By Joe Coopersmith

JAN. 4, 2025 II NATIONWIDE ARENA II VS. ST. LOUIS BLUES

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)

Blues to Watch

• C Jordan Kyrou leads the club in goals and points with 16-16-32 in 39 contests entering Friday’s contest against Ottawa and has tallied 4-1-5 in seven career appearances against Columbus.
• C Robert Thomas leads the Blues in assists and ranks second in points with 8-21-29 in 27 outings in 2024-25 and has totaled 3-5-8 in nine career outings against the Blue Jackets.

All-Time Series

• Columbus has gone 35-42-16 in 93 all-time games against St. Louis, including 23-16-7 at home.
• CBJ swept the 2023-24 season series, outscoring St. Louis 6-2, while the Blues swept the 2022-23 series (4-10).
• The Jackets have recorded points in 13 of the last 21 games of the all-time series since Apr. 12, 2013 (10-8-3).  The club has also registered points in eight of the past 11 at Nationwide Arena over that stretch (7-3-1).
• Columbus’s 1-0 win at St. Louis in the last meeting on Jan. 30, 2024 snapped a stretch of five consecutive games that the teams combined for seven or more goals.
• The winning team has scored four-plus goals in 10 of the last 13 outings of the series dating back to Nov. 12, 2016.
• CBJ are 9-of-28 on the power play in the last 10 meetings overall (32.1 pct.), scoring PPG in seven of the contests.  The team has recorded PPG in four-straight home contests of the series (4-of-12; 33.3 pct.).

This Season (CBJ, 0-0-0)

• Jan. 4, 2025 – at Columbus (7 pm ET)
• Jan. 11, 2025 – at St. Louis (7 pm ET)

Player Notables vs. Blues

• F Kent Johnson – 0-2-2 in 4 career GP, collecting assists in both of his home contests against the Blues.
• RW Kirill Marchenko – 1-1-2 in 3 career GP, registering a multi-point outing (1-1-2) in the most recent meeting at Nationwide Arena on Dec. 8, 2023.
• C Sean Monahan – 9-7-16 in 26 career GP, including assists in each of his past three contests overall (1-3-4) and points in five of his last six (4-3-7) as well as goals in each of his last three home outings (4-1-5).
• LW Dmitri Voronkov – 1-2-3 in 2 career GP, registering points in both outings of the 2023-24 series, including two assists in the contest at Nationwide Arena on Dec. 8, 2023.
• LW James van Riemsdyk – 5-6-11 in 21 career GP, including points in three of his last four contests (1-3-4) and five of his past seven (2-5-7).
• D Zach Werenski – 2-4-6 in 13 career GP, including an assist in the most recent meeting on Jan. 30, 2024.

BLUE JACKETS TEAM NOTES

• Columbus had its season-high home win and points streaks snapped at four and six games (4-0-2) following a 5-4 loss to Detroit on Thursday.
• The club has now registered points in five of the past seven contests since Dec. 19 (4-2-1).
• CBJ are 12-5-3 (27 points) at Nationwide in 2024-25, posting the third-most points (tied) and fourth-most wins through the first 20 home games of a campaign in CBJ history (15-4-1, 31 points in 2016-17).
• The team has recorded points in 14 of its last 17 home games (11-3-3; .735 points pct) and is tied with Pittsburgh for the NHL lead in power play pct (34.0) and ranks second in goals-for at home (4.12) and fourth-T in points pct. since Oct. 22.
• The Jackets are in a stretch of eight of 11 contests played at Nationwide Arena from Dec. 23-Jan. 16 and started a stretch of six-of-eight played at home on Tuesday.
• The Blue Jackets’ 3.31 goals-for/game in 2024-25 ranks as the eighth-highest in the NHL.  The club averaged a franchise-best 3.15 goals-per-game during the 2021-22 season.
• The club’s 129 goals (not including SO goals) are tied for the second-most through the first 39 games of a season in franchise history (2018-19), trailing only 2016-17 (130).
• The Blue Jackets scored in all three periods in regulation on Thursday and have accomplished the feat in five of the last seven games, including four of the last five home contests.  CBJ have scored in all three periods in a game 16 times this season, including 12 occasions at home.
• The club has also registered 36 multi-goal frames after scoring two of its four goals in the second period on Thursday.
• Columbus has recorded six or more goals in eight of its first 39 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 four goals on Thursday at even strength and is tied with Washington for second in the league with 92 goals scored at 5-on-5 play this season, trailing only Vegas (94).
• The Jackets scored the first goal against Detroit and have scored the first goal in six of the last seven contests and in 23 (13-6-4) of the first 39 contests this season.
• CBJ and St. Louis play twice over eight days from Jan. 4-11.  It’s part of a stretch of four of six games played against Western Conference teams from Jan. 4-16.
• The Jackets finished 1-of-2 on the power play on Thursday and have now recorded a PPG in 10 of the last 13 games (12-of-38; 31.6 pct.), ranking fourth in the league in PP percentage since Dec. 8.
• CBJ’s 41 first period goals are the fourth-most in the NHL and 46 third period goals are tied for seventh-most.
• Columbus plays the fourth (0-1-2) of seven-straight Saturdays from Dec. 14-Jan. 25.  The club plays 21 Saturday games in 2024-25, including 10 at home (1-1-1 to date at NWA)d.

