By Joe Coopersmith

FEB. 8, 2025 II NATIONWIDE ARENA II VS. NEW YORK RANGERS

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)

Rangers to Watch

• D Adam Fox leads the club in assists and ranks second in points, while ranking fourth-T among league blueliners in assists and seventh-T in points with 3-39-42 in 53 games in 2024-25 and has collected 1-14-15 in 14 career games against CBJ.
• LW Artemi Panarin, who has points in three-straight games (2-3-5), leads his team in goals and points and ranks second in assists with 23-34-57 in 51 outings.  The forward has also notched 13-14-27 in 19 career outings against his former club.

All-Time Series

• Columbus has gone 23-22-6 in 51 all-time meetings vs. New York, including 13-14-1 at home.
• CBJ have won both home games in the 2023-24 series and are 3-2-0 in the last five at Nationwide Arena since Jan. 27, 2022.
• The winning team has won by multiple goals in seven-straight meetings at Nationwide Arena since Feb. 14, 2020.
• New York’s 1-0 SO win in the 2024-25 series opener was just the second time in the last 13 meetings the winning team won by a single goal.
• The winning team had recorded four or more goals (including SO goals) in six-straight contests before the meeting on Jan. 18 and has scored four-plus in 10 of the last 12 games of the series dating back to Oct. 29, 2021.
• Each team was credited with a shutout in the game on Jan. 18 (Shesterkin/Tarasov).  Tarasov registered the fourth shutout in the all-time series for the Blue Jackets.
• The Blue Jackets have recorded the two most recent hat tricks (Artemi Panarin in 5-3 win at NYR on Mar. 20, 2018 and Boone Jenner in 5-3 win at CBJ on Oct. 14, 2023) and penalty shot attempt (Brandon Saad, unsuccessful in 5-2 win at NYR on Feb. 26, 2017).

This Season (CBJ, 0-0-1)

• Jan. 18, 2025 – at NYR 1, CBJ 0 (SO)
• Feb. 8, 2025 – at Columbus (7 pm ET)
• Mar. 9, 2025 – at New York (6 pm ET)
• Mar. 15, 2025 – at Columbus (7pm ET)

Player Notables vs. Rangers

• D Ivan Provorov – 3-8-11 in 35 career GP, including points in the last two home contests against the club (1-2-3).
• D Damon Severson – 4-14-18 in 42 career GP, including assists in two of the past three outings overall.
• LW James van Riemsdyk – 14-11-25 in 55 career GP, including 1-3-4 in his past five meetings against the club.
• C Dmitri Voronkov – 1-2-3 in 4 career GP, recording 1-1-2 in his lone home game against the Rangers on Feb. 25, 2024.
• D Zach Werenski – 3-12-15 in 23 career GP, including points in five of his past eight meetings at Nationwide Arena (1-7-8, two multi-point efforts).

BLUE JACKETS TEAM NOTES

• The Blue Jackets returned home from a road heavy schedule and registered a point in a 3-2 OT loss to Utah on Thursday at Nationwide Arena.
• The club closed out a stretch of eight-of-nine games played away from Nationwide Arena from Jan. 18-Feb. 4 on Tuesday.  The Jackets played in four different time zones on the just completed trip (PT/MT/CT/ET) with Sunday’s game at Dallas the last time leaving the Eastern Time Zone in 2024-25.  The Jackets are 5-4-1 in road contests played in 2025.
• CBJ play the final game before the break for the 4 Nations Face-Off break on Saturday vs. the Rangers.  It’s the second of four-straight games around the break (Feb. 6-8, Feb. 22-25).  The club had its season-long five-game home win streak snapped on Thursday but stretched its point streak to six consecutive (5-0-1) for the second time this season (Dec. 12-31).  It was the longest home win streak since Jan. 14-Feb. 7, 2020 (6-straight).
• Columbus boasts the best goals-for per game average in the league at home (3.96), while also ranking second in total goals (103), fourth in power play pct. (28.1) and seventh in points pct. this season (.731).
• CBJ have earned points in 20 of the past 23 at NWA (16-3-4) with the club leading the NHL in goals-for at home (4.04) and ranking second in points pct. (.783) and third in power play pct. (30.4) since Oct. 22.
• The team has collected points in 17 of the last 23 contests overall since Dec. 19 (14-6-3, 31 points).  The Jackets rank fourth-T in the league in wins, fifth-T in goals-for/game (3.22) and points percentage (.674) and sixth-T in wins 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-against average (3.63 to 2.82), power play pct. (18.2 to 26.7) and penalty kill pct. (72.5 to 80.8).  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 three goals or less in 13 of the past 15 contests and rank fifth-T in the NHL in goals-against per game since Jan. 7 (2.40, 36 goals total).
• The club’s 177 goals (not including SO goals) is the third-most through the first 55 games of a season in franchise history, trailing 2018-19 (180) and 2021-22 (179).
• 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 ranks second in the league in goals scored during 5-on-5 play (125), trailing only Washington (127).
• The club has scored first in six of the last nine games and 13 of the last 18 contests.  The team has also scored first in 17 of the last 23 contests and in 34 (20-9-5) of the first 55 contests this season.  CBJ have scored first in 61.8 percent of their games this season and trail only Buffalo (64.2 pct.) for the highest percentage in the league.
• Columbus scored a shorthanded goal against Utah and ranks fifth-T in the league with seven shorthanded goals in 2024-25.
• CBJ ranks fourth in the NHL in first period goals scored (56), 11th in second period goals (56) and ninth-T in third period goals scored (61) in 2024-25.  The club is one of three teams with 55-plus goals in all three periods (Florida, Washington).
• The Jackets play their 15^th of 21 Saturday games of the season and have recorded points in four-straight games played on the day (3-0-1) and seven of the past eight dating back to Nov. 23 (4-1-3).

