By Joe Coopersmith

Panthers to Watch

«  Former Blue Jacket G Sergei Bobrovsky has posted a 34-17-4 record with a 2.43 GAA, .913 SV% and five shutouts in 56 appearances this season, ranking third-T in the NHL in wins and shutouts and fifth in GAA (min. 25 GP).

«  C Sam Reinhart leads the NHL in power play goals and ranks second in goals and 11^th-T in points with 53-37-90 in 79 outings in 2023-24.

«  LW Matthew Tkachuk leads the club in assists and ranks second in points and third in goals with 25-59-84 in 77 games this season and has totaled 10-5-15 in 14 career outings against the Blue Jackets.

All-Time Series

«  Columbus has gone 26-18-5 in 49 all-time meetings vs. Florida, including 10-12-2 on the road.

«  Florida’s 5-4 overtime win in the first meeting of the season is the only win by a single goal by either team in the last 12 meetings of the series dating back to Apr. 3, 2021.

«  The Panthers have won eight of the last nine meetings in south Florida (CBJ; 1-7-1).

«  The winning team has scored four or more goals in ten-straight meetings and 13 of the past 14 games overall dating back to Mar. 9, 2021.

«  The teams have combined for seven or more goals in seven of the past eight meetings.

«  The teams have combined for 69 or more shots in six of the last eight games of the series.

«  CBJ have allowed four power play goals in 24 road games in the series, killing off 72-of-76 Florida opportunities (94.7 pct.).

«  The Panthers own six of the nine shutouts in the all-time series with Elvis Merzlikins earning CBJ’s most recent shutout with 32 saves in a 1-0 OT win at Columbus on Feb. 4, 2020.

«  Blueliners have registered both CBJ hat tricks in the series with Deron Quint scoring three in a 7-6 OTW at Florida on Mar. 9, 2001 and Zach Werenski notching his first career trick in a 4-1 win at Columbus on Dec. 31, 2019.

This Season (CBJ, 0-1-1)

«  Nov. 6, 2023 – at FLA 5, CBJ 4 (OT)

«  Dec. 10, 2023 – FLA 5, at CBJ 2

«  Apr. 11, 2024 – at Florida (7:30 p.m. ET)

Player Notables vs. Panthers

«  LW Johnny Gaudreau – 6-11-17 in 19 career GP, including 4-4-8 with two multi-point efforts in nine career games at Florida.

«  C Boone Jenner – 12-8-20 in 33 career GP, including goals in three of his last four contests at Amerant Bank Arena.

«  RW Kirill Marchenko – 1-1-2 in 4 career GP with his points recorded in the first two games of the season series, including a goal at Florida on Nov. 6.

«  D Ivan Provorov – 2-4-6 in 20 career GP, notching assists in three of his past four outings at Florida (0-3-3).

«  F Alexandre Texier – 2-4-6 in 13 career GP, including 1-1-2 in the first game of the season series played at Florida on Nov. 6.

«  D Zach Werenski – 7-8-15 in 21 career GP, including an assist in the most recent meeting on Dec. 10.

