By Joe Coopersmith

DEC. 31, 2024 II NATIONWIDE ARENA II VS. CAROLINA HURRICANES

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)

Hurricanes to Watch

• C Sebastian Aho ranks second on the Hurricanes in assists and points with 12-26-38 in 36 contests in 2024-25 and has recorded 15-14-29 in 35 career outings against the Blue Jackets.
• Former Blue Jacket C Jack Roslovic has recorded points in four-straight contests (3-3-6) and leads Carolina in goals with 16-8-24 in 36 outings this season.

All-Time Series

• Columbus has gone 28-29-5 in 62 all-time games against Carolina, including 15-14-2 at home.
• CBJ have won two consecutive games at Nationwide Arena, while the home team has won eight of the last 10 games in the series since Feb. 25, 2022.
• The winning team has scored four or more goals in 11 of the last 13 meetings and won by multiple goals in 10 of the last 13 contests dating back to Oct. 23, 2021.
• The Blue Jackets own four of the seven shutouts in the all-time series with Elvis Merzlikins (31 saves in 6-0 win at Carolina on Jan. 13, 2022) posting the most recent CBJ shutout.
• CBJ have also posted all four hat tricks (MR: Marchenko, Jan. 7, 2023) and lone penalty shot attempt (Atkinson goal on Feb. 8, 2021) in the series.

This Season (CBJ, 1-1-0)

• Nov. 23, 2024 – at CBJ 5, CAR 4 (SO)
• Dec. 15, 2024 – at CAR 4, CBJ 1
• Dec. 31, 2024 – at Columbus (8 pm ET)
• Jan. 23, 2025 – at Carolina (7 pm ET)

Player Notables vs. Hurricanes

• D Dante Fabbro – 2-4-6 in 12 career GP, including points in five of his last seven home contests against the club (2-3-5).
• C Kent Johnson – 0-4-4 in 4 career GP, with multiple assists in two of his three career home contests after setting up two CBJ goals in the first meeting of the season series at Nationwide Arena on Nov. 23.
• RW Kevin Labanc – 2-5-7 in 14 career GP, including 2-3-5 in seven career home outings against Carolina.
• RW Kirill Marchenko – 6-2-8 in 8 career GP, including points in three-straight overall (2-2-4) and two consecutive home contests (2-1-3) after recording two goals on Nov. 23.
• C Sean Monahan – 6-7-13 in 18 career GP, including points in three of his last four outings (1-2-3).
• C Cole Sillinger – 2-2-4 in 13 career GP, including points in three of his past five contests (1-2-3).
• D Zach Werenski – 6-8-14 in 29 career GP, including assists in two of the last three (2-3-5) as well as four of his last seven (2-5-7) as well as points in each of his last four home contests (3-4-7) and five of his last six at Nationwide Arena (4-4-8).

BLUE JACKETS TEAM NOTES

• Columbus had its four-game points streak (3-0-1) snapped at Boston (0-4 L) on Saturday.
• CBJ have won three-straight home games and recorded points in 13 of their last 15 home games (10-2-3; .767 points pct), leading the NHL in goals-for at home (4.20) and ranking third in power play pct. (33.3) and fourth in points pct. since Oct. 22.
• The Jackets are in a stretch of eight of 11 played at Nationwide Arena from Dec. 23-Jan. 16, including six of the next eight.
• The Blue Jackets’ 3.30 goals-for/game in 2024-25 ranks as the ninth-highest in the NHL.  The club averaged a franchise-best 3.15 goals-per-game during the 2021-22 season.
• The club’s 122 goals (not including SO goals) are the second-most through the first 37 games of a season in franchise history, trailing only 2016-17 (124).
• The Blue Jackets scored in all three periods in regulation in four of the last five games, including three-straight home contests, and have scored in 75-of-111 periods in regulation this season.  CBJ have scored in all three periods in a game 15 times this season, including 11 occasions at home.
• The club has also registered 34 multi-goal frames after scoring four of its six goals in the second period against Boston on Friday.
• Columbus has recorded six or more goals in eight of its first 37 games this season.  It’s the third-most games among all teams, one behind the league leaders (Florida and Winnipeg).  It’s the fourth time in franchise history that CBJ have scored at least six goals in eight or more contests in a campaign.  The club set a franchise mark with 11 games of six or more goals in 2018-19, while recording six-plus goals nine times in 2021-22 and on eight occasions in 2023-24 and 2024-25.
• Columbus recorded three of its six goals on Friday at even strength and ranks third in the league with 87 goals scored at 5-on-5 play this season, trailing Washington (89) and Vegas (88).
• The Jackets scored first during each game of their four-game points streak and have scored first in 21 (12-5-4) of the first 37 contests this season.
• The Blue Jackets are in a stretch of 11-of-12 games against the Eastern Conference from Dec. 10-Jan. 2 (Dec. 14 vs. ANA).  Columbus concludes a stretch of three-straight games this week against the Atlantic Division.
• The Jackets have now recorded a PPG in eight of the last 11 games (10-of-33; 30.3 pct.), ranking sixth in the league in PP percentage since Dec. 8.
• Columbus has allowed one power play goal over the last nine games, killing off 16-of-17 opponent opportunities since Dec. 12 (94.1 pct., 4th in NHL).
• The Jackets’ 38 first period goals are tied for the fourth-most in the NHL and 44 third period goals are eighth-most.
• Columbus is 11-6-1 in games played on New Year’s Eve in franchise history, including 9-4-1 at Nationwide Arena.  The club has won three-straight New Year’s Eve contests, defeating Ottawa 6-3 in 2018, Florida 4-1 in 2019 and Chicago 4-1 in 2022.

