By Joe Coopersmith

JAN. 31, 2025 II DELTA CENTER II AT UTAH HOCKEY CLUB

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)

Hockey Club Players to Watch

• C Clayton Keller leads Utah in goals, assists and points with 18-36-54 in 49 contests in 2024-25 and has posted 2-7-9 in 12 career games against the Blue Jackets.
• D Mikhail Sergachev, who has collected 2-12-14 in 21 career appearances against Columbus, ranks second in the NHL in TOI/GP (25:45) and leads Utah blueliners with 9-22-31 in 45 appearances.

All-Time Series

• Friday marks the first meeting in the all-time series between Columbus and Utah.
• CBJ have split the last two inaugural games against new teams, falling 6-3 at Vegas on Jan. 23, 2018 and earning a 2-1 OT win over Seattle on Oct. 16, 2021.

This Season (CBJ, 0-0-0)

• Jan. 31, 2025 – at Utah (9 pm ET)
• Feb. 6, 2025 – at Columbus (7 pm ET)

BLUE JACKETS TEAM NOTES

• Columbus has earned two-straight overtime victories with a 3-2 win over Los Angeles on Jan. 25 and 2-1 victory at Vegas on Thursday.  The club has registered points in 10 of the past 12 contests since Jan. 4 (9-2-1).
• The Blue Jackets, who are 4-2-1 in seven road games in 2025, plays the second of their four-game road trip tonight at Utah.  The club will also play at Dallas (Feb. 2) and Buffalo (Feb. 4).  It’s one of two four-game road trips over a nine-game stretch from Jan. 18-Feb. 4.  The club plays in all four time zones with Sunday’s game at Dallas the last time it leave’s the Eastern Time Zone this season.
• The team has also collected points in 15 of the last 19 contests overall since Dec. 19 (13-4-2).  The Jackets rank second in the league in wins (tied) and power play pct. (32.4), third-T in points and points percentage (.737) and fourth in goals-for-per game (3.37)  over that stretch.
• CBJ have improved their numbers over the past five weeks of the season compared to the first 9.5 (Oct. 16-Dec. 18), including goals-for per game (3.22 to 3.37), goals-against average (3.63 to 2.74), power play pct. (18.2 to 32.4) and penalty kill pct. (72.5 to 81.0).  The club sat in eighth place in the division and Wild Card race at 12-15-5 (29 points) on Dec. 18.
• The Blue Jackets are 9-3-1 (19 pts, .731 points pct.) in the month of January, posting the second-best wins (tied), points and points percentage with one game remaining. The club posted a franchise-best in wins and points in January 2014 (10-4-0, 20 points, .714 points pct.) and best points percentage in January 2020 (9-2-0, .818 points pct.)
• The Jackets have allowed two goals or less in eight of the past 10 contests and rank fourth in the NHL in goals-against per game since Jan. 9 (2.00, 20 goals total).
• The Blue Jackets’ 3.27 goals-for/game in 2024-25 are the seventh-highest in the NHL.  The club averaged a franchise-best 3.15 goals-per-game during the 2021-22 season.
• The club’s 167 goals (not including SO goals) are the third-most through the first 51 games of a season in franchise history, trailing only 2021-22 (170) and 2016-17 (168).
• The Blue Jackets have scored in all three periods in regulation in nine of the last 19 games (seven of the last 10 home contests).  CBJ have scored in all three periods in a game 20 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 Florida for the second-most games with six or more goals season (10), trailing only Winnipeg (11).  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 is tied with Washington for the league lead in goals scored during 5-on-5 play (117).
• The Jackets have scored first in four of the last five games and 11 of the last 14 contests after Vegas scored the first goal on Thursday. The club has also scored first in 15 of the last 19 contests and in 32 (20-8-4) of the first 50 contests this season.  CBJ have scored first in a league-high 62.7 percent of their games this season.
• Columbus ranks fifth-T in the league with six shorthanded goals in 2024-25.
• CBJ rank second-T in the NHL in first period goals scored (54), 13th-T in second period goals (52) and ninth in third period goals scored (58) in 2024-25.  They are one of six teams to record 50-plus goals in all three periods this season (Florida, Tampa Bay, Vegas, Washington and Winnipeg).
• The team plays its sixth (3-2-0) of eight Friday games of the season when it visits Utah.
• Columbus also closes out its eighth of 12 back-to-back sets on Friday.

