By Joe Coopersmith

DEC. 1, 2024 II UNITED CENTER II AT CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS

BROADCAST INFORMATION

TV:  FanDuel Sports Network

Steve Mears (play-by-play), Jody Shelley (analyst), Jean-Luc Grand-Pierre (analyst), Dave Maetzold (reporter), Brian Giesenschlag (Host)

Radio:  97.1 The Fan   

Bob McElligott (play-by-play), Dylan Tyrer (host)

Blackhawks to Watch

• C Connor Bedard, who captured the 2023-24 Calder Trophy as the league’s best first year player, leads Chicago in assists and points in 2024-25 with 4-13-17 in 23 games.
• G Petr Mrazek has allowed three goals or less in each of his last 12 starts and is 7-9-1 with a 2.66 GAA and .911 SV% in 17 appearances this season.

All-Time Series

• Columbus has gone 40-46-15 in 101 all-time meetings vs. Chicago, including 19-25-6 on the road.
• The Jackets have won three-straight meetings in the series since Dec. 31, 2022, including a 5-2 victory at United Center in the clubs’ most recent meeting on Mar. 2, 2024.
• CBJ are 4-1-0 in the last five against the Hawsk since Feb. 17, 2022.
• CBJ have recorded points in seven of the last nine games played at United Center since Feb. 16, 2019 (5-2-2).
• The winning team has scored four or more goals in eight-straight meetings and 10 of the last 12 in the series overall since Feb. 11, 2021.
• The teams have combined for seven or more goals in six of the past eight games of the series, while the winning team has won by three or more goals in each of the past five outings.
• The club is 5-of-17 on the power play in the past seven games at Chicago dating back to Jan. 29, 2021 (29.4 pct.).

This Season (CBJ, 0-0-0)

• Dec. 1, 2024 – at CHICAGO (3 pm ET)
• Feb. 22, 2025 – at COLUMBUS (7 pm ET)

Player Notables vs. Blackhawks

• RW Yegor Chinakhov – 1-2-3 in 4 career GP, including a multi-point effort (1-1-2) in one of his two games at United Center.
• RW Kevin Labanc – 3-3-6 in 18 career GP, including an assist in his last game against the club on Mar. 17, 2024 at Chicago.
• RW Kirill Marchenko – 3-1-4 in 4 career GP, notching goals in his first three games against the club (3-1-4).
• C Sean Monahan – 14-11-25 with eight multi-point efforts in 27 career GP, including points in four of his past five contests against the Hawks (1-5-6).
• D Ivan Provorov – 3-3-6 in 14 career GP, including points in two of his last three appearances against Chicago (1-1-2).
• D Damon Severson – 2-11-13 with three multi-point efforts in 15 career GP, including points in six of his eight career outings at United Center (2-7-9).
• C Cole Sillinger – 2-2-4 in 5 career GP, including goals in both games of the 2023-24 series (2-1-3) and points in both career outings at United Center (1-1-2).
• LW James van Riemsdyk – 7-3-10 in 19 career GP, including 3-3-6 in his last seven contests at Chicago.
• D Zach Werenski – 2-12-14 in 16 career GP, including assist in his last three games at United Center (0-5-5) as well as his last four overall (0-9-9) with three multi-assist efforts in his past three overall.

BLUE JACKETS TEAM NOTES

• CBJ stretched their points streak to five-straight (4-0-1) after earning a 5-2 victory over Calgary on Friday.  The club is also 5-1-1 in its last seven games this season.
• Columbus begins the month of December with a five-game road trip through Chicago (Dec. 1), Calgary (Dec. 3), Edmonton (Dec. 5), Vancouver
• The Jackets earned seven points on their four-game homestand (3-0-1).  CBJ have recorded points in five-straight home games (4-0-1) and are 7-1-1 in the last nine games played at Nationwide Arena, outscoring their opponents 41-27 over that stretch (not including SO goals).
• The Jackets are tied with Winnipeg for second in the NHL in points percentage at home since Oct. 22 (.833), trailing only Carolina (8-1-0, .889).
• The club is 8-3-1 (17 points) at Nationwide Arena this season, tied for the second-most wins and points through the first 12 home games of a season in club history (eight wins in 2016-17 & 2017-18; 17 points in 2009-10 & 2016-17).
• Columbus has recorded six or more goals in six of its first 22 games this season.  It’s tied for the second-most games among all teams (Washington), trailing only Winnipeg (8).  It’s the sixth time in franchise history that CBJ have scored at least six goals in six or more contests in a campaign.  The club set a franchise mark with 11 games of six or more goals in 2018-19.
• The club’s 77 goals (not including SO goals) are the most through the first 22 games of a season in franchise history, surpassing the 75 recorded in the first 22 contests of the 2018-19 campaign.
• Columbus’ 3.50 goals-for/game in 2024-25 is the seventh-highest in the NHL.  The club averaged a franchise-best 3.15 goals-per-game during the 2021-22 season.
• CBJ scored goals in all three regulation periods in Friday’s contest.  The team has scored in 13-consecutive periods in regulation overall, as well as 15-straight regulation periods at home.  The Jackets have scored in 47-of-66 periods in regulation this season and have registered 22 multi-goal frames after scoring twice in the first and third period against the Flames.
• Columbus’ 57 goals scored at 5-on-5 play are tied with Carolina for the third-most in the NHL this season, trailing only Washington (66) and Vegas (65).
• The Jackets, who have scored the first goal of the game in seven of the last 10 contests, have scored first in 14 (9-3-2) of the first 22 games this season.
• CBJ lead the NHL in shots/game since Nov. 5, averaging 34.7 shots in the last 11 games.  The club ranks third in the league in shots on goal for the season, averaging 31.8 shots a game.
• The club recorded shorthanded goals in back-to-back games from Nov. 18-21, including tying a franchise record (sixth time) with two shorthanded goals at Boston on Nov. 18.  CBJ’s four shorthanded goals in 2024-25 are tied with Tampa Bay for second, trailing only Florida (7) for the league lead.
• The team kicked off a stretch of six-straight against the Western Conference from Nov. 29-Dec. 8 with Friday’s matinee game against the Flames.

