Streaking Blue Jackets continue their Western U.S. road trip with a visit to the Dallas Stars; Game 53 Preview

By Joe Coopersmith

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FEB. 2, 2025 II AMERICAN AIRLINES CENTER II AT DALLAS STARS

 

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)

 

Dean Evason CBJ head coach is the driving force in the continued improvement of the team this season (photo by James Carey Lauder, Imagn Images via USA Today Sports Network)

 

Jason Robertson with the Dallas Stars in February 2024. By Cass, CC BY-SA 4.0, https commons.wikimedia.org

Stars to Watch

  • Jake Oettinger, who has won three-straight starts, ranks second in the NHL in wins with a 26-11-1 record, 2.32 GAA and .912 SV% in 38 contests in 2024-25 and is 9-0-1 with a 1.77 GAA and .927 SV% in 10 career appearances against CBJ.
  • LW Jason Robertson has notched points in four-straight games (4-3-7) and is now tied for the team lead in scoring with 19-30-49 in 51 contests and has totaled 5-5-10 in 12 career contests against the Blue Jackets.

 

All-Time Series

  • Columbus has gone 32-35-7 in 74 all-time games against Dallas, including 15-19-2 on the road.
  • Dallas has won seven of the last nine meetings in the series since Mar. 14, 2021 (CBJ; 2-6-1).
  • CBJ have killed off all 15 Stars power play chances over the ten games in the series dating back to Mar. 13, 2021 with the club not allowing a power play opportunity in two of the contests (Mar. 13, 2021 and Dec. 19, 2022).
  • The winning team has scored four or more goals in each of the last three meetings and six of the past eight since Apr. 15, 2021.
  • The winning team has also won by multiple goals in six of the past eight outings, including three-straight.
  • Columbus has recorded two shutouts in the all-time series with Mathieu Garon (26 saves in 2-0 win at CBJ on Jan. 10, 2010) and Sergei Bobrovsky (32 saves in 3-0 win at DAL on Oct. 22, 2016) recording the club’s shutouts.
  • The Stars have recorded all three hat tricks in the series (MR: Tyler Seguin on Oct. 14, 2014), while the Blue Jackets have been awarded both penalty shots (MR: Emil Bemstrom unsuccessful on Mar. 13, 2021).

This Season (CBJ, 0-0-0)

  • Feb. 2, 2025 – at Dallas (6 pm ET)
  • Feb. 25, 2025 – at Columbus (7 pm ET)

PLAYER NOTABLES VS. STARS

  • Adam Fantilli – 0-2-2 in two career GP, collecting assists in both of his games in the 2023-24 series.
  • Jordan Harris – 1-2-3 in three career GP, notching assists in each of his career outings at Dallas (1-1-2).
  • Kent Johnson – 1-1-2 with points in two of three career GP, including an assist in the last meeting at Dallas on Oct. 30, 2023.
  • Sean Kuraly – 1-3-4 in 12 career GP, including points in the last two contests at American Airlines Center (1-2-3).
  • RW Mathieu Olivier – 1-3-4 in 10 career GP, including all of his points coming in the last two road matchups against the club.
  • Damon Severson – 2-6-8 in 17 career GP and 2-3-5 in eight contests at Dallas, including points in three-straight at American Airlines Center (1-2-3).
  • LW James van Riemsdyk – 7-9-16 in 23 career GP, including points in two of his last three at Dallas (1-1-2) and five of the past eight at American Airlines Center (2-5-7).
  • LW Dmitri Voronkov – 1-1-2 in 2 career GP, recording points in both games of the 2023-24 series, including a goal at Dallas on Oct. 30.
  • Zach Werenski – 4-8-12 in 17 career GP, including points in four of his last six games against the club overall (3-3-6).

