By Joe Coopersmith

BLUE JACKETS TEAM NOTES

• The Blue Jackets have collected points in 12 of their last 14 home contests (9-2-3) following tonight’s win over the Blues.
• CBJ have recorded points in six of their past eight contests overall since Dec. 19 (5-2-1).
• Columbus recorded the first goal tonight and has scored first in seven of the last eight games and in 24 (14-6-4) of the 40 games this season.
• The Jackets scored six goals tonight for the ninth time this season and the second time in the last five games (Dec. 27 vs. BOS).  It’s the first time the club has recorded six goals or more in at least nine of its games since 2021-22 and trails the franchise mark by two after 11 games of six goals or more in 2018-19.
• The club has recorded 135 goals (not including SO goals) in the first 40 games this season.  It’s the most goals scored through the opening 40 contests of a campaign in franchise history, surpassing the 133 scored in the 2016-17 season.
• The Blue Jackets scored their fifth shorthanded goal of the season tonight, equaling the totals recorded in each of the last two seasons.
• Columbus has scored goals in 83-of-the-120 periods played in regulation this year after scoring in in all three periods tonight.  It marks the sixth time in the last eight games (five-of-past-six at home) the club has scored in all three periods and the 17^th time this season overall (13^th at home).
• CBJ have registered 37 multi-goal periods this season after scoring four goals in the third period.  The four goals tie the single-period season high (third time, MR: 2^nd period, Dec. 27 vs. BOS).
• The Jackets have recorded a power play goal in 11 of the last 14 games (13-of-40; 32.5 pct.) after scoring on one of their two chances tonight.
• Tonight’s attendance was a sellout crowd of 18,535, marking the third sellout in the last four home contests (18,360 average over stretch).

BLUE JACKETS PLAYER NOTES

• D Dante Fabbro (3-6-9, 30 GP) collected an assist and has 0-2-2 in his past five games played.
• C Adam Fantilli (8-9-17, 40 GP) recorded a goal for a point in his second consecutive game (1-1-2) and has now notched 2-1-3 in the last five contests.
• D Jordan Harris (1-2-3, 24 GP) registered an assist for a point in his second-straight game played (goal on Dec. 23 vs. MTL).
• RW Kent Johnson (10-12-22, 26 GP) tallied an assist tonight for his first since Dec. 27 vs. Boston and has 1-2-3 in his last six games overall.  He has now posted 0-3-3 in five career games against the Blues, with assists in all three home competitions against the club.
• RW Kirill Marchenko (17-26-43, 40 GP) scored his team-leading 17^th goal of the season and has 4-2-6 in his last five games played.  With 43 points in just 40 games played this season, he has set a new career high in points in 38 games fewer (21-19-42 in 78 GP in 2023-24).  The forward has posted 2-1-3 in four career games against the Blues, with all points coming in his last two appearances.
• C Sean Monahan (14-26-41, 40 GP) collected his sixth three-point game of the campaign tonight (0-3-3), including his third in the past six games (3-9-12).  He has picked up 15 points in his last eight outings (5-10-15).  He has posted 9-10-19 with five multi-point efforts in 27 career games against St. Louis, including points in four-straight matchups (1-6-7) and in six of his last seven (4-7-11) as well as points in each of his last four home contests (4-4-8).
• RW Mathieu Olivier (10-6-16, 40 GP) notched the empty net goal for his first goal since Dec. 21 at Philadelphia.  He has set a new career high with 16 points, surpassing 5-10-15 in 66 games during the 2022-23 season.
• D Ivan Provorov (3-15-18, 40 GP) collected three assists to tie his single-game career high in assists (second time; Oct. 30, 2017 vs. ARI) and points (seventh time; MR: Apr. 2, 2022 vs. TOR).  He became the 10^th Blue Jacket this season to register a three-point game.  He has collected 0-6-6 in his past seven games played, including 0-4-4 in back-to-back games.
• LW Mikael Pyyhtia (4-2-6, 30 GP) scored the first shorthanded goal of his NHL career tonight and has 1-1-2 in his last five games since Dec. 27 vs. Boston.
• C Cole Sillinger (6-16-22, 39 GP) notched an assist tonight for his second in as many games (0-2-2).
• LW Dmitri Voronkov (15-11-25, 31 GP) scored his third multi-goal game of the season (2-0-2) to tie Sean Monahan for the team lead.  All three efforts have been recorded in the last six games (7-2-9).  He has notched 4-2-6 in his last five games this season.  He ranks second on the team in goals and sits three shy of tying his career high posted during his rookie campaign in 2023-24 (75 GP).  He has now tallied 3-2-5 with points in all three career games against St. Louis.
• D Zach Werenski (12-33-45, 40 GP) tallied his team-leading (tied, Marchenko) 11^th multi-assist game of the season (0-2-2), extending his franchise record home points streak to 15-straight games (9-21-30) and the longest home points streak by an NHL defenseman in the past 40 years.  With his home points streak, he becomes the ninth different defenseman in league history to post a run of at least that length and the first since Ray Bourque in 1992-93 (6-19-25 in 17 GP).  With 45 points in 40 games, he matches Artemi Panarin (12-32-45 in 2018-19) for the most points by a Blue Jackets player through 40 games of a season.  With two assists tonight, he recorded his 38th multi-assist game of his career and now sits one shy of Rick Nash (39) for the most in franchise history.  The blueliner has posted points in 20 of the past 27 played this season (9-26-35) and has four multi-point efforts in his last six games (1-12-13).  He has collected 2-6-8 in 14 career games against the Blues, including assists in two-straight games (0-3-3).

BLUE JACKETS POST-GAME AUDIO INTERVIEWS

HC Dean Evason | F Adam Fantilli | D Ivan Provorov | F Dmitri Voronkov

RED WINGS POST-GAME AUDIO INTERVIEWS

HC Jim Montgomery | F Jordan Kyrou | D Colton Parayko

BLUE JACKETS UPCOMING SCHEDULE

Sunday, Jan. 5                 No practice

Monday, Jan. 6                10:30am practice (Nationwide Arena)

Tuesday, Jan. 7                7pm at Pittsburgh (PPG Paints Arena)

Wednesday, Jan. 8         11:00am practice (Nationwide Arena)

COURTESY BLUE JACKETS COMMUNICATIONS