BLUE JACKETS PLAYER NOTES

• The team leads the league lead in goals goal percentage and points percentage and ranks second in points and sixth in assists with 36-100-136, 20.3 pct. of the club’s goals and 28.6 pct. of the team’s points in 55 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 has posted 2-3-5 in the last seven games, including three-straight from Jan. 30-Feb. 2 (1-2-3).  The 20-year-old leads the club in goals and ranks second in points as well as CBJ forwards in TOI and has collected points in 12 of 17 contests since Jan. 1 (8-8-16, 19:46).  He has set single-season career highs in goals, assists, points and games played with 15-16-31 in 55 appearances in 2024-25.
• F Kent Johnson had his career-high eight-game points streak (4-5-9) snapped on Thursday.  It was tied with Zach Werenski (Nov. 15-Dec. 1) for the longest point streak by a Blue Jacket in 2024-25.  He has registered points in nine of the past 11 contests (5-6-11) and 12 of the last 16 games (6-8-14).  The 22-year-old has recorded points in 28 of his 41 games this season (16-19-35) and has tied his single-season career high in goals (16-24-40, 79 GP in 2022-23).
• RW Mathieu Olivier has already set single-season career highs in goals, points and hits (5-10-15, 66 GP in 2022-23) and ranks second-T in the NHL in PIM and third in hits with 10-8-18, 99 PIM and 199 hits in 55 games.  He is one of two NHL players (Ottawa’s Brady Tkachuk) with 10-plus goals, 60 PIM and 125 hits in 2024-25.
• D Ivan Provorov has notched goals in a career-high three consecutive games (3-1-4) after notching his first career shorthanded goal on Thursday.  He has also collected 3-3-6 in the past eight contests since Jan. 22 to raise his season totals to 6-19-25 in 55 outings.
• LW James van Riemsdyk had his three-game assists streak (0-3-3) snapped on Thursday.  He has collected points in six of the past eight contests (2-5-7).  He ranks second on the team in goals (tied) and assists and third in points since Jan. 1 with 6-9-15 and four multi-point outings in 17 contests.
• F Dmitri Voronkov has recorded points in five of the last eight games (2-3-5) and 16 of the last 24 contests (12-11-23).  The forward has registered 18-16-34 with nine multi-point efforts and is +20 in his last 40 contests since Nov. 15 after starting the campaign with 1-0-1 in the first six.  Since that date, he ranks fifth-T in the NHL in plus/minus and 10th-T in goals.
• D Zach Werenski, who collected an assist in Thursday’s game against Utah, has registered points in 13 of his last 17 contests (6-13-19).  He extended his franchise record home points streak to 20-straight games (13-24-37) to become the fourth defenseman in NHL history to post a run of that length with the assist against Utah.  The list is topped by Bobby Orr (25 GP in 1974-75), Paul Coffey (23 GP in 1985-86), Phil Housley (22 GP in 1991-92) and Orr (21 GP in 1970-71).
• 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 17-41-58, 12-25-37 at even strength and five PPG and 201 shots on 26:51 of ice time in 54 contests this season.  He set a new franchise on Thursday for points by a defenseman in a single season, surpassing the record 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, 364 GP).
• D Jake Christiansen is one game from 100 for his NHL career (2-12-14, 99 GP).
• F Kent Johnson is six points from 100 for his NHL career (38-56-94 in 171 GP).
• RW Kirill Marchenko is 10 games from 200 for his NHL career (65-57-122, 190 GP).
• D Ivan Provorov is two assists from 200 for his NHL career (76-198-274, 669 GP).
• D Zach Werenski (253 in 540 GP) is six 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; (55 Games)
• D Erik Gudbranson (upper body) is on Injured Reserve on Oct. 16; (52 Games)
• C Yegor Chinakhov (upper body); is on Injured Reserve retroactive to Nov. 27 (34 Games)
• C Sean Monahan (upper body); is on Injured Reserve retroactive to Jan. 7 (14 Games)
• RW Kirill Marchenko (jaw); is on Injured Reserve on Feb. 3 (2 Games)
• D Dante Fabbro (upper body) (2 Games)

TOTAL MAN GAMES LOST: 235

COURTESY BLUE JACKETS COMMUNICATIONS