By Joe Coopersmith

FEB. 4, 2025 II KEYBANK CENTER II AT BUFFALO SABRES

BROADCAST INFORMATION

TV:  Bally Sports Ohio 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)

Sabres to Watch

• RW JJ Peterka has notched 4-2-6 over a three-game points streak and ranks second on the Sabres in assists and points with 15-26-41 in 50 contests in 2024-25.
• D Rasmus Dahlin, who has recorded assists in three-straight games (0-5-5), leads the team in assists and ranks third in points with 6-33-39 in 44 games played this season and has notched 3-12-15 in 14 career games against Columbus.

All-Time Series

• The Blue Jackets have gone 26-15-4 in 45 all-time games against the Sabres, including 14-7-3 on the road.
• CBJ have recorded points in 17 of the last 23 meetings in the series since Apr. 8, 2016 (14-6-3).
• Columbus has also recorded points in each of the last eight games played in Buffalo (5-0-3) dating back to Mar. 31, 2019.
• The winning team has scored four or more goals in 13 of the last 16 games of the series, including a 6-4 CBJ win in the 2024-25 series opener on Oct. 17.
• The teams have combined for seven or more goals in nine of the last 11 meetings since Feb. 13, 2010, including five instances with 10-plus combined goals.
• The Jackets have recorded power play goals in four of the past six outings of the series (4-of-11; 36.4 pct.).
• Columbus has recorded hat tricks in two of the last three games at KeyBank Center (Eric Robinson in 5-3 win on Feb. 28, 2023 at Buffalo and Kirill Marchenko in 9-4 win on Dec. 19, 2023 at Buffalo).
• Each club has recorded three shutouts in the all-time series with CBJ’s Sergei Bobrovsky registering the most recent one with 38 saves in a 4-0 win at Buffalo on Mar. 31, 2019.

This Season (CBJ, 1-0-0)

• Oct. 17, 2024 – at CBJ 6, BUF 4
• Feb. 4, 2025 – at Buffalo (7 pm ET)
• Apr. 10, 2025 – at Columbus (7 pm ET)

Player Notables vs. Sabres

• C Adam Fantilli – 3-1-4 in 3 career GP, notching goals in all three of his career games against Buffalo overall at both games at KeyBank Center (2-1-3).
• F Kent Johnson – 2-2-4 in 7 career GP, including an assist in the first meeting of the season series as well as goals in two of his three contests at KeyBank Center (2-1-3).
• C Sean Kuraly – 4-5-9 in 26 career GP and 3-4-7 in 12 road games, including 2-3-5 in his past 5 games at BUF and 1-2-3 in his last two.
• RW Kevin Labanc – 1-4-5 in 9 career GP, including points in three of his last four contests at Buffalo (1-2-3).
• RW Kirill Marchenko – 4-2-6 in 7 career GP, recording his points in the last four outings, including two-straight (1-2-3).
• RW Mathieu Olivier – 1-1-2 in 4 career GP, recording his points in the first meeting of the 2024-25 season series on Oct. 17.
• D Ivan Provorov – 5-13-18 in 29 career GP, including assists in two-straight (0-2-2) and four of his past six against the club (0-5-5).
• D Damon Severson – 3-12-15 in 32 career GP, including points in four of his past five outings against Buffalo (2-3-5) and his last two at KeyBank Center (1-2-3).
• LW James van Riemsdyk – 20-10-30 in 54 career GP, including seven career multi-point efforts.
• F Dmitri Voronkov – 1-1-2 in 3 career GP, with points in two-straight after scoring on Oct. 17.
• D Zach Werenski – 1-13-14 in 18 career GP, including points in 10 of his last 13 games overall against the team (1-11-12) after collecting two assists on Oct. 17 as well as assists in 7-of-9 career road meetings (0-8-8) with assists in each of his past four at KeyBank Center (0-5-5).

BLUE JACKETS TEAM NOTES

• Columbus had its three-game win streak snapped with a 5-3 loss at Dallas on Sunday.  The club had won each of the games in overtime: 3-2 over Los Angeles on Jan. 25, 2-1 at Vegas on Jan. 30 and 3-2 at Utah on Jan. 31.  It was the fourth time in club history the team won three consecutive games that were played after regulation and first time all 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 5-3-1 in eight road games in 2025, closes out a four-game road trip and a stretch of eight-of-nine games played from home from Jan. 18-Feb. 4 on Tuesday at Buffalo.  The club will have played in all four time zones on the trip with Sunday’s game at Dallas the last time leaving the Eastern Time Zone in 2024-25.
• CBJ return home four four-straight games around the 4 Nations Face-Off break (Feb. 6-8, Feb. 22-25).  The club has won five-straight home contests marking the longest home win streak since Jan. 14-Feb. 7, 2020 (6-straight).
• The team has collected points in 16 of the last 21 contests overall since Dec. 19 (14-5-2, 30 points).  The Jackets rank second-T in the league in wins, third in points and goals-for/game (3.33) and fourth-T in points percentage (.714) 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 3.33), goals-against average (3.63 to 2.81), power play pct. (18.2 to 28.6) and penalty kill pct. (72.5 to 79.2).  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 12 contests and rank fifth in the NHL in goals-against per game since Jan. 9 (2.25, 27 goals total).
• The Blue Jackets’ 3.26 goals-for/game in 2024-25 are tied for eighth-highest in the NHL.  The club averaged a franchise-best 3.15 goals-per-game during the 2021-22 season.
• The club’s 173 goals (not including SO goals) are tied with 2018-19 for the most through the first 53 games of a season in franchise history.
• 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).
• The Blue Jackets have posted the third-most games with six or more goals season (10), trailing only Florida and 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 scored all three of its goals at even strength on Sunday and leads the league in goals scored during 5-on-5 play (122).
• The club has scored first in five of the last seven games and 12 of the last 16 contests after scoring the first goal at Dallas.  The team has also scored first in 16 of the last 21 contests and in 33 (20-9-4) of the first 53 contests this season.  CBJ have scored first in 62.2 percent of their games this season and trail only Buffalo (63.5 pct.) for the highest percentage in the league.
• Columbus ranks fifth-T in the league with six shorthanded goals in 2024-25.
• CBJ rank fourth in the NHL in first period goals scored (55), 13^th-T in second period goals (54) and eighth-T in third period goals scored (60) in 2024-25.

