By Joe Coopersmith

JAN. 11, 2025 II ENTERPRISE CENTER II AT 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)
*Simulcast on the following stations (markets): ABC 6 (Columbus), WSTR 64.1 MyTV (Cincinnati), WOHZ 22.1 RESN (Cleveland), WKEF 22.3 MyTV (Dayton), WSAZ 3.2 MeTV (Charleston, WV/Huntington, WV/Portsmouth, OH), WKYT 27.4 MeTV (Lexington, KY), WAVE 3.2 Bounce (Louisville, KY).

Radio:  97.1 The Fan   

Bob McElligott (play-by-play), Dylan Tyrer (host)

Blues to Watch

• C Dylan Holloway has posted points in five consecutive outings (2-6-8) and ranks second on the Blues in goals and third in points with 15-17-32 in 43 contests.
• C Jordan Kyrou, who has collected points in three-straight games (3-3-6), leads the club in goals and points with 19-19-38 in 43 contests and has tallied 5-3-8 in eight career appearances against Columbus.

All-Time Series

• Columbus has gone 36-42-16 in 94 all-time games against St. Louis, including 12-26-9 on the road.
• 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 14 of the last 22 games of the all-time series since Apr. 12, 2013 (11-8-3).
• The Blue Jackets have won three-straight in the season series, including a 1-0 victory in the last visit to St. Louis on Jan. 30, 2024.
• The winning team has scored four-plus goals in 11 of the last 14 outings of the series dating back to Nov. 12, 2016.
• CBJ are 10-of-30 on the power play in the last 11 meetings overall (33.3 pct.), scoring a PPG in eight of the contests.

This Season (CBJ, 1-0-0)

• Jan. 4, 2025 – at CBJ 6, STL 4
• Jan. 11, 2025 – at St. Louis (7 pm ET)

Player Notables vs. Blues

• F Kent Johnson – 0-3-3 in 5 career GP, collecting assists in three of his last four outings, including an assist on Jan. 4.
• RW Kirill Marchenko – 2-1-3 in 4 career GP, registering a goal against St. Louis on Jan. 4.
• D Ivan Provorov – 0-7-7 in 14 career GP, including tying his single-game career high in assists/points with three assists in the Jan. 4 meeting.
• LW Dmitri Voronkov – 3-2-5 in 3 career GP, registering goals in two consecutive meetings and points in all three games against the club after notching two goals in the first contest of the 2024-25 season series.
• LW James van Riemsdyk – 5-6-11 in 22 career GP, including points in each of his last five games at Enterprise Center (2-5-7).
• D Zach Werenski – 2-6-8 in 14 career GP, including assists in the past two outings (0-3-3) after picking up two assists on Jan. 4.

BLUE JACKETS TEAM NOTES

• Columbus won its third-straight game and has collected points in eight of the last 10 contests since Dec. 19 (7-2-1) following a 6-2 win over Seattle on Thursday.  The club leads the league in goals-for per game (4.10) and power play percentage (45.5) and ranks sixth-T in points percentage (.750) over that stretch.
• CBJ are 14-5-3 (31 points) at Nationwide Arena in 2024-25, posting the second-most points and third-most wins (tied) through the first 22 home games of a campaign in CBJ history (17-4-1, 35 points in 2016-17).
• The team has recorded points in 16 of its last 19 home games (13-3-3; .750 points pct) and leads the NHL in goals-for (4.32), while ranking second in power play pct. (34.0) and third in points pct. (.763) at home since Oct. 22.
• The Jackets are in a stretch of eight of 11 contests played at Nationwide Arena from Dec. 23-Jan. 16.
• The Blue Jackets’ 3.43 goals-for/game in 2024-25 are the fifth-highest in the NHL.  The club averaged a franchise-best 3.15 goals-per-game during the 2021-22 season.
• The club’s 144 goals (not including SO goals) are tied for fourth-most in the league in 2024-25 (Tampa Bay) and the most through the first 42 games of a season in franchise history, surpassing the 139 posted to start the 2016-17 campaign.
• The Blue Jackets scored in all three periods in regulation on Thursday vs. Seattle and have accomplished the feat in seven of the last 10 games, including six of the last seven home contests.  CBJ have scored in all three periods in a game 18 times this season, including 14 occasions at home.  Last season, the club scored in all three periods 20 times (10 times at home).
• The club has also registered 39 multi-goal frames after scoring four of its six goals in the third period on Thursday.
• Columbus leads the NHL in six-goal games this season, after recording its 10^th outing on Thursday against Seattle.  It’s the second time in franchise history that CBJ have scored at least six goals in 10 or more contests in a campaign after setting the club record with 11 occurrences in 2018-19.
• Columbus recorded five of its six goals on Thursday at even strength and became the first team to reach 100 even strength goals this season (101).  The club surpassed Vegas (99) and Washington (99) with Thursday’s effort.
• The Jackets scored the first goal against Seattle and have scored the first goal in five-straight, nine of the last 10 contests and in 26 (16-6-4) of the first 42 contests this season.  The team has scored first in a league-high 61.9 percent of its games (Chicago, 61.0 pct.).
• The Jackets had their four-game PPG streak (5-of-9; 55.6 pct.) snapped on Thursday after finishing 0-of-1 against the Kraken.  The club has recorded a PPG in 12 of the last 16 games (15-of-43; 34.9 pct.), ranking third in the league in PP pct since Dec. 8 (WPG, 37.2., PIT, 35.9).  CBJ rank second in the league in PP percentage at home since Dec. 8 (44.0 pct; 11-of-25).
• CBJ’s 44 first period goals are the fourth-most in the NHL and 53 third period goals are tied for fifth-most.
• Columbus plays the fifth (1-1-2) of seven-straight Saturdays from Dec. 14-Jan. 25.  The club plays 21 Saturday games in 2024-25, including 11 on the road.

