By Joe Coopersmith

Winning goaltender Elvis Merzlikins (90), stops shot by Penguins Bryan Rust, 11 15 2024 (courtesy IMAGN, photo by Russell LaBounty, USA Today Sports)

GOAL SCORERS
Columbus: Z. Aston-Reese (4), PPG – Z. Werenski (4), M.  Olivier (5), D. Voronkov (2), D. Severson (4), EN – Sillinger (3)

Pittsburgh: A. Beauvillier (6), PPG – M. Bunting (3)

GOALTENDERS
Columbus: E. Merzlikins (23 saves, W)
Pittsburgh: T. Jarry (34 saves, L)

SPECIAL TEAMS
Columbus PP:  1-for-5, 7 shots
Pittsburgh PP:  1-for-4, 6 shots

BLUE JACKETS TEAM NOTES

• Columbus has won two-straight home games against Pittsburgh and improved to 13-11-0-4 at home in the all-time series with tonight’s win.
• CBJ have won four of their last five games at Nationwide Arena (Oct. 22 vs. TOR, 6-2 W; Oct. 28 vs. EDM, 6-1 W; Oct. 30 vs. NYI, 2-0 W; Nov. 1 vs. WPG, 2-6 L).
• Tonight marks the fifth time this season the Blue Jackets have scored six goals in a game as well as scored in all three periods.
• The Blue Jackets have scored 52 goals through the first 16 games of the 2024-25 season, tied for the third-most goals through the opening 16 contests of a season in franchise history (2018-19) and three goals off the club record of 55 posted in 2021-22.
• CBJ scored the first goal of the game for the 10^th time this season and the third time in the past four games.
• Columbus has scored goals in 32-of-the-48 periods played in regulation this year with 16 multi-goal frames, including the second-straight game the club has scored multiple goals in the opening period.
• The club has recorded a power play goal in four of the last seven games (4-for-19, 21.0 pct.).
• Tonight’s attendance was 18,348, the second sellout of the season.

BLUE JACKETS PLAYER NOTES

• The line of Zach Aston-Reese, Sean Kuraly, and Kevin Labanc (1-1-2 tonight) have combined for eight points (3-5-8) in the last two games.
• Columbus had 15 skaters record at least one point tonight, including three players with multiple points (Sean Monahan, Dmitri Voronkov and Zach Werenski).
• RW Zach Aston-Reese (4-3-7, 15 GP) opened the scoring and has recorded goals in consecutive games (2-1-3).
• LW Yegor Chinakhov (4-7-11, 16 GP) collected an assist and has three points in his last five contests (1-2-3).
• D Jake Christiansen collected an assist to set a new single-season career high in assists and points with 0-5-5 in 16 games.
• D Dante Fabbro (0-1-1, 2 GP) picked up his first point as a Blue Jacket with the assist on Olivier’s game-winning goal.
• C Adam Fantilli (3-5-8, 16 GP) collected an assist and has recorded 1-5-6 in the last 10 games.
• LW Kevin Labanc notched an assist for the second consecutive game (0-3-3) and is tied for the second-most assists on the team with 1-8-9 in 12 games.
• RW Kirill Marchenko (6-10-16, 16 GP) tallied his team-leading 10^th assist on Voronkov’s goal and now has points in his each of his last three games against Pittsburgh at Nationwide Arena (2-1-3).
• G Elvis Merzlikins stopped 21-of-23 shots faced (.913 SV%) while playing in his 200^th career game.  The netminder became the fifth goaltender to play 200 career games with the Blue Jackets (Bobrovsky, 274; Denis, 266; Mason, 232; Korpisalo, 210). Merzlikins ranks fourth in franchise history in shutouts with 11 (Bobrovsky, 33) and fifth in saves at 5,489 (Bobrovsky, 10,193).
• C Sean Monahan (6-7-13, 16 GP) tallied his second multi-assist game this season (0-2-2) while also collecting the 300^th of his NHL career (250-301-551).  He now has points in four of his last five home games vs. Pittsburgh (2-3-5).
• RW Mathieu Olivier (5-2-7, 16 GP) scored his fifth goal of the season (second game-winner), tying his career-high just 16 games into the campaign.  The forward has now scored in three-straight games against the Penguins and improves to 3-0-3 in seven contests against the club all-time.
• D Damon Severson (4-4-8, 16 GP) scored a goal and has four points in his last three games against Pittsburgh (2-2-4).
• RW Cole Sillinger (3-6-9) scored an empty net goal and now has four points in his last three games against Pittsburgh (2-2-4).
• LW Dmitri Voronkov (2-1-3, 7 GP) recorded a goal and an assist for his first multi-point game of the season and fourth of his NHL career (MR: 1-1-2 on Feb. 25, 2024 vs. NYR).
• D Zach Werenski (4-8-12, 16 GP) scored on the power play tonight and assisted on another goal for his third multi-point game of the season and the 60^th of his career, becoming the fifth player to reach the mark in club history. Werenski now has points in four of his past five contests (2-4-6) against Pittsburgh.  He also has points in four of his past five contests against Pittsburgh (2-4-6).

BLUE JACKETS POST-GAME AUDIO INTERVIEWS

HC Dean Evason | F Zach Aston-Reese | G Elvis Merzlikins | F Cole Sillinger

JETS POST-GAME AUDIO INTERVIEWS

HC Mike Sullivan | F Sidney Crosby | G Tristan Jarry | D Marcus Pettersson

BLUE JACKETS UPCOMING SCHEDULE

Saturday Nov. 16            7pm ET at Montreal Canadiens (Bell Centre)

Sunday Nov. 17               Off

Monday Nov. 18              7pm ET at Boston Bruins (TD Garden)

Tuesday Nov. 5 11:00am practice (Ice Haus)

COURTESY BLUE JACKETS COMMUNICATIONS