BLUE JACKETS PLAYER NOTES

• CBJ blueliners have combined for 13-42-55 in the last 21 games.  The team leads the league lead in goals and ranks third in points, goals percentage and points percentage and sixth in assists with 34-96-130, 19.7 pct. of the club’s goals and 27.9 pct. of the team’s points in 53 contests.
• D Dante Fabbro leads Columbus in blocked shots in 2024-25 (96) and the NHL in blocked shots and ranks second in blocks/60 minutes (min. 5 GP) since Dec. 31 with 55 blocks and 9.49 blocks/60 in 16 games.
• C Adam Fantilli, who has posted points in four of the past five outings (2-3-5), stretched his points streak to three-straight (2-1-3) with a goal at Dallas.  The 20-year-old leads the team in goals, ranks second in points and second among club forwards in average ice time, while collecting points in 12 of 15 contests since Jan. 1 (9-7-16, 19:21).  He has set single-season career highs in goals, assists (tied), points and games played with 16-15-31 in 53 appearances in 2024-25.
• F Kent Johnson has recorded points in a career-high seven-straight games (3-5-8) after collecting an assist in Dallas.  It’s one contest shy of tying the season long for a Blue Jacket (Zach Werenski, 8-straight from Nov. 15-Dec. 1).  He has also registered points in eight of the past nine contests (4-6-10) and 11 of the last 14 games (5-8-13).  The 22-year-old has recorded points in 27 of his 39 games this season (15-19-34) and sits one goal shy of tying in single-season career high (16-24-40, 79 GP in 2022-23).
• RW Kirill Marchenko was placed on Injured Reserve with a broken jaw suffered at Dallas on Sunday.  He has recorded points in six of the last seven games (3-3-6), 12 of the last 14 contests (5-8-13), 20 of the last 24 games (11-17-28) and 23 of the last 28 (11-20-31).  The forward 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 21-34-55, +31, nine multi-assist and 14 multi-point efforts in 53 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 has posted a 5-2-0 record with a 2.15 GAA and .926 SV% (187-of-202) in the last seven games since Jan. 9 and is 10-3-1 dating back to Dec. 19.
• 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 (tied) with 10-8-18, 92 PIM and 192 hits in 53 games.  He is one of two NHL players (Ottawa’s Brady Tkachuk) with 10-plus goals, 60 PIM and 100 hits in 2024-25.
• C Cole Sillinger, who has posted points in three-straight games (2-1-3), became the fifth player in club history to reach the 100-point milestone at age 21 or younger (Pierre-Luc Dubois, Rick Nash, Jakub Voracek, Zach Werenski) with a goal at Dallas on Feb. 2 (41-59-100, 268 GP).
• LW James van Riemsdyk has posted points in four of the last five contests (1-4-5) after collecting at assist at Dallas.  He ranks second-T on the team in goals and third in points since Jan. 1 with 6-8-14 and four multi-point outings in 15 contests.
• F Dmitri Voronkov has recorded points in five of the last seven games (1-4-5) and 16 of the last 23 contests (11-12-23).  The forward has registered 17-17-34 with nine multi-point efforts and is +21 in his last 38 contests since Nov. 15 after starting the campaign with 1-0-1 in the first six.  Since that date, he ranks third in the NHL in plus/minus and 11^th-T in goals.
• D Zach Werenski, who had his five-game points streak (2-4-6) snapped on Sunday at Dallas, has collected points in 12 of the last 16 contests (6-12-18).  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 sixth-T among all skaters in scoring since Nov. 21 with 13-30-43 in 35 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, and power play goals (tied), and third in points with 17-40-57, 12-25-37 at even strength and five PPG and 200 shots on 26:48 of ice time in 53 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, 362 GP).
• D Jake Christiansen is three games from 100 for his NHL career (2-12-14, 97 GP).
• F Kent Johnson is seven points from 100 for his NHL career (37-56-93 in 169 GP).
• RW Kirill Marchenko is 10 games from 200 for his NHL career (65-57-122, 190 GP).
• D Ivan Provorov is three assists from 200 for his NHL career (74-197-271, 667 GP).
• D Zach Werenski (252 in 539 GP) is seven assists from surpassing Rick Nash (258 in 675 GP) for the most in franchise history

OhioHEALTH INJURY REPORT

• F Boone Jenner (shoulder) is on Injured Reserve on Oct. 7; (53 Games)
• D Erik Gudbranson (upper body) is on Injured Reserve on Oct. 16; (50 Games)
• C Yegor Chinakhov (upper body); is on Injured Reserve retroactive to Nov. 27 (32 Games)
• C Sean Monahan (upper body); is on Injured Reserve retroactive to Jan. 7 (12 Games)
• RW Kirill Marchenko (jaw); is on Injured Reserve on Feb. 3
• D Dante Fabbro (upper body)

TOTAL MAN GAMES LOST: 222

COURTESY BLUE JACKETS COMMUNICATIONS