By Joe Coopersmith

JAN. 22, 2025 II SCOTIABANK ARENA II AT TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS

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)

Maple Leafs to Watch

• RW Mitch Marner, who has recorded 1-7-8 over a four-game assists streak, ranks second in the NHL in assists and fourth in points with 15-52-67 in 48 contests in 2024-25.
• C Auston Matthews has notched goals in four consecutive outings (5-1-6) and has recorded points in 12 of his last 13 contests (10-8-18) to improve his season totals to 19-18-37 in 33 games.
• RW William Nylander, with 4-1-5 during a three-game goals streak, ranks second in the league in goals with 28-21-49 in 48 outings.

All-Time Series

• The Blue Jackets have gone 20-19-1 in 40 all-time games against the Maple Leafs, including 11-8-1 on the road.
• Columbus has earned wins in four of the past six meetings since Feb. 11, 2023 and 14 of the last 25 games of the series since Apr. 8, 2015 (14-11-0).
• Seven of the last 11 meetings have been decided by a single goal – with four in overtime – dating back to Oct. 21, 2019.
• The winning team has scored four or more goals in six consecutive as well as 15 of the last 16 and 23 of the last 27 meetings.  The winning team has also scored six goals in three of the past four contests of the series.
• The Blue Jackets have posted two of the three shutouts in the all-time series with Sergei Bobrovsky posting the most recent one for Columbus with 35 saves in a 5-0 win at Nationwide Arena on Apr. 5, 2015.

This Season (CBJ, 1-0-0)

• Oct. 22, 2024 – at CBJ 6, TOR 2
• Jan. 22, 2025 – at Toronto (7:30 p.m. ET)
• Apr. 5, 2025 – at Toronto (7 p.m. ET)

Player Notables vs. Maple Leafs

• RW Justin Danforth – 3-4-7 in 7 career GP, registering the points in each of his last four contests, including goals in three of them after collecting 1-2-3 in the first meeting of the 2024-25 season series.
• C Adam Fantilli – 1-1-2 in 4 career GP, recording points in two of his past three outings.
• F Kent Johnson – 4-3-7 with points in 4 of 6 career GP, including a goal in the first game of the season series and assists in all three contests at Scotiabank Arena (3-3-6, 2 multi-point efforts).
• RW Kirill Marchenko – 2-2-4 in 7 career GP, recording one of his two multi-point efforts in the Oct. 22 contest (1-1-2).
• RW Mathieu Olivier – 2-1-3 in 4 career GP, recording his points in the last two meetings, including two goals in the Oct. 22 contest at Nationwide Arena.
• D Ivan Provorov – 3-8-11 in 22 career GP, including assists in two-straight meetings (0-2-2) and three of the past four against the club (0-4-4).
• LW James van Riemsdyk – 7-4-11 in 25 career GP, including a goal in the first meeting of the season series on Oct. 22.
• D Zach Werenski – 0-14-14 in 15 career GP, including multiple assists in two of his last three contests (0-4-4) and three of his past five (0-7-7) as well as assists in each of his past three outings at Scotiabank Arena (0-4-4).