BLUE JACKETS TEAM NOTES

• The Blue Jackets fell 5-2 at Tampa Bay on Tuesday to move to 3-3-0 in the last six games, 7-11-2 in the last 20 games and 10-15-2 in the past 27 since Feb. 17.
• The Jackets close out their road portion of the 2023-24 schedule with a four-game road trip through Carolina (0-3 L on Apr. 7), Tampa Bay (2-5 L on Apr. 9), Florida on Thursday and Nashville on Saturday.
• CBJ scored a power play goal on Tuesday, finishing 1-of-2 on the man advantage against the Lightning.  The club has recorded a power play goal in three of the last four games, converting on 3-of-7 attempts (42.9 pct.).
• The Blue Jackets allowed the first goal for just the third time in the last 11 games on Tuesday (also Apr. 4 vs. NYI and Apr. 7 vs. CAR).  CBJ have scored the first goal of the game in 10 of the last 14 outings.  The team has scored first 43 times in 2023-24, tied for the ninth-most in the NHL.  It’s also tied for the fourth-most in a season in franchise history (2000-01).
• Columbus has scored at least one first-period goal in eight of the last 11 games (11 total), including two goals in two of the last four games.  The club ranks seventh-T in the league with 76 first-period goals this season.
• CBJ have seen 18 of their games decided after regulation this season, tied for the 10th-most in the league.
• The Blue Jackets rank 13th in the NHL with 165 goals scored at 5-on-5 play this season.
• CBJ rank sixth in the league in total blocked shots (1,359) and blocks-per-60 minutes (16.99) in 2023-24.
• Blue Jackets blueliners accounted for all six goals (6-2-8) in Saturday’s win over the Flyers, setting a franchise record for defensemen in most goals (6) and different players (4) to record a goal in a single game and tying the Washington Capitals (Dec. 4, 1992 vs. the NYR) for most combined goals by defensemen in a game in NHL history (4 different players).  CBJ blueliners have combined for 11-18-29 over the past 11 games as well as 24-65-89 in the last 41 contests since Jan. 1.  They rank eighth-T among NHL defensive units in points, 10^th-T in assists and 12^th in goals with 37-141-178 in 79 games this season.  The club also leads the league in assists percentage (38.0 pct.) and points percentage (29.9 pct.) recorded by its defense.
• CBJ’s rookie class has combined for 31-42-73 in 79 games this season to rank second-T among teams’ rookies in goals, fourth in points and sixth in assists.  The Blue Jackets are one of three teams in the league (Anaheim and Minnesota) to have two rookies with 26 or more points in 2023-24 (Dmitri Voronkov-34, Adam Fantilli-27).