BLUE JACKETS TEAM NOTES

  • Columbus has earned three-straight overtime victories: 3-2 over Los Angeles on Jan. 25, 2-1 at Vegas on Jan. 30 and 3-2 at Utah on Jan. 31.  It marks the fourth time in club history the team has won three consecutive games that were played after regulation and first time decided in OT.  The club earned three-straight OT/SO games from Mar. 3-7, 2013 (OTW/SOW/OTW) and Apr. 13-17, 2013 (SOW/OTW/OTW) and four consecutive from Dec. 9-16, 2014 (OTW/OTW/SOW/SOW).
  • The Blue Jackets finished January with a 10-3-1 record (21 pts, .750 points pct.), tying for second in the league in points percentage in the month (Washington, .786).  The club also registered the most wins (tied, 2014) and points and the second-highest points percentage in a January in franchise history, trailing only the .818 points pct. recorded in January 2020 (9-2-0).
  • The Jackets, who are 5-2-1 in eight road games in 2025, plays the third of their four-game road trip tonight at Dallas.  The club will closes out the trip at Buffalo on Tuesday.  The trip is 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 on the trip with Sunday’s game at Dallas the last time it leave’s the Eastern Time Zone this season.
  • The team has collected points in 16 of the last 20 contests overall since Dec. 19 (14-4-2, 30 points).  The Jackets are tied for the league lead in wins, points and points percentage (.750) and rank third-T in power play pct. (30.8) and fourth-T in goals-for-per game (3.35) over that stretch.
  • CBJ have improved their numbers over the past six weeks of the season compared to the first 9.5 (Oct. 16-Dec. 18), including goals-for per game (3.22 to 3.35), goals-against average (3.63 to 2.70), power play pct. (18.2 to 30.8) and penalty kill pct. (72.5 to 80.0).  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 nine of the past 11 contests and rank fourth in the NHL in goals-against per game since Jan. 9 (2.00, 22 goals total).
  • The Blue Jackets’ 3.27 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 170 goals (not including SO goals) are tied for the second-most through the first 52 games of a season in franchise history (2021-22), trailing only 2016-17 (171).
  • 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 won despite allowing the first goal (first two at Utah) in each of the past two contests.  The club has scored first in four of the last six games and 11 of the last 15 contests.  The team has also scored first in 15 of the last 20 contests and in 32 (20-8-4) of the first 52 contests this season.  CBJ have scored first in 61.5 percent of their games this season tied with Minnesota for the second-highest percentage (Buffalo, 62.7 pct.).
  • Columbus ranks fifth-T in the league with six shorthanded goals in 2024-25.
  • CBJ rank third-T in the NHL in first period goals scored (54), 14th in second period goals (52) and seventh-T in third period goals scored (60) in 2024-25.
  • The team plays its fifth (2-2-0) of eight Sunday games of the season when it visits Dallas with all eight contests played away from home.