BLUE JACKETS PLAYER NOTES

• CBJ blueliners combined for 2-5-7 in Thursday’s victory and have posted 7-29-36 in the last 10 games.  The team leads the league in goals by defensemen and ranks second in points and point percentage, third in goal percentage and fourth in assists with 28-83-111, 19.4 pct. of the club’s goals and 28.6 pct. of the team’s points in 42 contests.
• F Kent Johnson has collected points in three-straight games (1-2-3) after notching a goal on Thursday.  He has recorded points in 19 of his first 28 games this season (11-13-24) and has already surpassed his season totals from 2023-24 (6-10-16, 42 GP).
• RW Kirill Marchenko recorded a goal on Thursday and has registered points in three consecutive outings (2-2-4), 11 of his last 13 games (8-11-19) and 14 of the last 17 (8-14-22).  The forward ranks ninth in the league in points and 10^th-T in goals since Nov. 21 with 12-18-30 in 27 contests.  He leads the club in goals, multi-assist and multi-point efforts and ranks second in assists and points with 18-28-46, nine multi-assist and 14 multi-point efforts in 42 contests.  He’s already set a single-season career high in assists and points (23-19-42, 2023-24).
• C Sean Monahan missed his first game of the season on Thursday due to an upper body injury.  He had recorded points in four consecutive games (1-7-8) and 5-11-16 with five multi-point efforts in his last nine contests prior to the contest against the Kraken.  He ranks second on the club in multi-goal and multi-point games (tied) and third in goals, assists and points with 14-27-41, three multi-goal efforts and 12 multi-point outings in 41 contests.
• RW Mathieu Olivier, who registered an assist on Thursday, has already set single-season career highs in goals and points (5-10-15, 66 GP in 2022-23) and ranks third in the NHL in penalty minutes and fifth in hits with 10-7-17, 79 PIM and 149 hits in 42 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 has collected 0-5-5 in the past four outings since Jan. 2 and 1-8-9 in the last 12 contests dating back to Dec. 15.
• C Cole Sillinger, who missed Thursday’s contest due to illness, has collected assists in two of his last three games.  He ranks fourth-T on the club in assists and sixth in points with 6-16-22 in 40 outings and is three assists shy of tying his single-season career high (77 GP in 2023-24).
• F Dmitri Voronkov stretched his points streak to three-straight (4-1-5) with an assist on Thursday.  He has posted six multi-point efforts in the last nine contests (9-5-14) and has notched points in 10 of the last 12 contests (10-7-17).  The forward has registered 16-12-28 with nine multi-point efforts in his last 27 contests since Nov. 15 after starting the campaign with 1-0-1 in the first six.  He ranks third in the NHL in goals dating back to Nov. 15, trailing only Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl (19 goals in 24 GP) and Tampa Bay’s Brayden Point (17 in 23 GP).
• D Zach Werenski, who has assists in five consecutive outings (2-7-9), also has five multi-point efforts in the last eight games (2-14-16).  He owns the club record for longest home points streak at 16 games (10-22-32) and is the seventh 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, 179) as well leads league blueliners in goals (tied) and ranks second in points and third in assists with 13-35-48 and 164 shots on 26:30 of ice time in 42 contests this season.  He leads NHL blueliners in goals, assists, and points and is tied with forwards Leon Draisaitl, Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon among all skaters in scoring since Nov. 21 with 9-25-34 in 24 contests.

BLUE JACKETS MILESTONES

• HC Dean Evason is seven games from 300 for his NHL HC career (166-94-33, 293 GC).
• LW Zach Aston-Reese is nine points from 100 for his NHL career (46-45-91, 351 GP).
• D Jake Christiansen is 15 games from 100 for his NHL career (2-12-14, 86 GP).
• C Adam Fantilli is nine games from 100 for his NHL career (21-26-47, 91 GP).
• D Ivan Provorov is five assists from 200 for his NHL career (73-195-268, 656 GP).
• C Cole Sillinger is four points from 100 for his CBJ/NHL career (38-58-96, 260 GP).

OhioHEALTH INJURY REPORT

• F Boone Jenner (shoulder) is on Injured Reserve on Oct. 7; (42 Games)
• D Erik Gudbranson (upper body) is on Injured Reserve on Oct. 16; (39 Games)
• C Yegor Chinakhov (upper body); is on Injured Reserve retroactive to Nov. 27 (21 Games)
• F Justin Danforth (lower body); is on Injured Reserve retroactive to Dec. 10 (14 Games)
• C Sean Monahan (upper body); is on Injured Reserve retroactive to Dec. 7 (1 Game)
• C Cole Sillinger (illness); (1 Game)
• D Jack Johnson (illness); (1 Game)

TOTAL MAN GAMES LOST: 168

COURTESY BLUE JACKETS COMMUNICATIONS