BLUE JACKETS PLAYER NOTES

• RW Yegor Chinakhov, who has missed the last 14 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, ranks 10th-T among NHL rookies in goals, 14th in points and 15th-T in assists with 12-15-27 in 49 outings despite missing the last 30 games due to the injury.
• LW Johnny Gaudreau, who tallied his 500^th NHL career assist on Tuesday, has picked up assists in four of his last five games (0-5-5) and nine of the past 13 outings (1-13-14).  He has recorded points in 20 of his last 31 games (4-26-30) while also collecting the primary assist on 18 of his last 23 assists overall dating back to Feb. 10.  He leads the club in assists, primary assists, points, multi-assists and multi-point outings with 11-48-59, 35 primary assists, 13 multi-assist and 15 multi-point efforts in 78 contests and has collected 40 or more assists for the ninth time in his career.  He has recorded 10-43-53 with 14 multi-point outings in his last 51 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 Seth Jones for sixth-T all-time in multi-assist outings (27).
• G Jet Greaves has posted a 1-2-0 record with a .927 SV% (89-of-96) and 2.65 GAA in three appearances since Apr. 4.
• D Erik Gudbranson has totaled 1-2-3 in his last five contests.  He has set single-season career highs in goals (tied, 2021-22 with Calgary), assists, points and blocked shots with 6-17-23 and 168 blocked shots (16th in NHL) in 75 appearances.
• C Boone Jenner, who has missed the past six games, has recorded 3-3-6 in his last eight contests and has posted 9-8-17 in the last 23 outings 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, who tallied his second multi-goal game of the season and fifth of his career on Tuesday at Tampa Bay with two goals, has recorded 6-3-9 with three multi-point efforts in the last 11 games.  He leads the team in goals with 23-18-41 in 75 appearances this season and has set single-season career highs in goals, assists and points after posting 21-4-25 in 59 games during his 2022-23 rookie campaign.  He’s the second player in Blue Jackets history to record back-to-back 20-goal seasons to begin his NHL career (Pierre-Luc Dubois).
• LW Alex Nylander, who missed Tuesday’s game with a lower body injury, has recorded 10-4-14 with three multi-goal efforts in his first 20 games with the Blue Jackets.  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.
• RW Mathieu Olivier has tied his single-season career high in goals (2022-23) with 5-5-10 in 51 appearances this season.
• D Ivan Provorov has recorded 5-26-31 and 147 blocked shots on 22:10 TOI in 79 outings this season.  He ranks second on the club in blocked shots and time on ice and third in assists, while also setting a single-season career high in assists.
• D Damon Severson collected an assist on Tuesday and has picked up points in seven of the last 13 games (3-5-8).  He is tied for the team lead among defensemen in goals this season with 9-18-27 in 64 contests.
• C Cole Sillinger tallied an assist on Tuesday at Tampa Bay and has registered points in five of the past seven outings (2-4-6).  He has posted 13-18-31 in 74 games this season and has set a new single-season career high in assists (15, 2021-22) and points (tied, 2021-22).
• G Daniil Tarasov has compiled a 2.46 GAA and .935 SV% (290-of-310) in nine games (eight starts) since Mar. 7.  He has finished with a .900 or better save percentage in 11 of his 13 last appearances dating back to Feb. 21 and leads the NHL in SV% (.933) and ranks eighth-T in GAA (2.51) and 10th in saves (417-of-447) over that span (min. 10 GP).
• F Alexandre Texier has collected assists in four of the past seven games (0-4-4), including tying his career high with assists in three-straight from Apr. 1-6 (0-3-3).  The forward, who has also registered 3-8-11 in the last 20 games, has posted 11-18-29 in 75 games to set single-season career highs in goals (tied, 2021-22), assists, points and games played.
• F Dmitri Voronkov, who had collected points in three-straight contests (1-2-3) prior to Sunday’s game at Carolina, leads NHL rookies in power play goals and shots on goal and ranks third in goals since Jan. 15 with 11-3-14, five PPG and 90 shots on goal in 36 contests.  He leads NHL rookies in PPG and ranks fourth-T in goals, eighth in points and 12th-T in assists with 18-16-34 and six PPG in 73 appearances.  He surpassed Rick Nash (17, 2002-03) for the third-most goals by a rookie in franchise history on Thursday and trails only Marchenko (21, 2022-23) and Pierre-Luc Dubois (20, 2017-18).
• D Zach Werenski collected an assist on Tuesday to register his 44^th assist of the campaign, tying James Wisniewski (2013-14) for the most in a single-season by a defenseman in franchise history.  He has collected points in nine of the past 14 games (5-10-15) and 13 of the last 21 contests (5-15-20).  He has also registered 8-20-28 in the last 33 contests and ranks second-T among NHL blueliners in goals and seventh-T in points since Feb. 17 (8-15-23 in 27 GP).  He also 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 9-44-53 and 24:28 TOI in 67 contests this season.  He has set single-season career highs in assists and points and has also posted the second-most points by a defenseman in a season in club history, trailing only Seth Jones’ 57 points recorded in 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.

BLUE JACKETS MILESTONES

• D Jake Bean is three games from 200 for his NHL career (13-43-56, 197 GP).
• D Erik Gudbranson is four assists from 100 for his NHL career (34-96-130, 786 GP).
• C Boone Jenner is eight goals from 200 for his NHL career (192-172-364, 715 GP).
• F Alexandre Texier is two games from 200 for his NHL career (33-45-78, 198 GP).
• D Zach Werenski is two points from 300 for his NHL career (88-210-298, 483 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 (30 games)
• F Kent Johnson (shoulder injury on Feb. 28); out rest of season (21 games)
• RW Yegor Chinakhov (upper body injury on Mar. 12); is day-to-day (14 games)
• D Adam Boqvist (upper body injury on Mar. 14); out indefinitely (13 games)
• G Elvis Merzlikins (lower body injury on Mar. 30); is day-to-day (5 games)
• D Jake Bean (broken hand on Apr. 4); out rest of season (3 games)
• G Daniil Tarasov (upper body injury on Apr. 4); is day-to-day (3 games)
• LW Alex Nylander (lower body injury on Apr. 7); is day-to-day (1 game)
• RW Carson Meyer (upper body injury on Apr. 9); is week-to-week

TOTAL MAN GAMES LOST: 301

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