 appearances and sits one goal shy of tying his single-season career high set with Calgary in 2021-22.
• C Boone Jenner, who recorded his eighth multi-point effort of the season at Arizona on Tuesday (1-1-2), has recorded 3-3-6 in the last eight games and has posted 9-8-17 in the last 23 contests dating back to Feb. 10.  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 192-172-363 in 715 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 22-13-35 in 58 outings and became the fourth player to record four 20-goal seasons on Mar. 14 vs. Ottawa, including in each of his past three campaigns.
• RW Kirill Marchenko ranks second on the team in goals with 18-16-34 in 69 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, who has missed the past two games due to an upper body injury, has recorded 8-3-11 in his first 15 games with the club.  He became 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 set a new single-season career high in assists on Thursday with his 25th of the campaign (24 in 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 5-25-30 and 135 blocked shots, while averaging 22:07 TOI in 73 appearances this season.
• D Damon Severson, who collected an assist on Thursday, has tallied points in four of his last seven contests (1-3-4) and leads Blue Jackets defensemen in goals this season with 7-16-23 in 58 appearances.
• C Cole Sillinger registered his fourth multi-point effort of the campaign on Thursday vs. Pittsburgh with 1-1-2.  He has posted 12-15-27 in 68 games this season and has tied his single-season career high in assists set in his rookie campaign in 2021-22 (16-15-31 in 79 GP).
• G Daniil Tarasov stopped 33-of-36 shots at Pittsburgh on Thursday (.917 SV%) and has compiled a 2.48 GAA and .932 SV% (232-of-249) in seven games (six starts) since Mar. 7.  He has finished with a .900 or better save percentage in 10 of his last appearances dating back to Feb. 21 and ranks second in the NHL in SV% (.930), sixth-T in saves (359-of-386) and ninth in GAA (2.53) over that span (min. 9 GP).
• F Alexandre Texier collected an assist on Thursday and has picked up 3-5-8 in the last 14 games.  He has posted 11-15-26 in 69 games to 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 third in goals since Jan. 15 with 10-1-11, four PPG and 75 shots on goal in 30 contests.  He ranks fourth among NHL rookies in goals and eighth in points with 17-14-31 in 67 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, who collected his ninth multi-point outing of the season with 1-1-2 at Arizona on Tuesday, has recorded points in five of the past eight games (2-6-8) and nine of the last 15 contests (2-11-13).  He has also registered 5-16-21 in the last 27 contests.  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 6-40-46 and 24:24 TOI in 61 contests this season.  His 40 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 (85-206-291, 476 GP), joining Rick Nash (258) and David Vyborny (204) with an assist at Pittsburgh on Mar. 5.

BLUE JACKETS MILESTONES

• D Jake Bean is six games from 200 for his NHL career (13-42-55, 194 GP).
• LW Johnny Gaudreau is five assists from 500 for his NHL career (242-495-737, 755 GP).
• C Boone Jenner is eight goals from 200 for his NHL career (192-172-364, 715 GP).
• F Alexandre Texier is eight games from 200 for his NHL career (33-42-75, 192 GP).
• D Zach Werenski is nine points from 300 for his NHL career (85-206-291, 477 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 (24 games)
• F Kent Johnson (shoulder injury on Feb. 28); out rest of season (15 games)
• LW Justin Danforth (concussion on Mar. 7); out indefinitely (10 games)
• RW Yegor Chinakhov (upper body injury on Mar. 12); is day-to-day (8 games)
• C Sean Kuraly (lower body injury on Mar. 12); is week-to-week (8 games)
• D Adam Boqvist (upper body injury on Mar. 14); out indefinitely (7 games)
• RW Alex Nylander (upper body injury on Mar. 23); is day-to-day (2 games)

TOTAL MAN GAMES LOST: 257

COURTESY BLUE JACKETS COMMUNICATIONS