BLUE JACKETS TEAM NOTES

• Columbus had its season-long six-game win streak snapped at the NY Rangers on Saturday (1-0 SOL) and seven-game points streak snapped at the NY Islanders on Monday (3-1 L).  They were the longest streaks for the club in points since Jan. 18-29, 2021 (4-0-3) and dating back to Jan. 11-22, 2020.
• The club has collected points in 12 of the last 15 contests since Dec. 19 (10-3-2).  The Jackets rank second in the league in power play percentage (36.4), third-T in wins, fourth in points and points percentage (.733) as well as sixth in goals-for per game (3.33) over that stretch.
• CBJ have improved their numbers over the past month of the season compared to the first 9.5 weeks (Oct. 16-Dec. 18), including goals-for per game (3.22 to 3.33), goals-against average (3.63 to 2.73), power play pct. (18.2 to 36.4) and penalty kill pct. (72.5 to 79.4).  The club sat in eighth place in the division and Wild Card race at 12-15-5 (29 points) on Dec. 18.
• The Jackets have allowed two goals or less in five of the past six contests and trail only Washington (1.00, 5 GP) in goals-against per game since Jan. 9 (1.50). The club’s netminders have combined for a .940 save percentage over that stretch (149-of-158).
• The Jackets reached 50 points on the campaign on Jan. 16, marking the fifth time in franchise history CBJ reached the mark in 45 games or less and first since 2019-20 (44 GP).
• CBJ are 16-5-3 (35 points) at Nationwide Arena in 2024-25, posting the second-most wins (tied) and points through the first 24 home games of a campaign in CBJ history (18-5-1, 37 points in 2016-17).
• The team has recorded points in 18 of its last 21 home games (15-3-3; .786 points pct) and leads the NHL in goals-for (4.19), while ranking third in points pct. and power play pct. (32.1) at home since Oct. 22.
• Columbus, which had its three-game road points (2-0-1) snapped on Monday, plays eight-of-nine contests away from home from Jan. 18-Feb. 4.
• The Blue Jackets’ 3.26 goals-for/game in 2024-25 are 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 153 goals (not including SO goals) are tied for the second-most through the first 47 games of a season in franchise history (2018-19), and trailing the 155 posted in 2016-17.
• The Blue Jackets have scored in all three periods in regulation in eight of the last 15 games, including seven of the last nine home contests.  CBJ have scored in all three periods in a game 19 times this season, including 15 occasions at home.  Last season, the club scored in all three periods 20 times (10 times at home).
• CBJ are tied with Winnipeg for the NHL lead with 10 six-goal games this season, most recently recording the feat on Jan. 9 vs. 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 was the first team to reach 100 even strength goals this season (101), reaching the mark against Seattle on Jan. 9.  The club is tied with Vegas and Washington for the league lead in goals scored during 5-on-5 play (107).
• The Jackets have scored first in eight of the last 10 contests. The club has also scored first in 12 of the last 15 contests and in 29 (18-7-4) of the first 47 contests this season.  CBJ have scored first in 61.7 percent of their games this season, tied with Minnesota for the second-highest percentage in the league (Buffalo, 63.0 pct.).
• The Blue Jackets have scored a power play goal in 14 of the last 21 games (17-of-54; 31.5 pct.), ranking third in the league in PP pct. since Dec. 8.  CBJ lead the league in PP percentage at home over that same stretch (39.3 pct; 11-of-28).
• CBJ rank third-T in the NHL in first period goals scored (49), 11th-T in second period goals (48) and eighth-T in third period goals scored (55) in 2024-25.
• The Jackets play their third and final Wednesday game of the season after defeating the NY Islanders 2-0 on Oct. 30 and falling 4-3 in overtime to Montreal on Nov. 27.
• Columbus plays its seventh of 12 back-to-back sets of the campaign when it visits Toronto on Wednesday and Carolina on Thursday.