BLUE JACKETS PLAYER NOTES

• RW Yegor Chinakhov, who missed Friday’s contest against Calgary due to an upper body injury, has notched goals in three of his last four games and has recorded points in four of the past six contests (3-1-4).  He ranks third-T on the team in goals and fourth in points with 7-7-14 in 21 outings.
• C Adam Fantilli scored twice against Calgary for his first multi-goal game of the season and second of his career (2-1-3, Dec. 7, 2023 at NYI).  He has points in back-to-back games (2-1-3) as well as four points in his past five outings (2-2-4).
• F Kent Johnson notched a goal on Friday and has collected points in four consecutive games (3-3-6) after a 14-game absence due to an upper body injury.  He has also recorded points in all eight of his outings in 2024-25 (5-6-11).
• RW Kirill Marchenko collected his team-leading eighth multi-point outing with 1-2-3 on Friday.  The forward also leads the club in goals and ranks second in assists and points with 9-14-23 in 22 contests.  His 53 career goals are the most by a Blue Jacket since making his NHL debut in 2022-23.
• G Elvis Merzlikins turned aside 27-of-29 shots faced in the win over Calgary and has picked up points in six-straight games played (5-0-1) dating back to Nov. 15 vs. Pittsburgh.
• C Sean Monahan had registered assists in three-straight games (1-6-7) prior to Wednesday’s contest against the Canadiens.  He has picked up points in four of the last seven contests (1-8-9) with three multi-assist efforts.  The forward leads the club in multi-assist efforts and ranks third in goals (tied), assists and points with 7-13-20, four multi-assist and six multi-point outings in 22 contests.
• RW Mathieu Olivier has collected points in four of his last seven contests (3-1-4).  He’s ranks third in the NHL in penalty minutes, eighth-T in GWG and 10th in hits and has already set a single-season career high in goals with 7-3-10, 47 PIM, three GWG and 76 hits in 22 contests.
• C Cole Sillinger registered an assist on Friday and has collected 1-4-5 in the last seven games.  A season after setting a single-season career high in assists (19), he has collected 3-10-13 in his first 21 outings.
• F Dmitri Voronkov has collected assists in two-straight games (0-3-3), including his second career multi-assist game on Friday.  He stretched his career-high points streak to five-straight games (3-3-6) and has notched points in six of the last seven games (4-5-9, three multi-point efforts).
• D Zach Werenski picked up his second consecutive 1-1-2 outing on Friday and has now recorded assists in seven consecutive games (5-9-14) and eight of the past nine (5-10-15).  He set a new franchise record for defensemen for assists streak as well as matched the points streak record (Bryan Berard in 2005-06; Jaroslav Spacek in 2002-03; Werenski in 2019-20).  He leads the NHL in TOI/GP as well as leads league blueliners in goals (tied, Makar) and ranks second in shots on goal, third in points and sixth-T in assists with 8-16-24 and 82 shots on 25:59 of ice time in 22 contests this season.  He finished the month of November with 5-11-16 in 13 games, setting club records for most assists (tied, third time) and points by a defenseman in a single month.  The previous record of points was 14 recorded by Werenski (Mar. 2024) and Seth Jones (Mar. 2018).

BLUE JACKETS MILESTONES

• RW Kevin Labanc is five games from 500 for his NHL career (83-152-235, 495 GP).
• RW Kirill Marchenko is 10 points from 100 for his CBJ/NHL career (53-37-90, 159 GP).
• C Sean Monahan is 14 games from 800 for his NHL career (251-307-558, 786 GP).
• RW Mathieu Olivier is 10 games from 200 for his NHL career (20-24-44, 190 GP).
• C Cole Sillinger is nine games from 250 and 13 points from 100 for his CBJ/NHL career (35-52-87, 241 GP).
• F Dmitri Voronkov is 12 games from 100 for his CBJ/NHL career (23-20-43, 88 GP).
• D Zach Werenski is two goals from 100 for his CBJ/NHL career (98-228-326, 508 GP).

OhioHEALTH INJURY REPORT

• F Boone Jenner (shoulder) is on Injured Reserve on Oct. 7; (22 Games)
• D Erik Gudbranson (upper body) is on Injured Reserve on Oct. 16; (19 Games)
• C Yegor Chinakhov (upper body); (1 Game)
• G Daniil Tarasov (illness); (1 Game)

TOTAL MAN GAMES LOST: 87

COURTESY BLUE JACKETS COMMUNICATIONS