BLUE JACKETS PLAYER NOTES

• CBJ blueliners combined for seven assists on Friday and have posted 4-11-15 in the last five games.  The team leads the league in goals by defensemen and ranks second in goal percentage, third in in points percentage and fourth in points with 25-65-90, 20.5 pct. of the club’s goals and 27.7 pct. of the team’s points in 37 contests.
• F Kent Johnson has recorded points in two of the last three games (1-2-3) and 16 of his first 23 games this season (10-11-21).  He has already surpassed his season totals from 2023-24 (6-10-16, 42 GP).
• RW Kirill Marchenko had his career-best seven-game point streak (4-9-13) snapped on Saturday.  He has recorded points in 10 of the last 12 contests (4-12-16) and has 8-16-24 in the last 19 games since Nov. 21.  He leads the club in goals, points, multi-assist and multi-point efforts with 14-26-40, eight multi-assist and 12 multi-point efforts in 37 contests.  He’s already set a single-season career high in assists and is two points from tying his career high (42, 2023-24).  The forward has posted 5-12-17 in 15 December games and sits one assist (2x, MR: Johnny Gaudreau, 13 in 2022) and point (2x, MR: Artemi Panarin, 5-13-18 in 2017) for the most in the month in franchise history.
• C Sean Monahan has registered three multi-point efforts in his last five games (4-4-8).  He has picked up 7-15-22 with seven multi-point efforts in his last 22 games.  He leads the team in multi-goal games (3) and ranks second in goals and multi-point outings and third in assists and points with 13-20-33 and 10 multi-point outings in 37 contests.
• RW Mathieu Olivier has already set single-season career highs in goals and points (tied, 2022-23) and ranks third in the NHL in penalty minutes and fourth in hits with 9-6-15, 72 PIM and 132 hits in 37 games.  He is one of two NHL players (Ottawa’s Brady Tkachuk) with five-plus goals, 50 PIM and 100 hits in 2024-25.
• C Cole Sillinger, who set a single-season career high in with 19 assists in 2023-24, ranks fourth on the club in assists and sixth in points with 6-14-20 in his first 36 outings.
• F Dmitri Voronkov has recorded two six-game points streaks this season, including posting 5-5-10 over six outings from Dec. 15-27.   He has registered 11-10-21 with six multi-point efforts in his last 22 contests after starting the campaign with 1-0-1 in the first six.  He’s registered 7-5-12 in 15 contests this month, two goals shy of tying the club record for December set by Cam Atkinson (Dec. 2016).
• D Zach Werenski was named the NHL’s Third Star of the week on Monday after leading the NHL in assists (tied), points (tied) and shots on goal with 0-7-7 and 17 shots on goal in three contests.  He became the second player (Seth Jones, 1-6-7 from Mar. 31-Apr. 3, 2018) with three or more assists in back-to-back games from Dec. 23-27, including tying his own franchise mark for assists in a game by a defenseman with four on Friday vs. Boston.  The 27-year-old Grosse Pointe, Michigan native leads the NHL in TOI/GP and ranks fifth in shots on goal as well as leads league blueliners in goals (tied) and shots on goal, while ranking third in points and fourth in assists with 11-28-39 and 134 shots on 26:18 of ice time in 37 contests this season.  He has registered 3-12-15 in 15 December games and has already set the club record for most assists by a blueliner in a single month and sits one point shy of tying the record he set last month for most points by a defenseman (5-11-16 in 13 GP).

BLUE JACKETS MILESTONES

• LW Zach Aston-Reese is nine points from 100 for his NHL career (46-45-91, 346 GP).
• C Adam Fantilli is 14 games from 100 for his NHL career (19-23-42, 86 GP).
• D Ivan Provorov is 10 assists from 200 for his NHL career (73-190-263, 651 GP).
• C Cole Sillinger is six points from 100 for his CBJ/NHL career (38-56-94, 256 GP).

OhioHEALTH INJURY REPORT

• F Boone Jenner (shoulder) is on Injured Reserve on Oct. 7; (37 Games)
• D Erik Gudbranson (upper body) is on Injured Reserve on Oct. 16; (34 Games)
• C Yegor Chinakhov (upper body); is on Injured Reserve retroactive to Nov. 27 (16 Games)
• F Justin Danforth (lower body); is on Injured Reserve retroactive to Dec. 10 (9 Games)

TOTAL MAN GAMES LOST: 145

COURTESY BLUE JACKETS COMMUNICATIONS