BLUE JACKETS PLAYER NOTES

• CBJ blueliners have combined for 9-31-40 in the last 15 games.  The team leads the league in goals by defensemen and ranks second in points (tied) and point percentage, third in goals percentage and seventh in assists with 30-85-115, 19.6 pct. of the club’s goals and 28.1 pct. of the team’s points in 47 contests.
• D Dante Fabbro leads the NHL in blocked shots and ranks second in blocks/60 minutes (min. 5 GP) since Dec. 31 with 36 blocks and 9.62 blocks/60 in 10 games.
• C Adam Fantilli had recorded points in a career-high seven-straight games (4-4-8) prior to Saturday’s game at the Rangers.  It was the second-longest point streak by a Blue Jacket before age-21, trailing only Rick Nash (8 GP in 2003-04).
• F Kent Johnson notched CBJ’s lone goal on Monday and recorded the game-deciding goal three times during the club’s six-game win streak (2 SOW).  He has collected points in five of the last eight games overall (3-3-6).  The 22-year-old has recorded points in 21 of his 33 games this season (13-14-27) and has already surpassed his season totals from 2023-24 (6-10-16, 42 GP).
• RW Kirill Marchenko became the second Blue Jacket to reach 50 points for the season with an assist on Monday.  He has registered points in seven of the last eight contests (2-6-8), 15 of the last 18 games (8-15-23) and 18 of the last 22 (8-18-26).  The forward ranks second in the league in plus/minus rating and 11th-T in points since Nov. 21 with 12-22-34 and +21 in 29 contests.  He also ranks second in the NHL in plus/minus rating as well as leads the club in goals, multi-assist and multi-point efforts and ranks second in assists and points with 18-32-50, +26, nine multi-assist and 14 multi-point efforts in 47 contests and has already set single-season career highs in assists and points (23-19-42, 2023-24).
• RW Mathieu Olivier finished with nine hits on Monday at the Islanders.  He 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 PIM and fourth in hits with 10-7-17, 83 PIM and 170 hits in 47 games.  He is one of two NHL players (Ottawa’s Brady Tkachuk) with 10-plus goals, 50 PIM and 100 hits in 2024-25.
• C Cole Sillinger has posted 7-16-23 in 45 outings in 2024-25 and sits three assists shy of tying his single-season career high set in 2023-24 (77 GP).
• G Daniil Tarasov turned aside all 26 shots faced in regulation and overtime on Saturday at the NY Rangers to register his first career shutout.  He is 1-0-1 with a .961 SV% (49-of-51) in his last two starts.
• LW James van Riemsdyk has collected 4-4-8 with three multi-point outings in the past nine contests.
• F Dmitri Voronkov has notched points in 12 of the last 17 contests (10-9-19) after collecting an assist on Monday.  The forward has registered 16-14-30 with nine multi-point efforts and is +20 in his last 32 contests since Nov. 15 after starting the campaign with 1-0-1 in the first six.  Since that date, he ranks third-T in the NHL in plus/minus and sixth-T in goals.
• D Zach Werenski, who finished with 30-plus minutes for the sixth time this season on Monday (30:38) has collected points in seven of the last 10 contests (4-8-12).  He has also picked up six multi-point efforts in the last 13 games (4-15-19).  The 27-year-old Grosse Pointe, Michigan native leads the NHL in TOI/GP as well as leads league blueliners in goals (tied), even strength goals, even strength points and shots on goal and ranks second in points and fourth in assists with 15-36-51, 10-21-31 at even strength and 180 shots on 26:49 of ice time in 46 contests this season.  He also leads NHL blueliners in goals, assists (tied), and points and is sixth among all skaters in scoring since Nov. 21 with 11-26-37 in 29 contests.

BLUE JACKETS MILESTONES

• HC Dean Evason is two games from 300 for his NHL HC career (169-95-34, 298 GC).
• LW Zach Aston-Reese is nine points from 100 for his NHL career (46-45-91, 356 GP).
• D Jake Christiansen is nine games from 100 for his NHL career (2-12-14, 91 GP).
• C Adam Fantilli is four games from 100 for his NHL career (23-27-50, 96 GP).
• D Ivan Provorov is five assists from 200 for his NHL career (73-195-268, 661 GP).
• C Cole Sillinger is three points from 100 for his CBJ/NHL career (39-58-97, 265 GP).

OhioHEALTH INJURY REPORT

• F Boone Jenner (shoulder) is on Injured Reserve on Oct. 7; (47 Games)
• D Erik Gudbranson (upper body) is on Injured Reserve on Oct. 16; (44 Games)
• C Yegor Chinakhov (upper body); is on Injured Reserve retroactive to Nov. 27 (26 Games)
• C Sean Monahan (upper body); is on Injured Reserve retroactive to Dec. 7 (6 Games)
• D Denton Mateychuk (illness); (1 Game)

TOTAL MAN GAMES LOST: 193

COURTESY BLUE JACKETS COMMUNICATIONS