By Joe Coopersmith

DEC. 3, 2024 II SCOTIABANK SADDLEDOME II AT CALGARY FLAMES

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)

Flames to Watch

• C Nazem Kadri, who has recorded points in four of the last five games (3-2-5), leads the team in goals and points with 8-7-15 in 25 contests.
• G Dustin Wolf is 8-4-1 with a 2.59 GAA and .918 SV% in 13 appearances, ranking fifth among league netminders in save percentage (min. 10 GP).

All-Time Series

• Columbus has gone 36-24-8 in 68 all-time meetings vs. Calgary, including 15-14-4 on the road.
• CBJ have won three-straight meetings and have collected points in five consecutive outings in the series dating back to Dec. 9, 2022 (4-0-1).
• The Blue Jackets have earned points in 11 of its last 13 games played at Scotiabank Saddledome since Dec. 1, 2021 (9-2-2).
• The winning team has won by multiple goals in six of the last seven games played dating back to Jan. 26, 2022.
• The teams have combined for seven or more goals in the last three games played in Calgary  (CBJ; 1-1-1).
• The Jackets have killed off 21 of 22 Flames power play chances over the last ten meetings overall since Nov. 2, 2019 (95.5 pct.).
• CBJ have earned five shutouts (MR: Bobrovsky, 22 saves in 1-0 OT win at Columbus on Nov. 22, 2017), three hat tricks (MR: Atkinson on Dec. 4, 2018) and three penalty shots (MR: Gaudreau, Jan. 23, 2023 at Calgary) in the all-time series.

This Season (CBJ, 1-0-0)

• Nov. 29, 2024 – at CBJ 5, CGY 2
• Dec. 3, 2024 – at CALGARY (9 pm ET)

Player Notables vs. Flames

• C Adam Fantilli – 3-1-4 in 3 career GP, notching multi-points in each of his last two games and two goals in the club’s win in the meeting on Nov. 29.
• C Sean Kuraly – 2-3-5 in 13 career GP, including points in four of his last six appearances (2-2-4) as well as an assist in two of his last three games at Calgary (0-2-2).
• RW Kirill Marchenko– 2-2-4 in 5 career GP, recording three points in his last outing vs the Flames on Nov. 29 (1-2-3).
• C Sean Monahan – 3-3-6 with two multi-point efforts in 5 career GP, including points in two of his last three outings (3-1-4) with a hat trick in his last game as a visitor at Scotiabank Saddledome on Feb. 19, 2024.
• D Ivan Provorov – 1-6-7 in 15 career GP, including assists in two of his last three games against the team (0-2-2).
• LW Dmitri Voronkov – 1-2-3 in 2 career GP, recording points in each game, with a multi-assist outing in his most recent on Nov. 29 (0-2-2).
• D Zach Werenski – 5-6-11 with four multi-point efforts in 13 career GP, including assists in three-straight (2-3-5, two multi-point games) and points in each of his last four appearances (3-3-6) as well as 2-4-6 in six career contests at Scotiabank Saddledome.

BLUE JACKETS TEAM NOTES

• CBJ stretched their points streak to six-straight (5-0-1) after earning a 6-3 victory at Chicago on Sunday.   It’s the club’s longest points streak since Jan. 18-29, 2021 (4-0-3 in 7 GP).
• The club is also 6-1-1 in its last eight games this season. The Blue Jackets lead the NHL in points percentage (.813) goals per game (4.63, 37 goals) and shots per game (32.8) and rank second in points (Washington, 14) since Nov. 15.
• Columbus begins the month of December with a five-game road trip through Chicago (Dec. 1), Calgary (Dec. 3), Edmonton (Dec. 5), Vancouver (Dec. 6) and Winnipeg (Dec. 8).
• The Jackets earned seven points on their recently completed 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 seven of its first 23 games this season.  It’s tied for the second-most games among all teams (Washington), trailing only Winnipeg (8).  It’s the fifth time in franchise history that CBJ have scored at least six goals in seven 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 83 goals (not including SO goals) are the most through the first 23 games of a season in franchise history, surpassing the 77 recorded in the first 23 contests of the 2018-19 campaign.
• Columbus’ 3.61 goals-for/game in 2024-25 is the sixth-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 Sunday’s contest and has tied the club record by scoring a goal in 16-straight regulation periods dating back to the third period vs. Boston on Nov. 18 (Feb. 2-13, 2021). The Jackets have scored in 50-of-69 periods in regulation this season and have registered 24 multi-goal frames after scoring twice in the first and three times in the third period against the Blackhawks.
• Columbus’ 61 goals scored at 5-on-5 play are third-most in the NHL this season, trailing only Washington (69) and Vegas (65).
• The Jackets, who have scored the first goal of the game in seven of the last 11 contests, have scored first in 14 (9-3-2) of the first 23 games this season.
• CBJ lead the NHL in shots/game since Nov. 5, averaging 34.8 shots in the last 12 games.  The club ranks third in the league in shots on goal for the season, averaging 32.0 shots a game.
• The team kicked off a stretch of six-straight against the Western Conference from Nov. 29-Dec. 8 with last Friday’s matinee game against the Flames.

