By Joe Coopersmith

JAN. 7, 2025 II PPG PAINTS ARENA II AT PITTSBURGH PENGUINS

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)

Penguins to Watch

• C Sidney Crosby leads the Penguins in assists and points with 11-31-42 in 41 games this season and has notched 20-41-61 in 43 career games against CBJ.
• D Rickard Rakell leads the team in goals and ranks second in points with 18-15-33 in 41 contests in 2024-25 and has collected 4-9-13 in 20 career outings vs. the Blue Jackets.

All-Time Series

• Columbus has gone 17-29-9 in 55 all-time meetings vs. Pittsburgh, including 4-18-5 on the road.
• CBJ have won the last two games of the series vs. Pittsburgh and have recorded points in four of the last seven games since Mar. 7, 2023 (3-3-1).
• The winning team has scored four or more goals in 13 of the past 17 games of the series overall (including SO goals).
• The teams combined for 70 or more shots in seven of the last 10 meetings with the teams averaging 69.9 shots combined over that stretch.
• Nick Foligno (Apr. 4, 2015), Scott Hartnell (Dec. 22, 2016) and Gustav Nyquist (Nov. 29, 2019) own the Blue Jackets’ hat tricks in the all-time series.

This Season (CBJ, 1-0-0)

• Nov. 15, 2024 – at CBJ 6, PIT 2
• Jan. 7, 2025 – at Pittsburgh (7 pm ET)
• Mar. 21, 2025 – at Pittsburgh (7 pm ET)

Player Notables vs. Penguins

• LW Zach Aston-Reese – 2-0-2 in 5 career GP, including a goal in the first game of the 2024-25 season series.
• F Kent Johnson – 1-2-3 in 5 career GP, including two assists in his last contest at PPG Paints Arena on Mar. 7, 2023.
• RW Kirill Marchenko – 2-1-3 in 7 career GP, including points in two-straight (1-1-2) and three of his last four (2-1-3).
• C Sean Monahan – 5-7-12 in 23 career GP, including points in five of his last seven against the club (2-4-6).
• Mathieu Olivier – 3-0-3 in 7 career GP, who has goals in three-straight games going back to Mar. 28, 2024.
• D Damon Severson – 4-16-20 in 44 career GP, with points in each of his last three games against Pittsburgh (1-2-3).
• C Cole Sillinger – 2-3-5 in 11 career GP, including points in three consecutive meetings (2-2-4).
• LW James van Riemsdyk – 13-18-31 with six multi-point efforts in 55 career GP, including assists in three of his last four outings at PPG Paints Arena (0-4-4).
• D Zach Werenski – 4-8-12 in 19 career GP, including two-point games in his last two matchups (2-2-4) and points in four of his last five contests overall (2-4-6) as well as points in three of his last four at Pittsburgh (1-2-3).

BLUE JACKETS TEAM NOTES

• Columbus earned a 6-4 victory over St. Louis on Saturday and has now registered points in six of the past eight contests since Dec. 19 (5-2-1).  The club leads the league in power play percentage (42.1) and ranks second in goals-for per game (4.00) and seventh-T in points percentage (.688) over that stretch.
• CBJ are 13-5-3 (29 points) at Nationwide Arena in 2024-25, posting the second-most points and third-most wins (tied) through the first 21 home games of a campaign in CBJ history (16-4-1, 33 points in 2016-17).
• The team has recorded points in 15 of its last 18 home games (12-3-3; .750 points pct) and leads the NHL in goals-for at home (4.22) and power play pct. (34.7) and ranks fourth-T in points pct. (.750) since Oct. 22.
• The Jackets are in a stretch of eight of 11 contests played at Nationwide Arena from Dec. 23-Jan. 16 but play two of the next three on the road (Jan. 6 at Pittsburgh and Jan. 11 at St. Louis).
• The Blue Jackets’ 3.38 goals-for/game in 2024-25 are tied with Carolina for the sixth-highest in the NHL.  The club averaged a franchise-best 3.15 goals-per-game during the 2021-22 season.
• The club’s 135 goals (not including SO goals) are the most through the first 40 games of a season in franchise history, surpassing the 133 posted to start the 2016-17 campaign.
• The Blue Jackets scored in all three periods in regulation on Saturday and have accomplished the feat in six of the last eight games, including five of the last six home contests.  CBJ have scored in all three periods in a game 17 times this season, including 13 occasions at home.  Last season, the club scored in all three periods 20 times (10 times at home).
• The club has also registered 37 multi-goal frames after scoring four of its six goals in the third period on Saturday.
• Columbus has recorded six or more goals in nine of its first 40 games this season.  It’s tied with Florida and Winnipeg for the most games among all teams this season.  It’s the third time in franchise history that CBJ have scored at least six goals in nine 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 this season.
• Columbus recorded three of its six goals on Saturday at even strength and is third in the league with 95 goals scored at 5-on-5 play this season, trailing Vegas (97) and Washington (96).
• The Jackets scored the first goal against St. Louis and have scored the first goal in seven of the last eight contests and in 24 (14-6-4) of the first 40 contests this season.
• The Jackets finished 1-of-2 on the power play on Saturday and have now recorded a PPG in 11 of the last 14 games (13-of-40; 32.5 pct.), ranking second in the league in PP pct since Dec. 8 (WPG; 35.7 pct.).
• CBJ’s 42 first period goals are the fourth-most in the NHL and 50 third period goals are tied for sixth-most.
• Columbus plays its ninth (2-5-1) of 17 Tuesday contests when it visits Pittsburgh.