BLUE JACKETS PLAYER NOTES

• CBJ blueliners have posted 5-16-21 in the last seven games after combining for 1-3-4 on Thursday.  The team leads the league in goals by defensemen and ranks second in goal percentage and third in points and points percentage with 26-70-96, 20.2 pct. of the club’s goals and 27.9 pct. of the team’s points in 39 contests.
• F Kent Johnson has recorded points in 16 of his first 25 games this season (10-11-21) and has already surpassed his season totals from 2023-24 (6-10-16, 42 GP).
• RW Kirill Marchenko, who notched two goals on Tuesday vs. Carolina, has recorded points in eight of his last 10 games (6-9-13) and 11 of the last 14 (6-12-18).  The winger ranks ninth in the NHL in scoring since Nov. 21 with 10-16-26 in 21 games.  He leads the club in goals, multi-assist and multi-point efforts and ranks second in assists and points with 16-26-42, eight multi-assist and 13 multi-point efforts in 39 contests.  He’s already set a single-season career high in assists and points (tied, 2023-24).  The forward posted 7-12-19 in 16 December games to record the most points in the month in franchise history and the second-most in a single month (Panarin, 25 in Mar. 2018).
• C Sean Monahan notched a goal on Thursday and has registered four multi-point efforts in his last seven games (5-7-12).  He has also picked up 8-18-26 with eight multi-point efforts in his last 24 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 14-23-37 and 11 multi-point outings in 39 contests.
• RW Mathieu Olivier has already set single-season career highs in goals and points (tied, 66 GP in 2022-23) and ranks third in the NHL in penalty minutes and fourth in hits with 9-6-15, 72 PIM and 142 hits in 39 games.  He is one of two NHL players (Ottawa’s Brady Tkachuk) with seven-plus goals, 50 PIM and 100 hits in 2024-25.
• C Cole Sillinger, who collected an assist on Thursday, ranks fourth on the club in assists and fifth-T in points with 6-15-21 in 38 outings and is four assists shy of tying his single-season career high (77 GP in 2023-24).
• LW James van Riemsdyk recorded his first two-goal, three-point effort as a Blue Jacket on Thursday.
• F Dmitri Voronkov has posted four multi-point efforts in the last six contests (5-4-9) and has notched points in seven of the last nine contests (6-6-12).  The forward has registered 12-11-23 with seven multi-point efforts in his last 24 contests after starting the campaign with 1-0-1 in the first six.
• D Zach Werenski collected this third three-point outing in the last five games (1-10-11) with 1-2-3 on Thursday against Detroit.  He stretched his club record home points streak to 14 games (9-19-28), tied with Mike Green (14 GP in 2009-1) for the longest home point streak by a NHL defenseman in the last 30 years with Thursday’s performance.  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 from Dec. 23-29.  The 27-year-old Grosse Pointe, Michigan native leads the NHL in TOI/GP and ranks second in shots on goal (David Pastrnak, 163) as well as ranks second among league blueliners in goals and points and fourth in assists with 12-31-43 and 153 shots on 26:24 of ice time in 39 contests this season.  He leads NHL blueliners in points and is tied with Leon Draisaitl and Mikko Rantanen for third among all skaters in scoring since Nov. 21 with 8-21-29 in 21 contests.  He registered 3-13-16 in 16 December games, setting the CBJ record for most assists and points (tied) in a single month in franchise history after setting the mark for points in November (5-11-16 in 13 GP).

BLUE JACKETS MILESTONES

• HC Dean Evason is 10 games from 300 for his NHL HC career (163-94-33, 290 GC).
• LW Zach Aston-Reese is nine points from 100 for his NHL career (46-45-91, 348 GP).
• C Adam Fantilli is 12 games from 100 for his NHL career (19-24-43, 88 GP).
• D Ivan Provorov is nine assists from 200 for his NHL career (73-191-264, 653 GP).
• C Cole Sillinger is five points from 100 for his CBJ/NHL career (38-57-95, 258 GP).

OhioHEALTH INJURY REPORT

• F Boone Jenner (shoulder) is on Injured Reserve on Oct. 7; (39 Games)
• D Erik Gudbranson (upper body) is on Injured Reserve on Oct. 16; (36 Games)
• C Yegor Chinakhov (upper body); is on Injured Reserve retroactive to Nov. 27 (18 Games)
• F Justin Danforth (lower body); is on Injured Reserve retroactive to Dec. 10 (11 Games)

TOTAL MAN GAMES LOST: 153

COURTESY BLUE JACKETS COMMUNICATIONS