BLUE JACKETS PLAYER NOTES

• CBJ blueliners have combined for 11-40-51 in the last 19 games.  The team ranks second in the league in goals, points and point percentage, third in goals percentage and fifth-T in assists with 32-94-126, 19.2 pct. of the club’s goals and 28.1 pct. of the team’s points in 51 contests.
• C Luca Del Bel Belluz had his three-game assists streak (1-3-4) snapped on Thursday.  He registered 3-5-8 in his first 10 career games dating back to last season, posting the second-most points by a Blue Jackets player through their first 10 NHL contests (Werenski, 2-8-10).
• D Dante Fabbro leads the NHL in blocked shots and ranks second in blocks/60 minutes (min. 5 GP) since Dec. 31 with 50 blocks and 9.44 blocks/60 in 14 games.
• C Adam Fantilli notched a goal at Vegas and has posted 4-2-6 in the past four outings, including his first career hat trick on Jan. 22 at Toronto and first career multi-assist effort on Jan. 23 at Carolina (0-2-2).  He has recorded points in 10 of the last 13 contests (8-6-14) to lead the club in goals and rank second in points since Jan. 1.  His eight goals are one shy of the franchise record for the month of January (2x, MR: Ryan Johansen in Jan. 2015).  He has set single-season career highs in goals and points with 15-14-29 in 51 appearances in 2024-25.
• F Kent Johnson has recorded assists in a career-high four-straight games (1-4-5) and points in five-straight (tied, 2x, 2-4-6) after helping set up the OT winner last night.  He has recorded points in six of the past seven contests (3-5-8) and nine of the last 12 games (4-7-11).  The 22-year-old has recorded points in 25 of his 37 games this season (14-18-32) and sits two goals shy of tying in single-season career high (16-24-40, 79 GP in 2022-23).
• RW Kirill Marchenko notched his second career OT winner with his team-leading 20^th goal of the season on Jan. 25 vs. Los Angeles.  He has recorded points in four of the last five games (2-2-4), 10 of the last 12 contests (4-7-11), 18 of the last 22 games (10-16-26) and 21 of the last 26 (10-19-29).  The forward leads the league in plus/minus rating and ranks 14th-T in points since Nov. 21 with 14-23-37 and +25 in 33 contests.  He leads 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 in 2024-25 with 20-33-53, +30, nine multi-assist and 14 multi-point efforts in 51 contests.  He has already set single-season career highs in assists and points (23-19-42, 2023-24) and is the first player in franchise history with 20-plus goals in three-straight campaigns to start their career.
• G Elvis Merzlikins turned aside 25-of-26 shots faced at Vegas on Thursday to improve to 10-2-1 in his last 13 starts since Dec. 19.  He also has posted a 5-1-0 record with a 1.66 GAA and .939 SV% (153-of-163) in the last six games since Jan. 9.
• RW Mathieu Olivier 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 hits with 10-8-18, 92 PIM and 183 hits in 51 games.  He is one of two NHL players (Ottawa’s Brady Tkachuk) with 10-plus goals, 60 PIM and 100 hits in 2024-25.
• LW James van Riemsdyk has posted points in three of the last four contests (2-2-4).  He ranks second on the team in goals and third in points in January with 6-6-12 and four multi-point outings in 13 contests.
• F Dmitri Voronkov has recorded points in three of the last five games (1-2-3) and 14 of the last 21 contests (11-10-21).  The forward has registered 17-15-32 with nine multi-point efforts and is +21 in his last 36 contests since Nov. 15 after starting the campaign with 1-0-1 in the first six.  Since that date, he ranks second-T in the NHL in plus/minus and eighth-T in goals.
• D Zach Werenski has recorded points in four-straight contests (1-3-4) and in 11 of the last 14 contests (5-11-16) after setting up the game-winner at Vegas.  The 27-year-old Grosse Pointe, Michigan native leads the NHL in TOI/GP as well as leads league blueliners in even strength goals (tied) and shots on goal and ranks second in goals, assists (tied), power play goals (tied) and even strength points and third in points with 16-39-55, 11-24-35 ES and five PPG and 192 shots on 26:49 of ice time in 51 contests this season.  He also leads NHL blueliners in goals, assists (tied) and points and is eighth among all skaters in scoring since Nov. 21 with 12-29-41 in 33 contests.  His 55 points are the third-most by a CBJ defenseman in a season in franchise history, trailing only the 57 points recorded by Seth Jones in 2017-18 (16-41-57 in 78 GP) and matched by himself in 2023-24 (11-46-57 in 70 GP).  He also owns the franchise record for goals by a blueliner with 20 in 2019-20.

BLUE JACKETS MILESTONES

• LW Zach Aston-Reese is nine points from 100 for his NHL career (46-45-91, 360 GP).
• D Jake Christiansen is five games from 100 for his NHL career (2-12-14, 95 GP).
• F Kent Johnson is nine points from 100 for his NHL career (36-55-91 in 167 GP).
• RW Kirill Marchenko is 12 games from 200 for his NHL career (64-56-120, 188 GP).
• D Ivan Provorov is three assists from 200 for his NHL career (73-197-270, 665 GP).
• C Cole Sillinger is two points from 100 for his CBJ/NHL career (40-58-98, 266 GP).

OhioHEALTH INJURY REPORT

• F Boone Jenner (shoulder) is on Injured Reserve on Oct. 7; (51 Games)
• D Erik Gudbranson (upper body) is on Injured Reserve on Oct. 16; (48 Games)
• C Yegor Chinakhov (upper body); is on Injured Reserve retroactive to Nov. 27 (30 Games)
• C Sean Monahan (upper body); is on Injured Reserve retroactive to Jan. 7 (10 Games)

TOTAL MAN GAMES LOST: 214

COURTESY BLUE JACKETS COMMUNICATIONS