BLUE JACKETS PLAYER NOTES

• CBJ blueliners have posted 5-23-28 in the last eight games after combining for seven assists on Saturday.  The team leads the league in goals by defensemen and ranks second in points and third in goal and point percentage with 26-77-103, 19.3 pct. of the club’s goals and 28.4 pct. of the team’s points in 40 contests.
• The trio of D Zach Werenski (12-33-45), RW Kirill Marchenko (17-26-43) and C Sean Monahan (14-26-40) have averaged at least a point-per-game through the club’s first 40 contests.  It marks the first time in CBJ history that three teammates have collected 25 or more assists, as well as 40 or more points through their first 41 games of a campaign.
• F Kent Johnson collected an assist on Saturday, has recorded points in 17 of his first 26 games this season (10-12-22) and has already surpassed his season totals from 2023-24 (6-10-16, 42 GP).
• RW Kirill Marchenko, who notched a goal on Saturday vs. St. Louis, has recorded points in nine of his last 11 games (7-9-14) and 12 of the last 15 (7-12-19).  He leads the club in goals, multi-assist and multi-point efforts and ranks second in assists (tied) and points with 17-26-43, eight multi-assist and 13 multi-point efforts in 40 contests.  He’s already set a single-season career high in assists and points (23-19-42, 2023-24).  The forward ranks eighth-T in the league in goals and 10^th in points since Nov. 21 with 11-16-27 in 22 contests.
• C Sean Monahan notched three assists on Saturday and is tied for first in the league in scoring since Dec. 19 (MacKinnon) with 5-10-15 and five multi-point efforts in the least eight contests.  He’s tied for the team lead in multi-goal games (3) and ranks second in assists (tied) and multi-point outings and third in goals and points with 14-23-37 and 11 multi-point outings in 40 contests.
• RW Mathieu Olivier, who notched a goal on Saturday, has already set single-season career highs in goals and points (5-10-15), 66 GP in 2022-23) and ranks first in the NHL in penalty minutes and fifth in hits with 10-6-16, 79 PIM and 147 hits in 40 games.  He is one of two NHL players (Ottawa’s Brady Tkachuk) with seven-plus goals, 50 PIM and 100 hits in 2024-25.
• D Ivan Provorov tied his single-game career high in assists (2^nd time) and points (7^th time) with three assists in the win over St. Louis on Saturday.  He has collected 1-7-8 in the last 10 contests since Dec. 15.
• C Cole Sillinger collected an assist on Saturday.  He ranks fourth on the club in assists and fifth-T in points with 6-16-22 in 39 outings and is three 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 five multi-point efforts in the last seven contests (7-4-11) and has notched points in eight of the last ten contests (8-6-14).  The forward has registered 14-11-25 with eight multi-point efforts in his last 25 contests after starting the campaign with 1-0-1 in the first six.
• D Zach Werenski, who has points in assists in three consecutive outings (1-5-6), collected this fourth multi-assist outing in the last six games (1-12-13) with 0-2-2 on Saturday against the Blues.  He stretched his club record home points streak to 15 games (9-21-30), becoming the ninth different defenseman in NHL 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).  The 27-year-old Grosse Pointe, Michigan native leads the NHL in TOI/GP and ranks second in shots on goal (David Pastrnak, 173) as well as ranks second among league blueliners in goals and points and third-T in assists with 12-33-45 and 160 shots on 26:28 of ice time in 40 contests this season.  He leads NHL blueliners in goals, assists, and points and is tied with Nathan MacKinnon for second among all skaters (one behind Leon Draisaitl) in scoring since Nov. 21 with 8-23-31 in 22 contests.  His 33 assists are the most in club history through 41 games (Panarin – 32, 2018-19) and his 45 points are two shy of Panarin’s club record (47, 2018-19).

BLUE JACKETS MILESTONES

• HC Dean Evason is nine games from 300 for his NHL HC career (164-94-33, 291 GC).
• LW Zach Aston-Reese is nine points from 100 for his NHL career (46-45-91, 349 GP).
• D Jake Christiansen is 16 games from 100 for his NHL career (2-12-14, 84 GP).
• C Adam Fantilli is 11 games from 100 for his NHL career (20-24-44, 89 GP).
• D Ivan Provorov is six assists from 200 for his NHL career (73-194-267, 654 GP).
• C Cole Sillinger is four points from 100 for his CBJ/NHL career (38-58-96, 259 GP).

OhioHEALTH INJURY REPORT

• F Boone Jenner (shoulder) is on Injured Reserve on Oct. 7; (40 Games)
• D Erik Gudbranson (upper body) is on Injured Reserve on Oct. 16; (37 Games)
• C Yegor Chinakhov (upper body); is on Injured Reserve retroactive to Nov. 27 (19 Games)
• F Justin Danforth (lower body); is on Injured Reserve retroactive to Dec. 10 (12 Games)

TOTAL MAN GAMES LOST: 157

COURTESY BLUE JACKETS COMMUNICATIONS