BLUE JACKETS PLAYER NOTES

  • CBJ blueliners have combined for 12-42-54 in the last 20 games after posting 1-2-3 on Friday.  The team is tied for the league lead in goals and points percentage and ranks second in points, third in goals percentage and fifth n assists with 33-96-129, 19.4 pct. of the club’s goals and 28.2 pct. of the team’s points in 52 contests.
  • Luca Del Bel Belluz had his three-game assists streak (1-3-4) snapped on Thursday at Vegas.  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).
  • Dante Fabbro leads Columbus in blocked shots in 2024-25 (94) and the NHL in blocked shots and ranks second in blocks/60 minutes (min. 5 GP) since Dec. 31 with 53 blocks and 9.36 blocks/60 in 15 games.
  • Adam Fantilli collected an assist at Utah and has posted points in four of the past five outings (4-3-7).  He has also recorded points in 11 of the last 14 contests (8-7-15) to lead the club in goals and rank second in points since Jan. 1.  He has set single-season career highs in goals, assists (tied), points and games played with 15-15-30 in 52 appearances in 2024-25.
  • Kent Johnson has recorded points in a career-high six-straight games after notching the third period tying goal at Utah.  He has recorded points in seven of the past eight contests (4-5-9) and 10 of the last 13 games (5-7-12).  The 22-year-old has recorded points in 26 of his 38 games this season (15-18-33) and sits one goal shy of tying in single-season career high (16-24-40, 79 GP in 2022-23).
  • RW Kirill Marchenko, who has goals in two of the last three contests after scoring at Utah, has recorded points in five of the last six games (3-2-5), 11 of the last 13 contests (5-7-12), 19 of the last 23 games (11-16-27) and 22 of the last 27 (11-19-30).  The forward leads the league in plus/minus rating and ranks 13th-T in points since Nov. 21 with 15-23-38 and +27 in 34 contests.  He leads the NHL in plus/minus rating as well as leads the club in goals, multi-assist and multi-point (tied) efforts and ranks second in assists and points in 2024-25 with 21-33-54, +30, nine multi-assist and 14 multi-point efforts in 52 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.
  • 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 189 hits in 52 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 four of the last five contests (2-3-5) after collecting at assist at Utah.  He ranks second-T on the team in goals and third in points since Jan. 1 with 6-7-13 and four multi-point outings in 14 contests.
  • Dmitri Voronkov has recorded points in four of the last six games (1-3-4) and 15 of the last 22 contests (11-11-22).  The forward has registered 17-16-33 with nine multi-point efforts and is +21 in his last 37 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 eighth-T in goals.
  • Zach Werenski has recorded points in five-straight contests (2-4-6) and in 12 of the last 15 contests (6-12-18) after scoring the OT winner and setting up another goal at Utah on Friday.  The 27-year old was named the NHL’s Third Star for January after leading the NHL in TOI (28:01, min. 4 GP) and league defensemen in goals (tied), shots on goal as well as even-strength goals and points with 6-11-17, 6-10-16 at even strength and 52 shots on goal in 14 contests.  He has set the franchise record for points by a defenseman in a single month three-straight months with 16 in each November and December before finishing with 17 in January.  He leads NHL blueliners in goals, assists (tied) and points and is fifth-T among all skaters in scoring since Nov. 21 with 13-30-43 in 34 contests.
  •  Werenski, a native of Grosse Pointe, Michigan, leads the NHL in TOI/GP as well as leads league blueliners in even strength goals, even strength points (tied) and shots on goal and ranks second in goals, assists (tied), points (tied) and power play goals (tied) with 17-40-57, 12-25-37 at even strength and five PPG and 197 shots on 26:50 of ice time in 52 contests this season. He’s already matched the franchise’s record for points by a defenseman in a single season, set by Seth Jones in 2017-18 (16-41-57 in 78 GP) and matched by Werenski in 2023-24 (11-46-57 in 70 GP).  He also owns the CBJ 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, 361 GP).
  • Jake Christiansen is four games from 100 for his NHL career (2-12-14, 96 GP).
  • Kent Johnson is eight points from 100 for his NHL career (37-55-92 in 168 GP).
  • RW Kirill Marchenko is 11 games from 200 for his NHL career (65-56-121, 189 GP).
  • D Ivan Provorov is three assists from 200 for his NHL career (73-197-270, 666 GP).
  • Cole Sillinger is one point from 100 for his CBJ/NHL career (40-59-99, 267 GP).
  • D Zach Werenski (252 in 538 GP) is seven assists from surpassing Rick Nash (258 in 675 GP) for the most in franchise history

OhioHEALTH INJURY REPORT

  • Boone Jenner (shoulder) is on Injured Reserve on Oct. 7; (52 Games)
  • Erik Gudbranson (upper body) is on Injured Reserve on Oct. 16; (49 Games)
  • Yegor Chinakhov (upper body); is on Injured Reserve retroactive to Nov. 27 (31 Games)
  • Sean Monahan (upper body); is on Injured Reserve retroactive to Jan. 7 (11 Games)

TOTAL MAN GAMES LOST: 218

 

COURTESY BLUE JACKETS COMMUNICATIONS