BLUE JACKETS PLAYER NOTES

• C Adam Fantilli scored twice against Calgary this past Friday for his first multi-goal game of the season and second of his career (2-1-3, Dec. 7, 2023 at NYI).  He has registered 2-2-4 in his past six outings.
• F Kent Johnson notched a goal on Sunday and has collected points in five consecutive games (4-3-7) after a 14-game absence due to an upper body injury.  He has also recorded points in all nine of his outings in 2024-25 (6-6-12), becoming the second player in franchise history to record a point in each of his first nine contests to start a campaign (Ryan Johansen, 10 GP in 2014-15).
• RW Kirill Marchenko notched his team-leading 10^th goal of the campaign on Sunday and has recorded 4-4-8 in his last five games, including a three-point outing against Calgary on Friday (1-2-3).  The forward leads the club in goals and multi-point efforts and ranks second in assists (tied) and points with 10-14-24 and eight multi-point outings in 23 contests.  His 54 career goals are the most by a Blue Jacket since making his NHL debut in 2022-23.
• G Elvis Merzlikins turned aside 28-of-31 shots faced in the win over Chicago and has picked up points in seven-straight games played (6-0-1) dating back to Nov. 15 vs. Pittsburgh. It’s one game shy of his career-best regulation unbeaten streak set from Jan. 11-Feb. 7, 2020 (8-0-0).
• C Sean Monahan notched his seventh multi-point outing of the campaign with 1-1-2 on Sunday at Chicago.  He has picked up 2-9-11 with four multi-point efforts in his last eight games.  The forward ranks second-T on the club in goals, assists and multi-point outings and third in points with 8-14-22 and seven multi-point outings in 23 contests.
• RW Mathieu Olivier has collected points in four of his last eight contests (3-1-4).  He’s ranks fourth in the NHL in penalty minutes, 10th-T in GWG and hits and has already set a single-season career high in goals with 7-3-10, 47 PIM, three GWG and 79 hits in 23 contests.
• C Cole Sillinger registered two assists on Sunday and has collected assists in four of his last five games (0-6-6) and points in five of his past seven (1-6-7).  A season after setting a single-season career high in assists (19), he has collected 3-12-15 in his first 22 outings.
• F Dmitri Voronkov scored a goal on Sunday vs Chicago to stretch his career-high points streak to six-straight games (4-4-8).  He has also notched points in seven of the last eight games (5-5-10, three multi-point efforts).
• D Zach Werenski recorded two assists on Sunday for his third-straight multi-point outings (2-4-6).  He has now recorded assists in eight consecutive games (5-11-16) and nine of the past ten (5-12-17).  He has set club records for longest assist and point streaks by a defenseman and tied the franchise mark for all skaters for longest assist streak set by RJ Umberger from Nov. 10-26, 2010 (2-8-10). He leads the NHL in TOI/GP as well as leads league blueliners in goals (tied) and ranks second-T in shots on goal, third in points and fifth-T in assists with 8-18-26 and 86 shots on 25:59 of ice time in 23 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

• LW Zach Aston-Reese is 12 points from 100 for his NHL career (46-42-88, 332 GP).
• RW Kevin Labanc is four games from 500 for his NHL career (83-152-235, 496 GP).
• RW Kirill Marchenko is nine points from 100 for his CBJ/NHL career (54-37-91, 160 GP).
• C Sean Monahan is 13 games from 800 for his NHL career (252-308-560, 787 GP).
• RW Mathieu Olivier is nine games from 200 for his NHL career (20-24-44, 191 GP).
• C Cole Sillinger is eight games from 250 and 11 points from 100 for his CBJ/NHL career (35-54-89, 242 GP).
• F Dmitri Voronkov is 11 games from 100 for his CBJ/NHL career (24-21-45, 89 GP).
• D Zach Werenski is two goals from 100 for his CBJ/NHL career (98-230-328, 509 GP).

OhioHEALTH INJURY REPORT

• F Boone Jenner (shoulder) is on Injured Reserve on Oct. 7; (23 Games)
• D Erik Gudbranson (upper body) is on Injured Reserve on Oct. 16; (20 Games)
• C Yegor Chinakhov (upper body); (2 Games)

TOTAL MAN GAMES LOST: 90

COURTESY BLUE JACKETS COMMUNICATIONS